Fans often derive great personal value from having a connection with a particular sports team, joining with other fans in that connection, and being able to share connections readily with outsiders. Whether the connection is spatial/geographic, digital, or social, displaying a team logo can communicate many qualities about the wearer of team apparel. With most cases in sport, a team logo symbolizes the exclusive image or identity of the sport organization. A team logo as a symbol is a form of semiotics. For the consumer, an image is a visual global evaluation that depicts or triggers a response based on experiences or other perceptions of meaning (Keller, 2003). Semiotics in advertising is frequently used to signify the message of the advertiser through the use of signs or symbols to relay a basic message. At a higher level of intensity and recognition, the team logo can be understood as a signifier of the exact representation of the good or service based on characteristics in the logo perceived by consumers as genuine and authentic to the overall brand. A logo can be defined as a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations, and individuals to promote public recognition. Logos are either purely graphic (i.e. symbols/icons) or are composed of the name of the organization (i.e. a logotype or wordmark) (Wheeler, 2006). If a sport organization decided to change their organizational identity (for a variety of reasons), some may see this as diluting the distinctiveness of the overall brand. Components of the overall brand are created by the team through continuous operations in all aspects of the industry. Organizational identity is just a part of the overall brand and communicates the way in which a team wants consumers to perceive (not necessarily how it is actually perceived) the mission, values, and strategy of the team. Fans may collectively experience a change in organizational identity as a loss because it would undercut the ability for them to identify with the team. The organization may want to change or modify their identity within the industry but loyal fans, in this case, would have a collective interest in maintaining the distinctiveness of the team identity because of a strong connection with the team. Would established fans reject the efforts of the organization to modify or change their identity while the organization attempts to attract the interest of new fans? This study includes an analysis of sport team identity following a logo change and an assessment of how the characteristics of a logo are perceived by sport fans as they engage in the purchasing process. Fan perceptions about the representation of a team logo are explored through semi-structured interviews and an analysis of the attributes, values, and ideals teams want to portray through a team logo is provided. During the process of purchasing sport merchandise, the individual perceives themselves as a legitimate part of the team based on a desire to associate with positive elements of the organization (Janssen & Huang, 2008). Through the purchasing decision, fans can view the team as an entity with greater personal meaning and establish an allegiance gained from the team – fan relationship. The interviews were used to examine the impact of a logo change on fan perceptions and intentions to consume licensed team merchandise. One-on-one interviews were used to gather data from sport fans. The purpose of the interviews was to help understand how logos are perceived by fans, or what the logos are perceived to represent. The interviews included questions pertaining to how sport fans feel about changes in the team logo, and the impact of the logo change on intentions to consume. Understanding what the logo should mean and how that message can be properly communicated to fans is important when examining fan preferences towards the action of consumption. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / April 21, 2015. / Consumption, Identity, Management, Marketing, Psychology, Sales / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey D. James, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeannine E. Turner, University Representative; Joshua I. Newman, Committee Member; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member.

As a central component of the sports industry, athletes are now playing roles far beyond what they do on the field of play, including making contributions to society as philanthropists. Many professional athletes from around the world have established their own philanthropic foundations. However, given that professional athletes are now under frequent media scrutiny because of their celebrity status and perceived financial standing--and particularly once there are scandals or transgressions involving those celebrity athletes--the media will likely attenuate to those incidents via their respective platforms. Subsequently, this mass mediation will likely affect the general public' perceptions towards their philanthropy foundations since these organizations are in direct link with these famous athletes. Therefore, the aim of this research is to shed some light on the ways in which the media frames athletes' transgressions as they relate to those athletes' philanthropic foundations. In order to achieve this purpose, a content analysis was utilized to study the media coverage of a specific case: Tiger Woods' adultery affairs with multiple women behind his wife's back in 2009. By identifying what the multi-media have suggested about the impacts Woods' infidelity scandal has on his Tiger Woods Foundation, this case study will assess the extent to which the foundation is implicated in media due to his personal controversies. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2014. / October 17, 2014. / athlete philanthropic foundation, athlete transgressions, media / Includes bibliographical references. / Joshua Newman, Professor Directing Thesis; Jeffrey James, Committee Member; Amy Kim, Committee Member.

