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In this paper, Fantasy Sports (Hereafter FS) is conceptually classified as a concept of gamification for professional sport leagues. From a sporting perspective, FS is often criticized because such online activities may be at the expense of physical activities. Otherwise, gamification can ultimately lead to economic advantages for sport leagues. To further empirically analyse this supposed juxtaposition, an empirical study is presented.

In the empirical study, participation and non-participation in a sport league-related FS league are analysed and the study uses a divided sample (N = 319) for a one-factor Welch-ANOVA. FS effects on sport practice (engaging in doing sport) and usage (engaging with sport) of FS players as well as on gaining and retaining fans are investigated.

Results demonstrate that participating in gamified FS experiences increases sport usage while not harming general sport practice. Furthermore, FS participation increases consumption capital as well as sport fans' loyalty and word of mouth (WOM) towards the league brand. Building on the results, league brands should foster gamified FS applications to retain their fan base and acquire new fans.

The authors’ theoretical contribution indicates the importance of FS as a gamified application and essential marketing tool for professional sport leagues. By introducing the terms sport practice and usage, the authors bridge the traditional logic of sport consumption with innovative approaches around engagement in and with sports. The results refute the prejudice that FS leads to less physical activity due to time substitution or displacement.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of image congruence between sport events and their hosts as perceived by sport tourists on future visits to the destination, respectively the sport event.

In order to measure image congruence an indirect, multi‐attributive measure was chosen – using a self‐administered questionnaire distributed to sport tourists at six different sport events in Germany – so as to be able to investigate the two images first separately and second to construct an independent fit measure using the absolute differences of corresponding items. Logistic regression analyses evaluated dependencies between image congruence, location components and socio‐demographic aspects on behavioural intentions.

The results show that the overall models are significant and that certain elements such as the affinity of atmosphere do play a central role in predicting future visits.

A research limitation could arise due to the sample because almost all sport tourists were German. A more international sample might have shown different results. Future research should analyse samples of different sports concluding whether the sport performed influences behaviour, too.

Some practical implications with respect to the kind of appeal towards sport tourists are given.

This paper shows that not only separated images affect future behaviour but that the perceived fit between two actually distinct images influences behaviour as well.

Although participation in golf has increased in several countries and is associated with an evolving golf industry, research on golf and golf players is rather limited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the sport-related expenditure of golfers and diferences of heavy and light spenders.

Primary data of golf players were collected in Germany using a written survey which resulted in a convenience sample of n=197 golfers.

The regression results indicate that the social motive, time for playing and training, handicap, age, and income have a significant impact on sport-related expenditure. There are several significant difference between heavy and light spenders based on psychological, behavioural, demographic, and resources variables.

A convenience sample was drawn and the sample size with n=197 respondents could be improved. Nonetheless, the descriptive results revealed that the sample structure was similar to previous research with regard to socio-demographic variables.

Since the underlying motives of golfers vary immensely indicating a range of target groups, sport managers need to address each target group differently to fully exploit the marketing potential.

Expenditure of golfers seems to be under researched and the results reveal that the average sport-related expenditure of golfers confirms that golf can be an expensive sport and that golf players are willing to spend on average one monthly income on their sport over a 12-month period.

Using the context of Rio Olympic games, the purpose of this paper is to investigate attitude toward sponsorship outcome as it relates to purchase behavior, gender, sponsor patronage, sports enthusiasm, and social media consumption.

Data were collected using an online survey of 265 participants. Questions regarding demographics, viewing habits, sports participation, enthusiasm, attitude toward Olympic events were included in the survey. The four sub-scales were sponsorship attitude, sponsor patronage, social media consumption, and sports enthusiasm.

The findings of the study showed that social media consumption is positively related to attitude toward event and sports patronage. There was a significant gender difference on attitude toward event, social media consumption, and sports enthusiasm. Predictors for making a purchase as a result of seeing a social media advertisement were gender, playing competitive sport, and social media consumption.

This study will add to the body of academic and practitioner research on sponsorship outcomes, and provides an opportunity for marketers to leverage social media networks for sponsorship communication.

As the use of social media networks has increased over the past few years, no previous study has investigated association of sports enthusiasm, gender, or social media consumption toward sponsor patronage which relates to consumers seeking out sponsors and being influenced to make a purchase as a result of marketing communication of sponsors.

Physical inactivity is a global pandemic and is the fourth biggest cause of death worldwide. Numerous campaigns and initiatives have been implemented globally but yet participation levels remain static. The purpose of this paper is to offer sports providers, educators, policy makers and facilitators a new perspective on consumer values and the consumption of physical activity.

Researchers conducted a quantitative questionnaire and collected 342 responses through Facebook (social media) from the geographical region, South Wales. Data were analysed using independent t-tests to compare the means between two unrelated groups (active/non-active) against the Sport and Physical Activity Value Model value dimensions.

The findings are divided into three sections of consumption (pre, consumption, post), results identify differences of consumer values between the active and non-active respondents. For example, service values, the non-active individual have higher expectations of the servicescape and provider than active individuals, suggesting that servicescape concept is one of the key dimensions of consumer value.

The study was confined to one geographic region (South Wales) and only quantitative data were collected when further studies will require exploratory qualitative methods to have a greater understanding.

