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To examine objective measures of economic job quality for a broad sample of workers in the US spectator sports industry and compare job quality in spectator sports to other industries.

Logistic and linear regressions are performed on American Community Survey (ACS) data collected from 2015 to 2019. Earnings and employer provision of health insurance are the outcomes.

Earnings and employer-provided health insurance are lower in the spectator sports industry than in other industries after controlling for relevant factors. Differences are partly explained by the occupational composition of the industry and the higher incidence of part-time work. Many but not all occupational groups have lower earnings and less employer-provided health insurance in sports.

ACS data only reports one job, so the results likely underestimate the prevalence of part-time work in the US spectator sports industry. The study finds support for a micro-class occupational composition effect and a pulsating organization effect. Some support is also found for a sports industry compensating wage differential, but the effect is not industry wide, counter to some depictions.

This is the first study to examine objective, economic measures of job quality across all occupational sub-groups in the sports industry. This is the first study to propose theoretical explanations for poor economic job quality in sport.

With the advance of Web 3.0 and the range of sensory experiences offered by virtual reality (VR) to sport fans, this study examines how VR spectators’ sensory experiences affect their intentions to consume VR products and services. For this purpose, the study puts forth an expanded stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model. In this framework, the stimuli are the sensory imagery and stimuli, the organism factors are presence and arousal and the response is the consumption intention. This model adeptly encapsulates the comprehensive process of stimuli while spectating a sporting event in a virtual environment.

For a VR stimulus, researchers developed a 3-min collegiate women’s volleyball game. Watching the game in VR were 131 collegiate students, who were then questioned about their visual and aural imagination of the game stimuli, perceived visual and aural stimuli, sense of presence, arousal and VR consumption intentions. To ensure the validity and reliability of the measurement model, confirmatory factor analysis was first conducted. Subsequently, the model was subjected to path analysis.

The measurement model demonstrated both validity and reliability. The subsequent path analysis yielded the model’s satisfactory fit. In particular, the mental visualization of VR spectators significantly influenced their perception of visual stimuli, while their imaginative engagement with auditory aspects impacted their perception of aural stimuli. The observed visual stimuli positively impacted the degree of presence experienced and the level of arousal induced. Similarly, the auditory stimuli exerted comparable effects on presence and arousal. The sense of arousal exhibited a considerable influence on the sense of presence. Furthermore, arousal emerged as a substantial determinant of individuals' VR consumption intentions.

The study highlights that the affective status of VR sport spectators is dominant in determining their consumption intentions. Also, the study finds the decisive role of presence in processing sensory stimuli in virtual sport spectating. It also provides managerial insight into designing and customizing VR sport experiences to be more enjoyable and impactful.

Although many attempts to discover key segments of sport spectators have been extant, little segmentation effort has been made to reflect pandemic situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to classify sport spectators into key segments based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to identify each segment’s profiles.

Questionnaire surveys of spectators attending a Japanese rugby game during the COVID-19 pandemic (January–June 2021) were conducted (n = 1,410). A combination of hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods was executed.

The results revealed the five-cluster solution as the optimal number of clusters representing the samples (i.e. spectators with extremely low-risk perception, those with low-risk perception, those with moderate-risk perception, those with high-risk perception and those with higher social risk perception). This five-cluster solution showed sufficient stability and validity. Moreover, each segment had different profiles regarding three background aspects – demographics, psychographics and behavioral variables.

This study is the first effort to segment sport spectators based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event in the pandemic situation. Despite extensive segmentation studies to explore sport fans, contribution reflecting the post-crisis situations is scant. Therefore, the findings provide insight into this realm by providing a new viewpoint for understanding sport spectators during a possible future pandemic era.

Despite the fact this is already known over how sports spectators interpret sponsorship content, less is known about participants’ sentiments toward sponsors, which are sometimes crucial to the survival of participation sporting events. Various researchers have examined at how spectators recognize or recall sponsors, but very few have explored it from the viewpoint of sport participants. This research portrays a shift in focus from spectator-based to participant-based marketing by studying the differences over how participants and spectators perceive sport sponsorship, recognizing the current knowledge gap regarding the process of sponsorship in participant-based sports. Sponsorship previous research has focused on the effectiveness of sport sponsorships utilizing variables such sponsor recognition, desire to sponsors’ products and anticipated sponsorship advantages (Koronios and Dimitropoulos, 2020). The examination of sport sponsorship from the standpoint of the sport spectator is something that many of the past studies have in common. The application of past research analysing sport sponsorship from a distinct perspective: that of the sport participant, distinguishes the present study. In addition, the present study explores the distinctions in sponsorship effectiveness between spectators and participants, a topic which hasn't been addressed at before in sponsorship literature.