Using the lens of positive thinking is an essential key to improving one's psychological well-being, especially in the modern workplace. In today's "flat-world" and fast-paced environment, modern organizations are well-fitted with the perspective of positive organizational behavior (POB) because POB assumes state-like capacities highlighting flexibility for different situations. The sport industry, one of the most competitive workplace arenas (Plunkett, 2008), creates a particularly exceptional environment in which POB needs to be adapted for an improved employee's work experience and well-being. In transferring the idea of POB to the practice of human resource management, Luthans and Youssef (2004) proposed the concept of psychological capital or simply PsyCap. PsyCap is a high-order construct of self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency, and is considered as state-like, potentially having a synergistic impact on individual and organizational outcomes. Given the importance of POB and PsyCap in sport organizations, the three-fold purpose of this study is to: (1) provide a conceptual framework of POB in sport (POBS), (2) empirically examine the effects of various influences on PsyCap, and (3) investigate the role of PsyCap in increasing employees' PWB. Top management teams of an organization will expect their employees to be efficacious, hopeful, optimistic and resilient, but only a few studies have offered a systematic consideration for antecedents of PsyCap (Avey, 2014). Employees' PsyCap levels are determined by leaders' behavior, organizational culture, and individual perspectives and attitudes. Therefore, the conceptual framework of POB in sport (POBS) considers leader, employees, and organizational influences for PsyCap. The ultimate goal of POB is the pursuit of employees' happiness and well-being beyond higher levels of organizational performance. Thus, POBS emphasizes the inclusion of employees' PWB to general organizational outcomes. By proposing a testable research model, 11 research hypotheses were addressed, including both direct and indirect effects. This reduced model consisted of six main constructs, including authentic leadership, meaningful work, supportive organizational climate, PsyCap, job satisfaction and PWB. To create reliable and valid scales to test the research hypotheses, an initial set of items was developed in a pilot test by collecting data from employees in athletic departments of Division II and III institutions. The three-fold purpose of the main study is to (1) provide further evidence of construct validity of constructs in the research model, (2) test research hypotheses in regard to causal relationships among five constructs, and (3) examine the mediating role of PsyCap between three predictors (i.e., authentic leadership, meaningful work, supportive organizational climate) and PWB. To achieve each aforementioned purpose, the main study targeted employees in athletic departments of Division I institutions and included three stages of data analysis, respectively: (1) evaluation of full measurement model through a CFA, (2) empirical test of research hypotheses through SEM, and (3) examination of indirect effects of PsyCap. The results from the empirical tests of the hypothesized model indicated that employees' meaningful work and supportive organizational climate positively influence PsyCap level, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and PWB. On the other hand, the path from authentic leadership of athletic directors in athletic departments, to employees' PsyCap was not statistically significant with the sample from the current study. Based on the results of the direct effects, indirect effects regarding PsyCap as a central value were also tested. PsyCap played important roles between antecedents (i.e., left) and outcomes (i.e., right) as either a partial mediator or a full mediator. The current study provides empirical evidence regarding not only antecedents and outcomes of PsyCap but also mediating role of PsyCap in the context of sport. For practitioners in the sport industry, the current study offers a new perspective of positivity in workplace by conceptualizing a POBS as a roadmap. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2015. / June 23, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Chan Hyung Kim, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gerald R. Ferris, University Representative; Joshua I. Newman, Committee Member; Pamela L. Perrewé, Committee Member.

A review of sport media on any given day seemingly includes news about an athlete involved in some type of questionable behavior, or what is likely referred to as a "scandal." For example, consider the numerous stories published about Lance Armstrong's denial then subsequent admission of using performance-enhancing drugs, or the stories about Tiger Wood's marital infidelity. Despite what seems to be daily reports in the media about scandals involving athletes, empirical assessment of the impact of knowing about such scandals on sport consumers' remains limited (Prior, O'Reilly, Mazanov, & Huybers, 2013). With the viability and prosperity of commercially-oriented sport teams dependent on consumption by sport fans and spectators, it is important to ascertain the impact scandals involving athletes have on consumer behavior. There is anecdotal evidence that sport scandals have a negative impact on sport consumer behavior. There remains limited empirical research, however, examining the direct impact of sports scandals on sport team-related consumption patterns of consumers. This project was an attempt to investigate the impact of reported sports scandals on team identification and sport consumers' sport team-related behavior intentions. Two objectives guided the research. First, ascertain whether on-field and off-field sports scandals have an impact on sport consumers' team identification and sport team-related behavioral intentions. Second, assess whether a sport consumers' level of team identification moderates the impact of on-field and off-field sports scandals on subsequent sport team-related behavioral intentions. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was used to collect quantitative measures of team identification and sport team-related behavioral intentions prior (pretest) and subsequent (posttest) to on-field or off-field sport scandal condition exposure. The results of the investigation are contradictory to anecdotal evidence. It was concluded from the results that irrespective of the type of sports scandal, sport consumers' team identification levels and sport team-related behavioral intentions remained static subsequent to learning of a scandal. There was no negative spillover effect on the associated sport team. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / December 9, 2015. / consumer behavior, scandal, team identification / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey James, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amy Guerette, University Representative; Joshua Newman, Committee Member; Amy Kim, Committee Member.

