Satellite fans: Does sport nostalgia influence purchase intention toward sponsors’ products?

The purpose of this study was to investigate how nostalgia influences their attitude towards the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) sponsors and purchase intention towards EPFL sponsors' products. Based on a convenience sampling, a total of 317 EPFL fans in Singapore responded to an online survey that included items on sport nostalgia, attitude towards EPFL sponsors, and intention to purchase EPFL sponsors' products. Data were analysed using confirmation factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The results showed that sport nostalgia had a direct positive effect on both attitude and purchase intention towards EPFL sponsors’ products. Also, this study found that sport nostalgia had a significant indirect effect on purchase intention through attitude. From the findings of this research, sponsors could understand the role of sport nostalgia and would be able to implement marketing strategies that direct their consumers to purchase their products.     

A Preliminary Investigation of NFL Games and Self-Drive Tourism

Abstract

This article addresses the thesis that the presence of an NFL team in a market area creates a unique self-drive (i.e., travel by car) tourism opportunity. Even though the impact of the presence of one or more professional sports teams in a community has been repeatedly studied, the research to date has not looked specifically at the impact on any one industry, or examined the extent to which the self-drive sports fan presents marketing opportunities for the host communities. The purpose of this study is to address these two gaps in the research by investigating the impact of an NFL team's play dates on lodging industry revenue (i.e., occupancy percentage, average daily rate, revenue per available room and total dollar impact) in the market area and to discuss destination marketing strategies to increase lodging revenues by targeting the self-drive NFL fan.     

Running Havana: Observations on the Political Economy of Sport Tourism in Cuba

Abstract

Sport tourism is a booming global business that has different costs and benefits for distinctive societies depending upon both global and local socio‐cultural, political and economic factors. With more than 130 officially sanctioned events worldwide, marathon running has developed to become a key feature of the international sport tourism calendar. This paper provides an ethnographic account of the 2005 Marabana – the Havana Marathon. After consideration of some of the central conceptual and historical issues pertinent to sport tourism in relation to the marathon in general, it uses this race and the events surrounding it as a critical window into Cuba’s complex contemporary political economy. Detailed consideration is given to the special conditions that have led to the development of the Island’s sport tourism industry and the consequences of that development in terms of Cuba’s political heritage. What sets Cuba apart from the tourist economies of its Caribbean neighbours is its continued commitment to the economic and political principles of communism and its strained and tense relationship with the United States. The paper concludes by pointing to the social and economic contradictions associated with the development of a tourist economy that is essentially capitalist within a society that is avowedly communist.     

The attitudes of recreational user representatives to pollution reduction and the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive

Under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), all water bodies must be of ‘good ecological status’ by 2015. One of the major beneficiaries of this will be those who use water for sport and recreation activities. It is certainly the case that some waters do contain – at some times – concentrations of pollutants sufficient to be a potential threat to public health but there is little robust evidence that water quality is a major constraint to many water-based activities. This paper addresses the current evidence deficit through a survey of recreational user representatives, exploring the cultural and political influences on decisions about when the quality of water is sufficient for their activity to take place. Using a reading of Bourdieu's ‘feel for the game’, the paper argues that there is a spectrum of involvement, contact and participation that conditions use and, thus, helps to establish an appropriate context for understanding the potential impacts on water-based recreation of the implementation of the WFD.     

Capturing the meanings of sport licensed products

The current two-part study investigated the meanings embedded in sport licensed products and aimed to develop and test the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to capture those meanings. Data analysis resulted in the development of the five-factor 17-item Meanings of Sport Licensed Products (MSLP) scale that was found to be a reliable and valid instrument. It is suggested that sport licensed items present value through their aesthetic appeal and their contribution to sport consumers’ experience, socialization, personal history, and sense of locality. Regression analysis showed that the MSLP are a significant predictor of future behavior, specifically sport consumers’ willingness to recommend these products to others and their intention to buy them again in the future. Understanding how consumers choose certain products and why those products become important to them could lead to more effective strategies for the development, promotion, and sale of sport licensed items.     

A real options reasoning approach to hybrid vehicle investments

Long term increases of petrol prices and the threat of a global climate change have created in the automotive industry a new competitive environment based on the development of more sustainable technologies. Using the real option reasoning lens we provide a theoretical framework to better account for the technological and market uncertainties and irreversibilities that impact the investment and innovation decisions of automotive firms supporting the development of more sustainable vehicle technologies. We investigate the case of hybrid vehicles in a transitional perspective by insisting on their potential to influence the dynamic shaping of investment decisions of firms in the car industry. We consider the hybridization strategy as intra-project and inter-project compound growth options to manage the flexibilities and irreversibilities of investment decisions during the transition process. We provide four different-sometimes conflicting-strategic rationales structuring the investment efforts of firms in hybrid vehicles and illustrate them with numerous examples from the automotive industry.     

“三位一体”促进学校体育教育工作发展

我国学生体质下降已是芥争的事实,体育中考、《国家学生体质健康标准》（以下简称《标准》）、阳光体育运动将成为有力的、必要的解决我国学生体质下降问题措施。体育教育工作者应深刻认识这些措施,理清它们之间的关系,在实施的过程中明确引领方向务重新认识体育教育观;加强体育生命教育;有效开发利用体育资源;强化教育过程管理;有力监督,促进学校体育教育工作发展。     

我国体育赞助发展原因探析

我国的体育赞助从上个世纪80年代开始出现,规模不断增大,到2008年北京的奥运会,体育赞助得到空前的发展。本文从经济、法规政策、媒介、企业和消费者等几个方面对我国的体育赞助的快速发展的原因进行梳理和分析。     

A Bradley-Terry type model for forecasting tennis match results

The paper introduces a model for forecasting match results for the top tier of men’s professional tennis, the ATP tour. Employing a Bradley-Terry type model, and utilising the data available on players’ past results and the surface of the contest, we predict match winners for the coming week’s matches, having updated the model parameters to take the previous week’s results into account. We compare the model to two logit models: one using official rankings and another using the official ranking points of the two competing players. Our model provides superior forecasts according to each of five criteria measuring the predictive performance, two of which relate to betting returns.     

Exploring the efficacy of youth sport camps to build customer relationships

Professional sport teams strive to cultivate a large, loyal fan base. Relationship marketing is well suited for developing loyal customers. Professional sport teams provide youth sport camps mostly for added revenue streams and marketing extensions. However, research neglects to investigate which relationship factors may help build or reignite long-term fan development. This exploratory study examined the efficacy of these camps on factors theorised for developing long-term customer loyalty. Parents of camp participants were evaluated because they may appeal to teams interested in short- and long-term results. Using repeated measures MANOVA, matched pre- and post-camp data were collected from 70 parents of participants from four different NBA teams’ youth sport camps around the United States. Data analysis revealed the camps were effective in enhancing team identification, attitudes toward the team, and team satisfaction. Results suggest that youth sport camps assist in building customer relationships with parents. Further, the benefits of relationship marketing efforts may extend beyond primary participants via the familial socialisation process. The three aforementioned precursors to fan loyalty showed significant increases after parents’ experience with the teams’ youth sport camp. These findings highlight a possible marketing platform that can serve both short- and long-term objectives for professional basketball teams.