Moving beyond fan typologies: The impact of social integration on team loyalty in football

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop detailed insight into loyalty among football fans of Hibernian FC, moving beyond typologies to a more socially grounded approach. Issues explored include patterns of consumption, distinctions between fan groups, and antecedents of loyalty. The origins and development of the club are evaluated, and consumer fanaticism, football fan loyalty, consumption behaviour, and the sociological impact of fan communities are discussed. Data were collected using a variety of methods, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and analysis of websites and fan forums. Key findings relate to the impact of family and community influences on loyalty, initial experiences of developing associations with the club, through to the impact of socialisation, and the lived experience of being a supporter. A supporter matrix is constructed as a portrayal of the loyalty found at the club. A range of theoretical implications is considered, and the matrix promoted as a tool for understanding loyalty in clubs with similar social structures and community connections.     

Convergence in per capita health expenditures and health outcomes in the OECD countries

Our analysis of 19 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over the period 1972 to 2006 provides evidence of convergence in per capita health care expenditures for 17 countries, while the US and (to a lesser degree) Norway follow a different path. A simple decomposition of per capita health expenditures reveals that the divergence of the US comes from the divergence of the ‘ratio of health care expenditures to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)’ component, while Norway's divergence is mainly caused by the ‘labour productivity’ component. Interestingly, our results suggest that convergence in per capita health expenditures among the 17 OECD countries does not lead to convergence in health outcomes. Finally, we extend our analysis to examine convergence in various determinants of health expenditures.     

Competition format,championship uncertainty and stadium attendance in European football – a small league perspective

To increase the number of regular season games, small football leagues are often organized as quadruple round robin tournaments with teams playing each other four times. Theoretically, however, the more games played, the less uncertain is the championship race, reducing fan interest in the league. This article uses data from Austria and Switzerland to study the relationship between competition format, championship uncertainty and attendance demand empirically. Results suggest that a team still in contention to win the championship positively affects attendance, while it is not the specificity of the competition format that per se contributes to less championship uncertainty.     

Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga

Despite an extensive literature on stadium attendance demand, our understanding of those factors shaping spectator no-show behaviour is rudimentary at best. Here, we explore such behaviour by using a comprehensive two-step approach: First, we examine the determinants of no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga between the four seasons 2014–15 and 2017–18; Second, because our initial results imply that spectator no-show behaviour is more prominent among season ticket holders (STHs), we exploit additional survey data to understand individual STH no-show appearances better. Our results suggest that club managers interested in reducing the no-show rate should rethink existing season ticket strategies.     

基于SWOT法的我国足球裁判员职业化分析

文章运用文献资料、逻辑分析、SWOT分析等方法对加快我国足球裁判员职业化步伐的内外环境进行了探讨。探讨如何最大限度地利用职业化内部优势和机会使职业化劣势和威胁降到最低为职业化创造条件,实现由业余裁判体制向半职业化体制,职业化体制的转变。     

解读足球明星进球后的体态语言

体态语言是研究手势、眼神、面部表情和姿势。不同的种族、不同的国家、使用不同的语言,然而一旦进球,球员们会做出同样的动作,呈现相似的表情,本文试图对足球明星进球后的体态语言分析解读。     

陕西省高校足球联赛现状与思考

在当今足球运动风靡全世界的情况下,陕西省高校足球面临发展的良好机遇。群众基础较为广泛,但整体水平不高,竞赛制度不完善是当今陕西省高校足球的发展现状。借鉴CUBA,对陕西省大学生足球联赛进一步发展提出积极建议,使陕西省高校足球运动更好地发展。     

Do natural resources define convergence clubs? Empirical evidence from the Kazakh regions

This paper deals with the hypothesis that natural resources are important in forming convergence clubs. We check this hypothesis by applying a dependence and an endowment measure of natural resource abundance and a regression tree analysis. The results indicate that for the Kazakh regions natural resources do indeed play an important role in forming convergence clubs. It is further shown that natural resource endowment rather than resource dependence determines initial conditions and thereby convergence clubs.     

Altitude as handicap in rank-order football tournaments

The structure of professional sports allows us to document predictions from the theory of rank-order tournaments (Lazear and Rosen 1981). In the context of South American FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, under the presence of heterogeneous agents, handicapping the best quality players may increase the tournaments’ efficiency by making the contest more competitive. In particular, we show that playing in high-altitude stadiums (above 2500 m) constitutes a handicap as the otherwise least competitive teams benefit from the existence of an altitude advantage.     

Accounting, Valuation and Duration of Football Player Contracts

Abstract:   FRS 10 requires investments in player contracts by football companies to be capitalized and amortized. Given the high degree of uncertainty associated with such contracts, it is not clear that this treatment is consistent with asset capitalization criteria. The evidence provided in this paper does not support inconclusively this capitalization requirement in that it indicates weak association of investment in player contracts with three measures of future benefits. In particular, the duration of this association is at most two years, which is shorter than the duration implied by the amortization period reported by sample companies. Nonetheless, other findings suggest that market participants seem to agree with the treatment prescribed by FRS 10 . These results should be of interest to practitioner and standard setters who (axiomatically) regard intangibles acquired in an arm's length transaction as assets.