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The #TakeAKnee movement initiated by Colin Kaepernick and the measures taken by the National Football League (NFL) to handle the situation received mixed reactions from the public. The authors developed and tested a structural model using survey data collected from 698 residents of a Super Bowl host city. The results indicated a positive relationship between attitudes toward the movement and attitudes toward the league’s responses, which in turn influenced league credibility. However, after taking the indirect effect into account, attitudes toward the movement had a direct negative relationship with league credibility. In addition, people who viewed the NFL as a credible organization tended to perceive the Super Bowl as relevant to them and as impactful for the host city. Therefore, sport organizations should develop consistent, comprehensive communication strategies that enable them to maximize a positive synergy between their approach to crisis communication and their approach to other types of communication.

Despite the acknowledged importance of investigating the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) within a single industry, very few studies have examined this relationship in the context of the sport industry. Using charitable giving data as a proxy of CSR, this study investigated if CSR would affect CFP of professional sport teams within the four major U.S. leagues. Although the positive CSR-CFP relationship was hypothesized based on instrumental stakeholder theory, CSR was found to have non-positive effects on CFP. These results are still notable since they may highlight the importance of the connectedness between CSR and team operations and the awareness of CSR activity among stakeholders in leveraging CSR benefits. Overall, through the use of improved methodology, the current study furthers the understanding of the CSR-CFP relationship among the U.S. professional teams.

The purpose of this study was to explain the process of how a sport team could induce consumers to engage in proenvironmental behavior. Building on Kelman’s (1958, 1961, 2006) internalization perspective, this study demonstrated that positive environmental practices by a team increased consumer internalization of the team’s values. In turn, this increased internalization mediated the relationship between environmental practices and proenvironmental behavior measured by two behavioral intentions: intention to support the team’s environmental initiative and intention to engage in proenvironmental behavior in daily life. The results of this study contribute to the literature by highlighting the significant role of internalization. This research further provides a significant insight into the social impacts of sport organizations.

This study investigates the determinants and consequences of the perceived social impact of a sport event by analyzing data obtained from 458 local attendees of the 2012 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Results show that a sport event generates a higher level of social impact for local attendees if they feel a greater sense of social camaraderie at the event and/or perceive a higher level of the social responsibility of the event. In turn, the creation of social impact leads to greater business returns, such that local attendees perceiving a high level of social impact are likely to support the event and its sponsors. These results offer some empirical evidence for Chalip’s (2006) framework of social leverage, and show why events and their sponsors need to make efforts to generate social benefits for host communities.

Fundraising for a charity sport event (CSE) is a critical and challenging aspect of the event experience. CSE participants (i.e., CSE fundraisers) must engage with their network of friends, family, and colleagues (i.e., CSE donors) to solicit donations. A better understanding of CSE donor motives can translate to more effective fundraising among participants, which could be applicable to other peer-to-peer and sport-based fundraising initiatives. The researchers explored the factors driving CSE donors to contribute on behalf of CSE participants. Eight mechanisms driving charitable giving provided the theoretical framework. Semistructured interviews (N = 24) were conducted with individuals who had donated to a CSE participant within the previous 12 months. Four themes emerged: feel good factor, perceived efficacy of donations, inspired by youth, and affinity for the participant. With these themes in mind, CSE managers may implement school outreach programs and testimonials from donors to achieve positive fundraising outcomes.

This article examines the current state of research regarding the effect of spectator sport on population health. We conducted a scoping study that involved a comprehensive search of published and gray literature between 1990 and 2014, and identified 135 studies empirically examining the effect of spectator sport on population health. A frequency analysis shows that there is a paucity of studies on this topic published in sport management journals. A thematic analysis further reveals that the reviewed studies can be classified into nine research themes depicting the relationships among certain categories of spectator sport and population health. Based on this scoping study, we develop a framework and identify several gaps in the literature that should be addressed to advance our understanding of the relationship between spectator sport and population health.

The current study investigated the role of running involvement in helping improve the lives of a homeless population through an examination of a community-based program that utilizes running as a means to promote self-sufficiency. Data collected from 148 individuals before and after their participation in the program for one month revealed participants increased their psychological involvement in running. A regression analysis further indicated that the participants’ perceived self-sufficiency from participating in the program was significantly explained by the extent of their increase in running involvement. These findings highlight the role of enhanced involvement in sport, in particular in the form of running, in creating important psychological benefits for homeless individuals, and provide theoretical implications for the literature on sport-for-development.

Through this study, attempts were made to (a) define the concept of implicit team identification (iTeam ID), (b) examine the effects the interactions between iTeam ID and emotions exert on flow, and (c) examine the behavioral consequences of flow in the context of spectator sports. The opponent process and implicit memory theories served as the study’s main theoretical frameworks. An experiment was conducted in which we developed the team identification implicit association test (Team ID IAT) as a measure of iTeam ID and manipulated spectators’ emotions based on their retrospective spectating experiences. We conclude from the findings that anger, fear, and sadness paradoxically enhanced flow experiences and subsequent consumption behaviors for spectators with stronger iTeam ID, whereas happiness was universally appealing regardless of the level of iTeam ID. A recommendation is to strategically create experiences that elicit both positive and negative emotions in spectators to encourage flow.