The motives of volunteers provide an important key to understanding an individual's decision to become involved in volunteering (Kim, Zhang, & Connaughton, 2010). One challenge sporting event managers face is that community sport organizations in particular have suffered from a lack of volunteers (Cuskelly, 2004). To date, scholars have focused their research efforts to study the motivation and retention of volunteers for mega-sporting events. Previous researchers, however, suggested that individuals volunteering with mega sporting events may demonstrate different motivations and behaviors compared to those volunteering in other settings such as community sport. Therefore, attention should be given to assess whether the motives of those volunteering to work at community sporting events differ from motives to volunteer at mega sporting events. In spite of the observed differences between community and mega sporting events, there has been little effort to compare volunteer motivations for the different types of sporting events. Kim et al. (2010) started their research based on the perspective that different motives may drive volunteers to work in different sport settings, an approach that is similar to the proposed research. Even though Kim et al. (2010) studied volunteers working with community sport events, (e.g., youth community sports), a majority of participants in their study were parents who had children participating in sport programs. While youth sports are considered a facet of community sports, the proposed research focused on volunteers at community sporting events that were primarily adult oriented other than youth sports oriented. The purpose of this study was to: (a) identify the motives that are most and least important to those who volunteer with community sporting events, and (b) assess whether the particular motives influence intention to continue volunteering in the future. The results from this study provide community sport organizers with information as to why people volunteer to work with community sporting events, and how to retain them. The results from this study may be used by administrators in community sport organizations to develop policies to aid recruitment and retention of volunteers. To achieve the goals of proposed study, participants who were currently involved in volunteering activities, or had volunteer experiences with community sporting events (e.g., community tennis tournaments, road races, and soccer leagues, etc.) were recruited. I collected data via both e-mail and face-to-face. To analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Mplus was used to assess the hypothesized relationships between volunteer motivation and intention to continue volunteering. I concluded from the results that Value was the most important motive for volunteering. The remaining factors, in order of importance for volunteering were Social, Career, Enhancement, and Protective. In terms of intention to continue volunteering in general, Protective and Career had significant and negative relationships, while Social and Enhancement had significant and positive influences on overall intention to continue volunteering. Protective had a significant and negative relationship on intention to continue volunteering relative to the influence by family or friends. Enhancement had a significant and positive influence on intention to continue volunteering relative to the influence by family or friends. Social and Career did not have a significant influence on intention to continue volunteering relative to the influence by family or friends. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 11, 2016. / Community Sport, Motivation, Retention, Sport, Volunteer / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey James, Professor Directing Thesis; Joshua Newman, Committee Member; Amy Chan Hyung Kim, Committee Member.

