Since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports gambling, the popularity of sports gambling continues to increase. This has left the sport industry, including academics, interested in examining the drivers of sports gambling participation and their influence on consumers’ betting behavior. This dissertation includes three essays considering motivations to engage in sports gambling. While all focus on sports gambling, each of these three standalone essays embrace a different focus to explore sports gambling motivations and betting behavior. First, Essay One explores the differences in motivation and perception of skill versus luck between daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting participants. Next, Essay Two investigates the interplay between motivations and game characteristics on betting intentions. Finally, Essay Three explores the effects of different marketing promotions and their fit with consumers’ regulatory focus on consumers’ betting behavior. Collectively, this research will provide insights and understandings of different drivers of sports gambling and their influence on consumer behavior regarding sports gambling. / Tourism and Sport

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of the current study was to reconstruct the sport venue quality dimensionsas an autonomous quality with a utilitarian perspective and examine the impact on spectators’ perceived risk, price perception, and sustained consumption intentions. Venues for National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB) games that mostly represent indoor and outdoor sporting facilities were chosen, and subjects were spectators who have experience of attending professional team sport events in sport venues. The study employed an online survey for data collection, and a total of 595 samples were utilized for data analyses. The data set was randomly split into two halves for a principal component analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. Results of the PCA generated 11 factors for venue quality including seating comfort, facility aesthetics, layout accessibility, safety, cleanliness, seating view, space allocation, facility system, electronic device, parking, and signage. The reliability and validity of the measurement model were also confirmed. In the structural model analyses, venue quality was found to be significantly associated with perceived value, perceived risk, and sustained consumption intentions. The relationships among perceived value, perceived risk, and sustained consumption intentions were also positively significant. The mediating effects of perceived value and perceived risk were found in the relationship between venue quality and sustained consumption intentions. The findings of the current research will contribute to the sport management literature by providing meaningful insights on capturing the essence of sport venue quality, based on an autonomous quality, and how it affects spectators’ price perception, alleviates perceived risk, and leads to sustained consumption intentions.

The external shock of COVID-19 forced many professional sport organizations to cancel live sporting events, requiring sport organizations to engage consumers primarily through social media. This research uses the Sports Experience Design (SX) framework to explore how social media influenced the WNBA fan experiences in the 2020 season. In addition, principles of a relationship marketing approach were integrated into the SX to guide this investigation. To understand how the WNBA’s social media content fits into the SX framework the research examined engagement rates and how that impacts the user’s experience and organization’s strategy and off-season opportunities for the organization or players to remain relevant to their consumer base. / Business Administration/Marketing

No description available.

No description available.

Sports clubs are a program ran through Pacific Recreation at the University of the Pacific. This study determines whether using services and facilities that Pacific Recreation offers has a statistically significant relationship with students joining or participating in sports clubs. METHOD: When a student comes into the Baun Fitness Center to work out, participate in a class, take part of personal training, or climb the rock tower, that student has to swipe into the facility and service of choice. The same process occurs for when a student wants to use external services like Intramural Sports and Informal Recreation. Quantitative data were pulled from Innosoft Fusion, software that Pacific Recreation utilizes to manage and track their facilities, programs, and services. 2,332 individual student datum were analyzed from the information received from Innosoft Fusion to measure student engagement from the Fall 2017 semester. RESULTS: The Baun Fitness Center and other external services were found to play a significant role with association with participation in sports clubs. Participation in Baun Fitness Center workouts, rock tower, informal recreation, tiger training, and intramural sports associates with participation in sports clubs. It was determined that for each additional individual that participates in these services or programs, there would be an increased chance of individuals to also participate in sports clubs. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that there are additional ways for sports clubs to advertise and promote their clubs for recruitment. Pacific Recreation’ marketing department can use the results from this study to analyze and plan additional marketing strategies that can use cross-promotion from the programs, services, and facilities Pacific Recreation has to offer. This study recommends multiple future research ideas for Pacific Recreation to take apart in to gain new insights on participation and marketing ideas from all of their programs.

NFL teams spend massive sums to ensure they are prepared for the future, but how should they determine whom that future includes? This study set out to find what predicts NFL success more accurately – collegiate in-game performance or the NFL Draft Combine. In the sample of 2007-2012 first-round picks, 191 athletes were measured in three NFL Draft Combine drills, two physical components, and a varying amount of ingame collegiate and NFL performance statistical categories, dependent on position. Secondarily, this work examined Power 5 and non-Power 5 players to determine if attending a more prolific program was predictive of NFL success. Findings included that 40-yard dash and vertical jump are predictive of offensive linemen and cornerback NFL success, that in-game collegiate statistics are most indicative of NFL success amongst defensive players, and that Power 5 prospects are no more prepared for NFL success than those coming from non-Power 5 schools.

College athletics have faced a lot of challenges and changes in the last two decades. Sports like football and basketball have been the main money-making streams for NCAA. With the popularity of college athletics growing, members of the business community have seen this as an opportunity to make money, especially members of the media. In turn, student-athletes have factored the ability to make money off of their own name, image, and likeness (NIL) into their college education decision. In order to explore this relationship between college athletics and the media industry, I analyzed how media rights in college basketball have affected college basketball recruiting over the last five years. Teams are not only recruiting players from high school, but they have to work hard and recruit players from the transfer portal, which allows for mid-collegiate-career changes. With the introduction of NIL, recruiting highly ranked players has become a complex process in that teams with smaller budgets feel helpless because money is not an issue for the bigger schools. In my research, I analyzed players and teams from all levels within Division 1 basketball, and through statistical analysis, The research found that better players are attracted by more affluent athletic programs. Teams with higher media rights revenue and overall revenue have a big advantage when it comes to recruiting highly rated high-school players or transfers. School enrollment does not play a significant role in some cases because student-athletes are mostly focused on their athletic experience.