2016 - Current Issue

Although activities of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and its member universities have been examined through a lens of economic and legal issues, the present research explores the consumer perspective. A longitudinal study of sports consumers was conducted over a seven month period leading up to the College Football Championship Tournament. Measures of Commitment to Fandom of NCAA Football, Meaningfulness of the College Football Championship Tournament, Affinity for the NCAA Football Organization, and Perceived Greediness of the NCAA Football Organization reveal changes in perception consistent with media coverage but not with what one would expect based on the findings of most studies published from economic and legal perspectives. Perceptions of Meaningfulness of the tournament increased and became a strong predictor of intention to recommend viewing and viewership self-assessment decisions while the other perceptions had no statistically significant difference over time. Of particular interest, perceived Greediness of the NCAA had no significant change over time and was not a significant predictor of viewing intention or non-regret / regret over the decision to view. Discussion of the findings, future research, and limitations are presented.

Successful navigation of the work-life interface remains an important issue for sport management scholars and practitioners as work-life balance is linked to meaningful individual and organizational outcomes such as commitment, performance, and well-being. Building on Dixon and Bruening’s (2005) multilevel model of the work-life interface in sport, this study uses a cohort analysis to investigate cohort effects of male and female coaches at various career stages on their work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). Responses from 840 NCAA Division I male (64.5%) and female (35.5%) head coaches were analyzed to assess the impact of cohort (age/career stage) and gender on WFC and FWC. Overall, MANOVA results showed that males and females in intercollegiate athletics experience similar levels of WFC across career stages. Males, particularly those with children in the home, experience the highest levels of conflict early in their careers, while females experience high levels throughout their careers. These findings reflect recent social trends regarding role expectations of mothers and fathers. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical contributions and extensions.

Although activities of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and its member universities have been examined through a lens of economic and legal issues, the present research explores the consumer perspective. A longitudinal study of sports consumers was conducted over a seven month period leading up to the College Football Championship Tournament. Measures of Commitment to Fandom of NCAA Football, Meaningfulness of the College Football Championship Tournament, Affinity for the NCAA Football Organization, and Perceived Greediness of the NCAA Football Organization reveal changes in perception consistent with media coverage but not with what one would expect based on the findings of most studies published from economic and legal perspectives. Perceptions of Meaningfulness of the tournament increased and became a strong predictor of intention to recommend viewing and viewership self-assessment decisions while the other perceptions had no statistically significant difference over time. Of particular interest, perceived Greediness of the NCAA had no significant change over time and was not a significant predictor of viewing intention or non-regret / regret over the decision to view. Discussion of the findings, future research, and limitations are presented.

With institutions relying on donors to fund substantial investments in stadia and other capital athletic projects, the overall impact on institutional donor support, including academic programs, is a paramount question. This case study explores the effects of a stadium and training facility campaign at a large, public, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school. The entire giving histories of all donors participating in the institution’s premium seating campaign were analyzed, showing substantial, but short-lived, substitution effects on academic giving for most donor segments. A sub-group of highest value donors exhibited no substitution effect, maintaining previous levels of academic support while increasing support for athletics during the campaign. Any deleterious effect on overall academic giving was short-term.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) By-Law 3.2.4.16 requires its member schools to prepare financial data through an agreed-upon procedure (AUP) engagement. The primary purpose of the AUP engagement is to inform a university’s chief executive of its athletic department’s financial activity. Specifically, this engagement reviews athletic department financial statements based on approved procedures by NCAA members performed on the subject matter. The NCAA AUP guidelines require institutions to provide an annual report to the NCAA detailing their operating revenues, expenses and capital related to their intercollegiate athletic programs. These items include salaries and benefits for athletic positions, capital expenditures, endowment and pledge values, and the department’s fiscal year-end balance. The purpose of this examination is to explain the NCAA’s AUP procedures for reporting financial data. This investigation details the minimum AUP for revenues and expenses, compliance, internal controls, and affiliated and outside organizations and makes recommendations for their improvement. Potential suggestions for improvement include adopting Activity-Based Costing (ABC) methodologies for cost allocation, releasing financial information for private school NCAA members, and creating an online database for individuals to access the AUP financial reports. Through these changes, the NCAA can provide society detailed knowledge regarding the financial dynamics of college athletics.