In this dissertation, I developed a measure of sports team reputation. The reputation construct is one that has been the subject of decades of scholarly focus in the broader management field, but has been comparatively neglected by sport management scholars. Consumers use the reputations held by organizations to predict future behavior, and decide the ways in which they will engage (or not engage) with those organizations; thus, it is intuitively important for sports teams to cultivate and manage their reputations in order to receive positive benefits from external stakeholders (e.g., fans, spectators, general sport consumers). The development of the measure provides scholars a tool with which to empirically investigate the relationship between sports team reputation and consumer outcomes. As such, this research should be viewed as a first—and necessary—step toward increasing our understanding how reputation affects sport consumer behavior. Herein, reputation is treated as a multidimensional construct comprising consumers’ collective beliefs and attitudes about a focal unit—in this case, a sports team. Beliefs pertain to reputations for actions pertaining to performance- or character-related attributes, while attitudes are related to favorable or unfavorable overall assessments of reputation. The measure is based upon this conceptualization. To develop this measure, I followed the six-step scale development process detailed by Hinkin (1998): (1) item generation; (2) questionnaire administration; (3) initial item reduction; (4) confirmatory factor analysis; (5) construct validity; and (6) replication. In the project, I completed the first five of these steps, through which I was able to provide evidence of the validity and reliability of the measure. Using two independent samples (n = 300; n =181), I demonstrated internal validity of a three-factor measure comprising subscales for performance, character, and organizational prominence. A fourth subscale for favorability was removed. Further analysis provided evidene of acceptable model fit in the three-factor models for both samples (Sample 1: RMSEA = .078, SRMR = .049; Sample 2: RMSEA = .075, SRMR = .039). Based on the results, a significant strong positive relationship was found between organizational performance and organizational prominence (Sample 1: β = .92, p < .001; Sample 2: β = .96, p < .001); while a weaker significant negative relationship was observed between organizational character and organizational prominence (Sample 1: β = -.28, p < .001; Sample 2: β = -.24, p < .001). One conclusion from the results is that sports teams become known primarily for good high performance, and to a lesser extent, their misdeeds. Reasons for these trends are discussed, in addition to managerial implications, and limitations of the study. Ultimately, the development and validation of the present measure enables future empirical study of the reputation construct within the context of sports teams, and other organizations within the sport industry. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / May 16, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey D. James, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gerald R. Ferris, University Representative; Amy C. H. Kim, Committee Member; Ryan M. Rodenberg, Committee Member.

In this dissertation, I compare three case study-based analyses of collaborative governance arrangements between municipal government parks and recreation departments and civil-sector disc golf associations. I utilize theories of collaborative governance, an arrangement between two or more organizations sharing responsibility for decision making, problem solving, and/or the provision of a good or service (Ansell & Gash, 2007; Bradley, 2012), to examine the extent to which free-market economic approaches to public sector sport and recreation administration (and namely practices associated with the implementation of devolution) influence the structurations within which disc golf courses are developed, administered, and resourced (Ansell & Gash, 2007; Elwood and Leitner, 2003; Ghose, 2005; Roy, 2015). Although some scholars have examined the use of collaborative governance in sport and recreation (e.g. Brownlow, 2006; Joassart-Marcelli et al., 2011; Perkins, 2009; Perkins, 2010; Pincetl, 2003), there has been little research on sport specific models of collaborative governance at the municipal level and the perceptions of those involved in this model. I look specifically at how the restructuring of government agencies to partner with civil sector organizations for the provision of parks and recreation affect the quality and fluency of those services/facilities (Joassart-Marcelli, Wolch, & Salim, 2010; Holifield & Williams, 2014; Pincetl, 2003; Wolch, 1990). For this analysis, I conducted three inductive, qualitative case studies using interviews, observation, and document analysis of disc golf course development and administration in three differentially scaled cities. Overall, I examined participant perceptions of: 1) the management of disc golf space; 2) responsibilities of the organizations involved in collaborative governance; 3) benefits and challenges of the collaborative partnership; and 4) anticipated outcomes of disc golf related to economic development, social inclusion, and public health for policy. The results indicate a variety of collaborative governance models by public administrators and members of local disc golf associations who work together to plan and maintain courses, provide funding, and enhance the local disc golf scene. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / July 7, 2016. / Civil Sector Organizations, Collaborative Governance, Disc Golf, Shadow State / Includes bibliographical references. / Joshua I. Newman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christopher Coutts, University Representative; Amy C. H. Kim, Committee Member; Michael D. Giardina, Committee Member.