This study depicts a move away from spectator-based to participant-based marketing, utilizing contemporary implicit physiological variables to measure participants’ and spectators’ awareness of and attitude toward sponsors, and it proposes a model of their purchase intentions toward real sponsors of a martial event. A total of 1,332 questionnaires were collected and analysed.

Factors such as sport involvement, social media use, sincerity and beliefs of sponsorship were found to have a significant effect on purchase intention of spectators and participants. And crucial differences in the significance of various antecedent factors between spectators and participants were detected in the formation of positive purchase and word-of-mouth intentions.

This paper gives prominence to contemporary methodological advances in the field of implicit social cognition and their relevance to sponsorship. This is the first sponsorship research which examines the effectiveness of sponsorship variables under the implicit–explicit variables dichotomy.

While existing research has predominantly focused on the positive relationships between service quality and outcome variables, there has been limited investigation into the influence of food service quality on these variables or the moderating role of stadium atmosphere in the realm of sports marketing. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining the structural relationships between baseball stadium food quality, timeliness, satisfaction, and behavioral intention with an emphasis on the moderating effect of stadium atmosphere.

The data were collected from spectators attending baseball games. This study established the validity of the measurement scale through confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings, average variance extracted, and construct reliability using Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, this study employed structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation to examine positive relationships and mediating effects and used Jamovi statistical software to conduct moderation analysis.

The findings demonstrate the significant impacts of food quality on satisfaction and behavioral intention, the positive effects of timeliness on satisfaction and behavioral intention, and the notable influence of satisfaction on behavioral intention. Additionally, this study found that satisfaction partially mediates the aforementioned relationships and that stadium atmosphere moderates these pathways.

This study contributes to the literature by addressing the impact of food service quality on outcome variables within sports marketing, an area that has received limited attention. Specifically, it examines how food quality and timeliness influence consumer satisfaction and behavioral intention. Furthermore, the study highlights the moderating role of stadium atmosphere, demonstrating its potential to enhance the relationship between food quality and consumer outcomes. These findings expand our understanding of consumer behavior in sports settings, offering practical strategies for team officials to enhance fan experiences. By diversifying menu options, optimizing concession operations, and collaborating with local vendors, team officials can significantly improve food service quality and create a more engaging stadium atmosphere.

The purpose of this study is to compare measurement scales of sports fans’ motivations applied to women’s football.

A survey research approach was used to collect 574 valid responses from participants in Brazil and the USA. Three prominent scales – Sport Interest Inventory (SII), Sport Fan Motivation Scale (SFMS) and Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) are were compared using the structural equation modeling technique.

The results indicate that the SII scale demonstrates superior predictive power for variables such as “purchase intention,” “electronic word of mouth,” “identification as a fan” and “interest in women’s football” compared to the SFMS and MSSC scales. The primary motivation among followers and spectators of women’s football in the study was “supporting women’s opportunities” in sport.

While the study is grounded in the most relevant scales pertinent to the theme, the limited academic production on the subject hinders direct comparisons with prior research.

Leveraging the insights from the SII scale, football team managers can refine their marketing strategies by understanding the primary motivations driving women’s football consumption. This knowledge can inform targeted efforts to enhance women’s football consumption, subsequently expanding opportunities for women in the sport.

This study provides valuable information that can inform initiatives aimed at boosting women’s soccer consumption, thereby contributing to increased opportunities for women in the sport.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to compare scales in the specific context of women’s soccer, contributing with a unique perspective to the development of women’s sports.

Sport events’ contribution to the destinations’ local economy implies in-depth knowledge of the economic benefits generated by non-resident spectators (NRS). Thus, this study aims to answer: What is the profile and shaping factors of the consumption patterns of the several types of NRS in international surf tourism events?

A total of 263 questionnaires applied to the NRS of an international surf event were collected and analysed. The identification of the NRS profile and the predictive factors of their total expenditure were performed through the correlation of factors and multiple linear regression, respectively.

