Title: The National Youth Sport Festival as a motivation for athletes' careers Objectives: The aim of this work is to evaluate the factors of athletes' motivation for participation at the National Youth Sport Festival and the perceived image of the event. The inclusion of athletes without participation and with participation at the event in the research allows a comparison of the perceived image between these two groups of respondents. Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this thesis. Electronic interviewing of the National Youth Sport Festival participants and members of sports association without participation was the main method of data collection. The questionnaires were compiled according to foreign studies. The electronic interviewing was supplemented with an in-depth interview with a marketing expert. Results: The results show, that the National Youth Sport Festival is fulfilling the main mission in the mind of participants. The sports event brings participants not only experiences, but also fun, enjoyment and new friendships. The event is a motivational event that motivates not only to recreational but also professional sport. The media pressure during the event is not significant to spoil the participants' attitude towards sports. Image of the event is positively...

In October 2017, the Olympic Committee rendered official its decision to consider electronic sports (eSports) as sports. The global eSports market was valued at nearly 493 million U.S. dollars in 2016, with 80% of the revenues coming from sponsorship. Sponsorship has become an important matter for organizations, since it can be a powerful tool to establish or change a company’s brand image; indeed, more than 600 sponsorship agreements were signed in 2016 in the eSport industry. This paper aims at finding out how do sport and eSport enthusiasts differ in their perception of the brand image of a sponsoring brand. The study was conducted by using combined research methods. First, we used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, in order to get a better understanding of the general context. Then a questionnaire was used to fully understand the differences and similarities between sport and eSport enthusiasts, and to identify the variables that impact the sponsorship response (measured by favour, interest, and use). The variables studied were event image, perceived fit, attitudes towards the brand as a sponsor, brand personality, brand associations, self-concepts and brand identification. The results show that sport enthusiasts are more impacted by factors such as brand identification and self-concepts, while brand associations matter for both groups.