How do sport consumption activities (i.e., sport participation, sport spectating, and sport media viewing) affect the subjective well-being (or happiness) of sport consumers? To fulfill the ethical creed of sport marketers and to effectively utilize ‘well-being’ as a marketing strategy, it is imperative to know whether and how sport consumption influences one’s psychological state. Learning the existence and degree of sport consumption’s influence on happiness is essential in laying the fundamental basis of sport consumer well-being research. Research on the mechanism of achieving happiness through sport consumption can be informative for sport marketers in deriving strategies to enhance the consumer’s benefits. However, the fundamental questions about sport consumer’s subjective well-being are not yet fully answered, calling for further research particularly in the sport spectating and sport media consumption contexts. A research project was conducted based on the revised model of hedonic treadmill, activity theory, and need theory: (1) to investigate the influences of sport participation, sport spectating, and sport media viewing activities on one’s baseline and momentary fluctuation of subjective well-being, and (2) to examine ‘need fulfillment’ (i.e., fulfilling one’s needs for detachment-recovery, autonomy, achievement, and belonging) as the psychological process linking sport consumption activities to increased happiness. A repetitive self-report based research project was completed to examine subjective well-being state and need fulfillment experiences in the three sport consumption contexts, and the link between need fulfillment and subjective well-being. Two pilot studies were conducted to construct scales for measuring subjective well-being and need fulfillment and to pre-test the data collection plan of the main study. The main study was conducted to test the relations among sport consumption activities, subjective well-being and need fulfillment. Data was collected based on ecological momentary assessment—that is, repetitive data collection took place on a panel of respondents via mobile phones during their daily lives, 2-3 times per week, over 9 weeks to capture perceptions of subjective well-being state and need fulfillment experience in relation to the type of activity engaged at the time of signal. A total of 2,746 responses were collected from 242 respondents. Multi-level structural equation modeling was conducted for the data analysis, with responses at level-1 and respondents at level-2. Sport participation and sport spectating activities had positive influences on baseline and momentary fluctuation of subjective well-being, and was effective for detachment-recovery, autonomy, achievement, and belonging needs fulfillment. Both positive and negative influences of sport media viewing on subjective well-being state and baseline were found; detachment-recovery, autonomy, and belonging needs were fulfilled in the activity, while achievement need was not. Among the four types of fulfillment, autonomy and achievement needs fulfillment were identified as the most influential on subjective well-being state. Compared to non-sport activities (e.g., work, study, socializing, exercising), sport participation and sport spectating had positive, stronger and more comprehensive needs fulfillment and thus well-being effects; the effects of sport media viewing were positive (or less negative), stronger and more diverse than that of non-sport media viewing. Based on the findings, sport participation and sport spectating are identified as activities beneficial for contributing to short- and long-term well-being, while the valence of well-being effects in sport media viewing is ambiguous. The notion of short-term well-being effects being accumulated and developing into long-term well-being effects through repetitive exposure aligned with the findings in the study, but a more rigorous study examining the causal relations is required. Detachment-recovery, autonomy, achievement, and belonging needs fulfillment are highlighted as key constructs explaining the well-being effects associated with sport consumption. Particular attention on achievement need fulfillment is warranted, for being an influential construct on one’s subjective well-being state that may cause positive as well as negative well-being effects in the sport media viewing context. Examining the moderating effects of psychological connection between sport consumers and one’s favored sport team is proposed, for better understanding achievement need fulfillment through vicarious experiences of sport spectating and sport media viewing. Practical implications are presented for effective fulfillment of the four psychological needs through sport consumption activities, and thus for better improved well-being. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are suggested. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 13, 2016. / Ecological Momentary Assessment, Happiness, Multi-level Structural Equation Modeling, Need Fulfillment, Sport Consumer Well-being, Subjective Well-being / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey D. James, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gerald R. Ferris, University Representative; Insu Paek, Committee Member; Amy Chan Hyung Kim, Committee Member.

Internships are an integral part of the job-training regimen for college students in the United States today. The prevalence of internships in higher education and the U.S. economy is often justified by the compelling idea that internships provide mutual value to universities, students, and employers (Becker, 1962; Coco, 2000). The internship system, however, has become the subject of litigation in court, politicized as a regime of wage theft, and critiqued for its contribution to the widening gulf between rich and poor in the United States (Perlin, 2011b). It is within this context that internships have become a core component of the academic field of sport management. Sport management has used internships as a preparatory practice since its inception in the late 1960s. Founded on the idea of training a managerial class of workers for the sports industry, sport management has grown from one program in 1966 to over 400 today. Sport management scholars argue that such growth comes from 1) the burgeoning sports industry’s demand for a trained workforce and 2) from the more and more students who want to enroll in the degree programs (Chelladurai, 2017; Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2011). Despite the effective demand amongst students and the labor demand from the industry, scholars are describing the labor market as over-saturated and highly competitive (DeLuca & Braunstein-Minkove, 2016). The major consequences are an uncertain job market and suboptimal labor conditions for interns and graduates. This dissertation examines the political economy of internships within and between sport management and the sports industry and explores in this context the labor power, or productive subjectivities, of sport management majors going through the internship process. I performed in-depth semi-structured to unstructured interviews with 33 sport management majors who were at three different points in the internship process (before, during, and after). The interviews were conducted to understand the production of motivations and capacities to work in sport (or the demand for sport management); the experience of being entangled in labor market competition; the expectations for, and experiences of, interning; and the formative, and ongoing, role that sport (fandom and athletic participation) plays in the lives and labor of interns jockeying for positions in the sports industry. In my analysis, I discuss the ways in which my respondents became subjects of social reproduction between sport and capitalism and subjected to affective conditions of exploitation. I provide a critique of dominant internship orthodoxy, the function of internships in the sports industry, and the active role sport management plays in reproducing conditions of exploitation. And I illustrate how the contradictions of internships under capital give rise to passion, love, hope, and optimism as irrational yet core characteristics of the sport management workforce. After having fleshed out myriad issues with internships, I conclude with a discussion about what we can do about internships in sport management to improve the labor conditions for future interns. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2018. / June 11, 2018. / fandom, internships, labor, political economy, sports industry / Includes bibliographical references. / Joshua I. Newman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jennifer Proffitt, University Representative; Michael D. Giardina, Committee Member; Hanhan Xue, Committee Member.