Findings from this study have been used to assist with the design and creation of an exercise class within a deprived area focussing on the values of consumption for the active and non-active. This study offers the sports provider, educator, policy maker another viewpoint of the consumption of physical activity.

Extant literature on physical activity predominately focusses on levels and there is little benefits in the way of understanding the dimensions of consumer values and the consumption of physical activity. This study contributes to this literature.

This paper aims to shed novel light to further the ongoing debate about the relationship between traditional sports and eSports by gathering empirical evidence on the role that eSports play on the consumption of traditional sports (i.e. live matches at the Stadium, TV matches spectating, merchandise or sponsor purchase), in the peculiar context of soccer.

An extensive literature review on both sports and eSports consumption has informed the creation of a novel dataset through the design and administration of a structured questionnaire to Italian citizens 18+. Questions were about eSports and soccer consumption, information-seeking behaviour and psychometric factors. All constructs have been measured against validated scales. A total of 279 high-quality responses have been analysed through a prediction model based on regression trees in the Machine Learning domain.

Results show that soccer consumption is predicted by the degree of vicarious achievement (positive effect), the degree of playing sport-related eSports (positive effect) and the degree of playing non-sport-related eSports (negative effect). Vertical analyses have been on sub-dimensions of soccer consumption (attending live matches at the Stadium, spectating TV matches, buying merchandise or sponsors’ products).

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to offer empirical evidence to bridge two main limitations: the lack of studies about the eSports-soccer consumptions relationship and the reduction of soccer consumption as just Stadium attendance. Our results have both theoretical and practical implications.

The purpose of this paper is to find evidence of the benefits and constraints of collaborative consumption experiences by investigating the perceptions of hosts and visitors that attended professional regular season basketball and baseball games in the USA.

Data were collected through four focus groups with 37 total participants and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis.

The results show that participants in a collaborative consumption experience perceive four types of value: social interaction and belonging, new fandom, travel bucket list experiences and local and sport knowledge. In addition, the results provide evidence of five consumption constraints related to collaborative consumption: expenses, average experiences, seat location, interpersonal disconnects and personal risk.

The selection of only two sites for the study limited the data triangulation that was possible. This study should be replicated across a wider range of teams and countries to confirm the main findings of the study.

Practitioners can use this initial study to better understand the benefits hosts and visitors perceive in the experience, and therefore the kind of experience design that would encourage increased purchases and loyalty.

This paper provides qualitative insights into the benefits and detriments of a collaborative consumption sport experience, based on participants' involvement in an innovative peer-to-peer platform.

Sports leagues, such as Major League Soccer (MLS), aim at expanding their audience at global level through alternative media other than television (TV). Brazil stands out among football media consumer audiences as one of the main markets worldwide. Brazilian MLS consumers play the role of fans to converge between TV media and digital platforms, in a phenomenon that has been called Social TV.

The aim of the current research is to investigate how Brazilian MLS fans' consumption process is established through Social TV; it was done based on netnography performed between 2018 and 2020.

Results have indicated that Social TV is a catalyst of practices associated with fan culture: cultural convergence, technologies appropriations, poaching experiences and production of a collective intelligence.

Current research reinforces how ethnography methodology has been gaining room as likely consumer market research, working as alternative method based on the prevalence of focus group and survey techniques.

Social TV phenomenon presents itself as a possibility to expand and direct marketing strategies focused on sports management, just as the media often consumed by fans.

From the results, it is possible assuming that connections between fans are punctually guided by their relationship with the cultural object consumed by them in a network relationship whose actors deindividualize sociocultural practices such as consumption. Thus, the main contribution of the study lies on identifying how fan culture can be autonomously established in the market arena in comparison to other cultures.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of macro-level regulatory systems on alcohol management for community sport organisations (CSOs). It examines how alcohol regulations translate into meso-level management actions and interactions that impact alcohol consumption in community sport clubs.

Management of alcohol was explored through the holistic lens of macro, meso, and micro-levels of influence. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Australian club administrators from community sports clubs.

Thematic analysis revealed macro-level influences on alcohol management in CSOs, with government regulations and the state sport associations being the most influential. Challenges arise in alcohol policy implementation when sport administrators do not prioritise alcohol consumption as a problem to be addressed, or where a conflict of interest arises between alcohol revenue generation and clubs positioning as health promoting environments.

Targeting club administrators’ attitudes towards alcohol as a benign influence and revising alcohol management practices are recommended as priority strategies to enhance the implementation and promotion of responsible alcohol management in sport clubs. Affiliate state sport associations were also identified as influential settings to provide administrative or strategic direction to CSOs, which would reduce the resources required by volunteers and standardise alcohol management practices across sports clubs.

The prevailing alcohol research focuses on the consumption behaviour of individual members and sports players. The study findings are novel and important as they explore the macro-level influences that administrators experience when enacting and policing alcohol management strategies in sports clubs. To-date, administrators of CSOs have not been included in many studies about alcohol consumption regulation; therefore, the findings provide an original perspective on alcohol regulation and demonstrate how CSOs operationalise alcohol management in club settings. The original insights from this study informed the conceptualisation of a multilevel sport system framework, which can be applied to guide future governance of alcohol consumption in sport settings.