This research examines how Bowdoin College administrators responded to stakeholder interests and, in some cases, demands, and sought to manage the implications of their decisions, and relates how these decisions impacted Bowdoin, its peer institutions, and the greater intercollegiate athletic environment. The ability to compete with some measure of success against larger and prestigious regional opponents aided in promoting interest in the program, and through the auspices of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), Bowdoin was also able to access competition in emerging regional postseason championships in the mid-1960s. But these postseason opportunities were in direct conflict with stipulations in the Pentagonal Agreement, Bowdoin’s loosely aligned athletic confederation with three other similar New England colleges. The formalized ban evinced substantial disapproval from College stakeholders, who pressured Bowdoin presidents James Coles and Roger Howell Jr. to negotiate with the heads of the other Pentagonal schools to finesse pertinent regulations so that Bowdoin’s hockey team could participate in postseason play. Finally, this work provides implications of managing athletics in response to stakeholder demands as learned from this study.

While facility naming-rights agreements are becoming more prevalent in intercollegiate athletics, both administrators and fans are still somewhat hesitant toward this type of sponsorship. Previous research explored college sport fans’ attitudes and their role in predicting behavioral intentions, but other non-attitudinal factors have yet to receive attention. The purpose of this study was to examine differences between fans’ future team- and sponsor-related intentions (i.e., purchase intentions) based on aspects of behavioral involvement (i.e., donations, event attendance) and demographic characteristics. Seven pertinent characteristics (age, gender, donor level, favorite team, game attendance, alumni status, and number of years as a fan) were identified from the literature, and differences between fan segments were assessed on both future sponsor- and team-related intentions in a hypothetical naming-rights scenario. Results of the MANOVA analyses revealed that higher level donors (in terms of their donation amount) were more likely to respond favorably to a naming-rights scenario than lower level donors. Significant differences were also found on gender and favorite team. The authors present additional theoretical and practical implications.

Parent involvement is an integral, but potentially problematic, aspect of this transition. Therefore, the need exists for campus-level parent education in the context of intercollegiate athletics. The present research was designed to address key stakeholders’ perceptions of parent involvement in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletics, as well as their perceptions of core design components, barriers to feasibility, and expected outcomes of parent education in the setting of intercollegiate athletics. Four senior administrators, 25 coaches, and one team director from two NCAA Division I member-institutions took part in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Data were synthesized to create a grounded theory highlighting types of negative parent involvement, policy considerations for NCAA administrators, and barriers to implementing parent education. Additionally, structural elements of educational programming for parents at the NCAA Division I level, barriers to achieving positive parent involvement, and desired outcomes for student-athletes are discussed. A range of demographic factors (e.g., class in school, student-athlete gender, sport culture) were also identified that may impact the implementation and efficacy of campus-level parent education. Recommendations and considerations for institutions wishing to implement campus-level educational programming for parents are provided.

Fundraisers in NCAA Division I athletics departments are under increasing pressure to procure donations. Prior studies have examined both donor motivations and consumer behaviors tied to fan identification. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between donor behavior and the life stage at which donors identify with a collegiate athletics program. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if donor motivations and giving amounts differ between groups of donors who became highly identified with an athletics program at different life stages. Results from 2,312 survey respondents at a “Power 5” institution showed significant differences among donor motives between those who became highly identified with an athletics program prior to turning 18 compared to those who did not. No significant differences were found in annual giving levels and lifetime giving amount among groups stratified by their initial age of highly identifying with the athletics program. In an era of heightened emphasis on declining college student attendance, it may be more prudent to increase an emphasis on family/youth marketing efforts in order to cultivate future athletics donors.