Given that sports teams follow the schedules provided by their respective league offices, there has been much debate in terms of a potential impact of differential rest intervals on a team's productivity. In general, workers of an organization need rest in order to optimally perform. Rest can also reduce workers' fatigue and stress, which can have a positive impact on worker performance and ultimately be a benefit to an organization. The same notion of rest is applicable to professional sport teams, as their abilities and performance are key to team productivity. Because a team's schedule is controlled by a sport league or association that organizes sporting events, it is common for team managers and coaches to complain about insufficient rest periods for their teams. Teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) follow an unbalanced game schedule in terms of rest days and the length of a home stand/road trip. The league does not prioritize each team's rest days when scheduling games. As a result, teams frequently play back-to-back games with little or no rest days, and when traveling play multiple games in a row during a regular season. A potential problem with an unbalanced league schedule is that zero or a small number of rest days increase players' fatigue, which could subsequently impair overall team productivity. It was unclear to what degree differential rest intervals impact team productivity in the NBA. This issue is important, because team productivity is associated with the competitiveness within the league, which can influence team revenue derived from attendance, television rights deals, and other sources. Based on this notion, I examined whether differential rest intervals and the length of a home stand/road trip impacted team productivity in the NBA. I tested three statistical models with three dependent variables, in order to approach team productivity from diverse perspectives. The three dependent variables were team performance measures, win/loss, and margin of victory. To operationalize the concept of rest in the NBA, I employed rest periods of each team. Two other measures of the concept of rest were also chosen: the length of a road trip and a home stand. As indirect measures of the concept of rest intervals, these two factors are also important assuming that a long stay at home (on the road) may advantage (disadvantage) teams, because travel is believed to increases players' fatigue. The NBA prioritizes a venue's availability when scheduling games, so some teams stay at home for multiple games whereas other teams have to travel to play multiple games on the road. Thus, I attempted to gain insight as to how team productivity may have changed depending on a team's rest interval, length of a road trip, and length of a home stand scheduled by the NBA. Rest intervals were only significant in relation to two performance metrics, field-goal percentage and steals, while a team's margin of victory and probability of winning did not change with rest days. The non-significant impact of rest intervals on a team's productivity in relation to its game outcomes demonstrate that rest intervals were not a key determinant of game outcomes in the NBA. The improvement in field-goal percentage and steals was too low to change game outcomes. In addition, the impact of the length of a home stand and a road trip on team productivity were negligible, regardless of their statistical significance. These results indicate that the NBA's priority for building a schedule—venue availability—has not been flawed in that no team was advantaged or disadvantaged by playing successive games at home or on the road. The empirical results of the current study are supportive of NBA teams' and players' efforts to reduce the negative impact of no or short rest days on team productivity. I also found that travel factors such as the length of a home stand and a road trip (elements thought to impact a home advantage) were not greatly influential to a team's wins. Based on the results of the current study, I provide directions for future research with diverse approaches to the concepts of rest, fatigue, and productivity in sports. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 1, 2015. / fatigue, NBA, productivity, rest, schedule / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeffrey D. James, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Ryan Rodenberg, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Daekwan Kim, University Representative; Joshua Newman, Committee Member.