Contents for SMQ Issue 12:1
| An Analysis of Online Marketing in the Sport Industry: User Authors: Matthew T. Brown |
| Abstract: Description: The purpose of this study was to analyze marketing on the Internet in the sport industry. The rational for the study was based upon the industry’s need to understand this technology as an effective marketing tool. Seven hundred and fifty sport organizations in the performance segment of the industry were randomly selected and surveyed. Three hundred and twenty-eight usable surveys were returned for a 44% response rate. The online marketing communications objective of most organizations was to provide information about the organization to the visitor or to generate awareness of the organization. Very little emphasis was placed on interactive marketing. In the opinion of the author, most sport marketers need to emphasize the online consumer/seller relationship to continue developing this medium as an effective marketing tool. Without this focus, business will be lost to organizations effectively implementing their interactive marketing plans. |
| Olympic Games Host City Marketing: An Exploration of Expectations Authors: Rick Burton |
| Abstract: Description: Bidding for the right to host the Summer or Winter Olympic Games has frequently led host-city organizing committees to suggest the Games bring about marketing enhancements, such as global media ttention, community infrastructure investments, attractive sponsor spending, and the promise of long-term imagery enhancements for tourism purposes and community pride. These proposed benefits, in the absence of quantifiable metrics, help many proponents embrace the Olympic Movement and push for hosting the Olympics. Past Olympiads have shown, however, that an organizing committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) may enter the bidding process thinking almost exclusively about economic impact and city imagery and less about the value of sport or the Olympics. This study attempts to review the various organizations involved in the host city Olympic bidding process and correlate investments and actual performance. Note: Since both the Sydney and Salt Lake Olympic Games were held less than three years ago, documentation of economic performance continues to show financial variances in the literature. |
| Corporate Sales Activities and the Retention of Sponsors in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Authors: Tony Lachowetz, Mark McDonald, William A. Sutton, Daniel G. Hedrick |
| Abstract: Description: Certain professional sport organizations fall short of educating their corporate clients with respect to all of the benefits and attributes of the sport products they offer (e.g., season tickets, sponsorship programs, and luxury suites). In response to this problem, Sutton, Lachowetz, and Clark (2000) developed a ninestep framework, |
| Corporate Sales Activities and the Retention of Sponsors in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Authors: Tony Lachowetz |
| Abstract: Description: Certain professional sport organizations fall short of educating their corporate clients with respect to all of the benefits and attributes of the sport products they offer (e.g., season tickets, sponsorship programs, and luxury suites). In response to this problem, Sutton, Lachowetz, and Clark (2000) developed a ninestep framework, “eduselling,” that identifies corporate sales activities designed to assist professional sport franchises in the education and retention of their corporate customers. Lachowetz et al. (2001b) surveyed all 29 teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in an attempt to validate the nine-step process. The purpose of this study was to collect more detailed information about the sales activities used by NBA franchises. As a follow up to the Lachowetz et al. (2001b) study, marketing directors were selected from five NBA franchises. Selection criteria included average to below-average team winning percentage and average to above-average corporate customer retention rates (indicating an effective corporate sales strategy). Each individual participated in a 45-60 minute phone interview. Data were qualitatively analyzed using the inductive method, and three primary themes were identified -added value,relationship building/developing, and customer education. According to the interviewees, these three areas were most responsible for their franchise retaining corporate customers over the three-year period 1998-99 to 2000-01. |
| Sport Management Practica: A Metadiscrete Experiential Learning Authors: Richard M. Southall, Mark S. Nagel, Peter Han, Deborah LeGrande |
| Abstract: Description: Currently, each of the 200 North American colleges and universities offering specializations in sport management provide students the opportunity to pursue discrete (separate from classroom) practica or internships. However, only a small number of such programs offer students the chance to pursue metadiscrete (out of classroom, but under the supervision and guidance of professor/mentor) practica. This paper provides a history and description of the metadiscrete sport management practicum program that was recently developed and successfully implemented at the State University of West Georgia. It can serve as an implementation blueprint for other metadiscrete sport management practica aimed at enhancing the participating students’,practitioner’s, and faculty’s theoretical understandings and practical applications of sport management while creating an entrepreneurial enterprise capable of generating revenue for the academic program. |
| Sport Spectator Consumption Behavior Authors: Galen T. Trail, Janet S. Fink, Dean F. Anderson |
| Abstract: Description: Competition for the sport consumer dollar has increased tremendously in recent years. A better understanding of why sport spectators and fans consume media and merchandise would benefit sport marketers and managers greatly. To date, no empirically tested model has proposed explanatory and predictive relationships among fan/spectator motives and behavior variables. In addition, no psychometrically sound scales exist to measure these cognitive, affective, and behavioral constructs. The results of this study indicate that a model including such factors as motives, identification, expectancies, disconfirmation or confirmation of expectancies, affective state, and self-esteem behavioral intentions explains approximately 11% of the variance in sport spectator consumption intentions. The scales for the constructs evidenced good internal consistency and construct validity. The implications for sport marketers and managers are also described. |
