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This study surveys professional niche sports sponsors in an effort to empirically understand what selection criteria these companies deem important when evaluating professional niche sports sponsorship proposals. Findings suggest that professional niche sports properties may possess unique attributes on which sponsors place very high levels of importance, such as cost effectiveness, flexibility in assisting sponsors achieve their objectives, a more targeted fan-base and decreased sponsorship clutter. Pragmatically, findings provide professional niche sports managers with tools that may be useful when competing for sponsorship funding against more established mainstream sports properties. Theoretically, the current study begins to fill a gap in the sports sponsorship literature which has primarily focused on mainstream professional sports, major intercollegiate sports and elite amateur sports such as the Olympic Games.

This study aims to investigate how organizations can utilize sport sponsorship to build their corporate social responsibility (CSR) image effectively, by examining the attributes of a sports property that are most conducive to a sponsor gaining CSR image benefits.

A between-subjects experimental design was used, which simulated different sponsorship scenarios by varying community proximity (operationalized by property scope) and property engagement in community initiatives. Hypotheses were tested with a non-parametric bootstrapping-based procedure, using a panel sample of 400.

The results show that a sporting property’s proactive community engagement is conducive to an enhanced CSR image for its sponsor, especially when the property operates on the national rather than grassroots level. Further analysis also demonstrates the critical contribution of altruistic motive attributions in the process.

This study advances knowledge on how organizations may build their CSR image while leveraging on the strong audience involvement and the mass appeal of sport sponsorship. It is the first to offer insights into the extent to which a sports property’s proactive engagement in the community, rather than that of the sponsoring firm itself, enhances the CSR image of the sponsor, particularly if the property’s community proximity is low. Furthermore, our results provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms determining the benefits that sponsors can reap from a property’s activities.

This paper responds to the need for more investigation into the "conceptual underpinnings of sponsorships" (Gardner & Shuman, 1988, p.44) by investigating the spectrum of opportunities that are available to small firms - whether as sports donors or as bona fide sponsors - through the prism of small business Stages of Development theory. A multiple case study approach is employed to explore the nature of sponsorship activities being undertaken by small enterprises and to contribute to the advancement of the authors' 'philanthropy-sponsorship' continuum.

This research makes two contributions. First, it presents the classifications of 'patronage' versus 'semistrong sponsorship' versus 'fully functioning sponsorship' relationships, based on the nature of the expected benefits. Second, it evaluates the small business/sports property interface from the perspective of small business phases of development and proposes a framework for linking the small firm to sports sponsorship outcomes.

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.

This study assessed the intergenerational influence of family socialization, specifically, nurturant fathering – the affective quality fathers provide children through warmth and acceptance – to explore how individuals initially connect with a sports team to become team-loyal.

Data were collected via an online survey from respondents self-described as college football fans who selected their “Favorite NCAA Division I football team.” The 623 respondents subsequently selected their biological father's favorite team. An intergenerational “match” between father and child served as the dependent variable. Step-wise logistic regression assessed the relationship that team loyalty, nurturant fathering, and their interaction had on the intergenerational matching of a father's favorite team.

Team loyalty had a significant, positive relationship with an intergenerational match. A positive but weak direct relationship was found between nurturant fathering and a favorite-team match. However, nurturant fathering significantly moderated the relationship between team loyalty and intergenerational match. This suggests that the quality of a father-child relationship during the child's formative years can facilitate team loyalty to a team favored by the father.

The strength and quality of the relationship between a father and his children through nurturant fathering during their formative years can facilitate mutual team loyalty toward a college football team if not directly, then indirectly, through an interaction effect with a parent-socialized, team-loyal child.

College athletic teams, and sports properties in general, should address the bond between fathers and their children to take advantage of the intergenerational transference process identified in this study through targeted, family-focused sports marketing. More specifically, university athletic departments should engage in marketing efforts that encourage and solidify the mutual loyalty fathers and children may have to their father's favorite football team. The outcome would be a competitive advantage that leads to the cultivation of long-lasting fans from generation to generation.

College football teams and sports properties in general should engage in father-child marketing promotions to encourage and enhance the intergenerational influence of fathers on their children with respect to the father's favorite team. However, while building future team loyalty among the children, these marketing promotions and the resultant father-child game attendance concurrently reinforce the father-child relationship. This ideally leads to a virtuous cycle of parental bonding and team loyalty.

This study extends research in intergenerational influence in a sports setting by introducing the construct of Nurturant Fathering and its scale to the sports marketing literature. The results found that a nurturing father can facilitate the formation of a mutual team loyalty between a father and his child with regard to the father's favorite football team. Extant research has focused on the behavioral elements of loyalty (e.g. attendance and revenues). This study's focus was on the attitudinal aspects of team loyalty. It empirically identified, at least in part, how individuals initially connect with a sports team to become team-loyal.

While substantial literature has addressed the benefits that sponsors seek from linking with a sports property, relatively little attention has been given to the potential costs businesses risk from such relationships. This paper suggests that beyond ambushing there are eight risks companies are likely to consider. Four can be controlled relatively easily: liability exposure; insensitivity to public sentiment to changing established rules or formats, the name of a facility or team or a team's uniform; insensitivity to the prevailing societal and political environment; and opposition from workers or stockholders. Companies have less control over: poor presentation of the event; poor performance by either the sponsored team/player or the company's products if the event is being used as a demonstration platform; association with disreputable behaviour; and trauma to performers.

Ron Seaver is in a unique position within the sport industry. He has worked on both sides of the sponsorship business, selling sponsorships for teams and assisting corporations in securing productive sponsorship. In his current role as President and CEO of Seaver Marketing Group, Ron is working to bring all parties in the sponsorhip industry together. Here he talks to Dr David Stotlar, of the University of Northern Colorado, sharing his experience and his insights.

The criticisms put forward against economic impact studies lead to a key question: “Is it possible to measure the impact of sporting properties and events in a holistic, conservative, and reliable way?” This research endeavors to build on the academic literature to add to the scope and rigor of economic impact research by proposing an impact assessment process model for practitioners that facilitates employment of a holistic, conservative and reliable impact study and seeks to address these concerns.

Using seven identified key realities that highlight the challenges facing impact studies, and adopting a collaborative self-ethnographic methodological approach, the work highlights lessons learned from four empirical economic impact studies undertaken by the authors over a five-year period.

The study provides a broad view of impact studies, which extend beyond financial implications and provides a more inclusive methodology. Particularly, the proposed impact assessment process model seeks to improve the credibility of impact studies by facilitating a holistic approach that incorporates direct, indirect and intangible impacts.

The proposed model has value to researchers and is designed to improve the overall credibility of economic impact methodology. It also provides a more accurate measure of direct impact while considering intangible and indirect impacts, including social/community impacts.

The proposed model has value to and practitioners and is designed to improve the overall credibility of economic impact methodology. It also provides a more accurate measure of direct impact while considering intangible and indirect impacts, including social/community impacts.

The proposed process model to measure the impact of a sports event is a needed element in the world of funding, managing and implementing events of all sizes.