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Why has the reporting of scandal in sport been increasing? This paper focuses on the commercialisation of sport and changes in the media landscape. A case study of the Australian Rugby League competition and its long-running series of scandals concludes that scandal is inevitable in sport, and that marketing strategies must incorporate this. The authors propose a new strategy - embracement - as an effective way of mitigating scandal and leveraging for sponsor market position.

The current study examines (1) the relationships among the crisis response, trust and negative behavioral intentions (i.e. avoidance and revenge), (2) the mediation role of trust in the crisis communication of sports organization and (3) the moderation effect of team identification between the crisis response and trust.

A questionnaire was used to collect data from 324 Major League Baseball (MLB) fans who met specific criteria (i.e. background information; knowing about the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal and how the team responded to it). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings showed that perceived adequacy of the crisis response positively influenced sports fans' perceived trust. This trust was negatively associated with revenge and avoidance intentions. The mediation effect of trust was also found in the relationship between the crisis response and both avoidance and revenge intentions. Regarding the interaction effect of team identification, however, the relationship between the crisis response and trust was not moderated by team identification levels.

The present study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of crisis communication in sports fans' perceptions and behavioral intentions. It illuminates a psychological process through which perceived adequacy of crisis response reduces negative behavioral intentions through trust.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of scandal on investor valuation of sport by examining changes in share prices of three football clubs involved in the 2006 Italian “Calciopoli” scandal.

Share price variation and volatility across 2006 is analysed for Juventus (the centre of the scandal), Lazio (also involved) and Roma (uninvolved) over different (qualitatively defined) phases of the scandal. Movements in share price are compared to three benchmark indices – FTSE MIB, DJ Stoxx Europe 600, and DJ Stoxx Europe Football – indexed from 2 Jan 2006. Unadjusted analysis of share price movement matched with events to inform the likely causes of variation.

Despite speculation and high volatility, the share price of all three clubs increased by 30 per cent in 2006, outperforming benchmark indices (15 per cent). This suggests the Calciopoli scandal increased the perceived value of the clubs.

Generalisation of these findings requires more sophisticated statistical and econometric analysis of the Calciopoli scandal, and application of the method to other instances of scandals in sport.

Intuitively, scandals in sport have a negative impact. This paper suggests that scandal could have a positive impact on a club's share price and therefore the overall financial value of sport.

There is a dearth of literature on the economic consequences of scandals in sport. This paper contributes to the development of that literature and investigates some economic consequences of a particular scandal in Italian football.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of doping scandals (n=25) in professional cycling Grand Tour events on the primary team sponsor’s daily stock return.

Event study methodology.

Overall it was found that during the time period and events under examination in this study doping scandals had no significant impact on the primary team sponsor’s stock returns.

There is limited research to explain the economic impact of widespread doping in cycling and its commercial shareholders. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between doping scandals in professional cycling and the daily stock return of the involved team’s primary sponsor.

In recent years, negative spokesperson incidents have raised significant concerns in academia and industry. While several studies have addressed celebrity endorser scandals, comprehensive analyses of current knowledge are lacking. Therefore, this study systematically reviewed the related literature to better understand trends and suggest future research directions for advancing this field.

This study employs the theory–context–characteristics–methodology (TCCM) framework to examine 76 articles on celebrity endorser scandals.

Utilizing the TCCM framework, this study presents a comprehensive research framework, revealing that (1) the celebrity endorser scandal effect primarily includes associative learning, attribution of responsibility, and moral reasoning; (2) entertainment celebrities and athletes have received significant research attention; (3) both individual- and relationship-level characteristics serve as crucial moderators, with focal brand and related brand being the primary outcome variables. Additionally, this study outlines enterprise response strategies, encompassing the reformation of existing spokesperson relationships and the establishment of future spokesperson connections; and (4) quantitative approaches dominate the field.

This study integrates and expands existing research on celebrity endorser scandals while proposing future research opportunities to advance the field.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a crisis situation in a sports team on the credibility of their sponsor and how the sponsor’s use of various crises response strategies may repair the damage done to their credibility.

A scenario experiment was conducted with a 2 (pre-/post-crisis) × 4 (sponsor response strategy: denial/distancing/rebuild/no response) mixed factor design. Respondents (n=191) were recruited from a research panel.

The results confirmed the existence of a spill-over effect: the sponsor’s credibility dropped as a result of the crisis. More interestingly, the effects of the crisis on sponsor credibility were moderated by the response strategy of the sponsor: the harm that the crisis did to the sponsor credibility was aggravated by a denial strategy, but somewhat weakened by a diminishing strategy. A rebuild response unexpectedly improved the credibility of the sponsor.

While partnerships in sports can be risky, because crises can be contagious, such partners can also help one another to protect their credibility. Therefore, this study advocates an integral approach of crisis communication. Sponsors may improve their credibility when they frame their contribution to the solution to the problems as an authentic effort to do good.

Starting from an issue arena perspective, this contribution shows how crises in sports teams also affect sponsors and how sponsors can contribute to the restoration of the damaged credibility with suitable responses to the crisis situation.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on two internal organizational factors in college football teams (team powerfulness and team reputation) and their combined relationship on game attendance. Authors aim to validate new data published by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and NCAA websites; and to develop a new conceptual model to examine the interaction effect of team powerfulness and team reputation on game attendance.

This study relies on secondary data collected from the WSJ’s “College Football’s Grid of Shame” publication and the NCAA official website. Data for 123 US college football teams are collected representing 13 conferences for seasons 2010–2014. Multi-level regressions are utilized for statistical analyses.

Results reveal that not only team’s powerfulness is required for more public attendance to games, but also team reputation strengthens this relationship. In other words, team reputation plays an important role in increasing games’ attendance. Team reputation alone does not bring more attendees to games.

This paper studies the relevance of team reputation in the field of sports management. This paper argues that in order to achieve superior financial benefits in college football games, it is important to properly manage team powerfulness and its legal and ethical behavior. In this way, a positive reputation can leverage game attendance to a larger extent.

The purpose of this work is (1) to supply a framework of actors in sport sponsorship and articulate the service relationships that support these partnerships and (2) to propose research questions in this space that are unaddressed and forward-looking.

Sponsorship is part of a complex network of actors and service relationships found in sport. The sports team, activity, or event is a sport property, often with long-term and dynamic service relationships. The authors consider how a sponsor's relationship with the sport property intersects with organizing bodies, venues, communities and society. The authors identify clusters of actors that interact with and influence other clusters (e.g. governing bodies, media, host community and venue/teams/fans) within an ecosystem, paying special attention to aspects of co-creation and co-destruction and the feedback loops that cause them.

Through this analysis, the authors identify areas of needed research at the intersection of sport sponsorship and service. The model synthesizes the literature from service-dominant logic, sports, sponsorship, systems thinking and co-creation/co-destruction research areas. Using the model and relevant cases, the authors can better understand the complexities of sport service relationships and advance research at the intersection of sport sponsorship and service.

This is the first sport sponsorship service ecosystem model. It is also the first integration of systems thinking with constructs in sport sponsorship and services.