Mostly, the event attracted generation Y NRS, with a high level of education and regular sport practice. The results showed differences among the NRS: the “casuals” included more women than men; the “extensioners” integrated the NRS whose surfing practice is higher; the “event visitors”/”time switchers” mostly integrated the domestic tourism flows; the “casuals” and “extensioners” spent the most at the destination, and those whose intention to recommend/revisit the destination, respectively, was higher; and the shaping factor that most influenced the increase in NRS expenditure was the overnight stay, added by older age, higher education level and foreign origin.

Regardless of the initial motivation that led to the trip to the destination, the results verified that the event’s attributes are capable of contributing to the recommendation/visitation of the destination. Consequently, the study of economic benefits (tangible and intangible) provided by sport events in destinations should be guided by an integrative analysis of NRS.

This study aims to identify an automated machine learning algorithm with high accuracy that sport practitioners can use to identify the specific factors for predicting Major League Baseball (MLB) attendance. Furthermore, by predicting spectators for each league (American League and National League) and division in MLB, the authors will identify the specific factors that increase accuracy, discuss them and provide implications for marketing strategies for academics and practitioners in sport.

This study used six years of daily MLB game data (2014–2019). All data were collected as predictors, such as game performance, weather and unemployment rate. Also, the attendance rate was obtained as an observation variable. The Random Forest, Lasso regression models and XGBoost were used to build the prediction model, and the analysis was conducted using Python 3.7.

The RMSE value was 0.14, and the R2 was 0.62 as a consequence of fine-tuning the tuning parameters of the XGBoost model, which had the best performance in forecasting the attendance rate. The most influential variables in the model are “Rank” of 0.247 and “Day of the week”, “Home team” and “Day/Night game” were shown as influential variables in order. The result was shown that the “Unemployment rate”, as a macroeconomic factor, has a value of 0.06 and weather factors were a total value of 0.147.

This research highlights unemployment rate as a determinant affecting MLB game attendance rates. Beyond contextual elements such as climate, the findings of this study underscore the significance of economic factors, particularly unemployment rates, necessitating further investigation into these factors to gain a more comprehensive understanding of game attendance.

This study examines the relationships among residents' event impact perceptions, attitude towards events, attitude towards sponsors and sponsor-related behavioural intentions (i.e. purchase intention and word-of-mouth).

Focusing on the Naha Marathon in Okinawa, Japan, as a research context, data were collected from residents of Okinawa who were familiar with the Naha Marathon and its sponsors (N = 322). Structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypotheses, developed based on theories of social exchange, image transfer and planned behaviour.

The findings revealed that residents’ perceptions of social event impacts, rather than economic and environmental impacts, were associated with attitudes towards the event. Such an effect was indirectly associated with purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions via attitude towards the sponsors.

The current research contributes to the literature on sport sponsorship, especially in participation-based sports, by exploring how event sponsors can enjoy fruitful returns on investment. The findings can extend our understanding by highlighting the importance of positive community engagement for sponsors. Sponsors who aim to enhance consumer behaviour should prioritize strategies aligning with the positive social impacts of events.

The purpose of this paper was (1) to examine the underexplored intersection of sports betting and favorite team loyalty, and (2) to assess differences in gambling behavior among sport bettors by varying levels of team loyalty.

A total of 1,555 National Football League (NFL) bettors and non-betting NFL fans were surveyed to assess media consumption across a mix of team loyalty attitudes and betting behaviors.

Statistically significant differences were found between four types of NFL fans (casual, team loyalty-dominant, betting-dominant and hybrid) as it relates to media consumption in various forms. Most notably, the results suggested symbiosis between the activities.

The symbiosis finding, though preliminary, suggests the activity provides an additional platform for consumers to connect with spectator sport. Furthermore, the act of betting, like participation in fantasy sports, appears to spur consumption of the NFL product generally. The study, however, was limited to NFL fans, did not specify the method for sports betting, nor the intensity of gambling.

Teams should not worry that betting detracts from fan engagement with the team product. Also, leagues and media providers should continue to highlight betting content as participants consume at higher rates than non-participating sports fans.

Team fandom may potentially moderate problem behavior among bettors. The betting results indicate being a loyal team fan lowers one’s gambling spend per month and largest bet compared to non-loyal bettors. However, the hybrid fan showed significantly higher media consumption levels.

Sports fans have more opportunities to interact and engage with their favorite games than ever before. However, consumers have limited amounts of time and money, and this study is one of the first to examine differences in fan interests and behaviors related to sport betting and team loyalty and the resulting viewership and consumption behavior.