Athletics has played an important role in the integration and connection students have with their college alma mater. However, research shows that Black students do not readily attend athletic games or participate in related events. Findings from this study indicated that Black students engaged in football-related activities and the campus community, but in ways that did not stimulate further or continued participation in the larger campus community. This study advances our understanding of how and why Black students engage in football games at Hartwell University, and to identify leverages to improve their success in addressing the social and communal needs of diverse students on campus.

Student-athletes have a significant amount of responsibilities, both in the sporting and academic worlds.  While research shows that student-athletes can learn transferable skills from competitive sport, other factors (e.g., high athletic identity, lack of time/commitment to non-sporting events) may impact their transition out of collegiate sport.  Additionally, there is a lack of standardized approaches to assisting student-athletes with their eventual retirement from competitive sport, despite most student-athletes having the ability to plan for it before graduation.  This study examined the potential use of Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA; Lofquist & Dawis, 1969), a vocational theory that distinguishes itself by emphasizing the “mutual responsiveness” of the environment and the individual.  The purpose of the study was to gain a consensus on the importance, applicability, and potential use of core elements of TWA with student-athletes.  A three-round modified Delphi panel was used and included experts (with at least 10 years of experience) from the fields of academic advising, sport psychology, and counseling psychology.  The results indicate endorsement of certain elements of TWA; however, further research should examine the role of values and overall practical implementation in our academic and athletic departments.

In the 10 years since the invention of Facebook, social media sites have become an indispensable part of the marketing and communications strategy employed by a broad spectrum of organizations, including university athletic departments. While social media is almost universally used, a review of academic literature suggests the study of deployment of social media resources, and analysis of their effectiveness, is still very much in preliminary stages. Professional literature on social media use is out in front of peer-reviewed research. Therefore, we use Funk’s framework for social media practices as a point of departure, offering a social media strategy specifically for university athletic departments, grounded in Social Marketing Theory. Using a case study of Old Dominion University, a mid-sized, U.S. college athletic department, the authors analyze the 40 social media pages run by the department in comparison to guidelines created from the Funk framework and the growing body of academic literature, conduct interviews with practitioners in the athletic department, and a focus group of fans. Using this data, the authors create a case study-based list of best practices, known by the acronym S-T-E-A-M, which could assist similar university athletic departments in their use of social media.

Urban universities serving a highly commuter-student population often struggle to draw student fans to athletic events. College athletic departments want to reach this group because they might become brand ambassadors for the university and can continue to contribute to the athletics program after graduation as a non-student fan. College athletic departments have embraced social networking sites (SNS) as a means for engagement. This study surveys students at two urban commuter universities to create student fan profiles so that institutions can determine which will be the most important football SNS for users. Findings indicate four fan types that engage with college football SNS for varying reasons, but that using SNS does not predict game attendance. This study offers suggestions for how athletic departments at public urban universities can help these students to develop a sense of pride and belonging to their institution. Implications for future research about SNS and behaviors, as well as for college football marketers are discussed.

The aim of this study was to describe the nutritional regrets and sport nutrition knowledge of Division I NCAA athletes and determine if higher knowledge would be related to fewer regrets. Additionally, we explored whether differences would emerge on nutrition knowledge or nutritional regrets based on gender or year in school. This was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted during the spring and summer of 2015. A total of 196 Division I NCAA student-athletes (145 male and 51 female) from a single university completed a questionnaire at the end of their competitive season. Comparisons on nutrition-related regrets and sport nutrition knowledge were conducted using Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. A Spearman’s rho correlation was used to examine the relationship between nutrition-related regrets and sports nutrition knowledge. Most student-athletes possessed regrets related to their eating habits, with few regretting weight management practices. Total nutritional regrets were higher in females than males, but did not differ significantly by school level. There was no significant association between nutritional knowledge and regrets. Interventions that incorporate education, strategies that increase dietary choice self-efficacy, and goal-setting may prove to be more efficacious in minimizing regrets in nutrition-related decision-making.