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Current knowledge on the behavioral response to sponsorship is to a large degree based on field studies measuring self-reported purchase intentions. In an effort to provide more solid evidence for the impact of sponsorship-linked communication on brand choice behavior, a controlled lab study was carried out. A fictitious brand was created and virtually embedded into real sport broadcasts serving as stimulus clips. To measure the cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes, multiple methods such as eye tracking, a brand feeling scale, and a spontaneous choice test were applied. Compared with the control group, participants in the stimulus group were significantly more likely to choose the fictitious target brand. Moreover, the study finds that brand choice behavior is sensitive to changes in brand feelings. The results can be regarded as a next step in predicting the behavioral outcomes from sponsorship as the basis to calculate its financial return.

Although competition for viewers’ attention to sponsorship signage in sport telecasts has become a growing issue in sponsorship-linked marketing, sport management research has not yet investigated how to create eyecatching sponsorship signage in the cluttered visual surroundings of sport events without negatively affecting the viewers’ first objective: watching sports. This research takes into account the peculiarities of televised sport sponsorship platforms by including (1) the concurrent appearance of sport action and sponsor signage, (2) the color contrast between signage and sport surroundings, and (3) viewer confusion as a reaction to an overload of sponsorship information. Based on a laboratory study, it was found that both color and animation significantly impact sports viewers’ attention. However, animation can lead to visual confusion for television sport viewers, and may jeopardize intended sponsorship effects. These findings provide scientific evidence for the opportunities and risks of visual features in sponsorship-linked marketing.

Given the increasing importance of athlete well-being in the sport policy debate, this study investigated the effects of socioeconomic factors on elite athletes’ well-being in less commercialized sports and provides comparisons with residents of similar age (18–30 years). This study used survey data from athletes who are supported by the German Sports Aid Foundation (n = 709) and from the German Socio-Economic Panel, containing comparable variables for residents (n = 2,455). Subjective well-being was measured with life satisfaction as a whole and satisfaction with important domains in life, including health, income, leisure time, and family life. The athletes scored lower on all well-being measures compared with young residents. The regression analyses revealed significant differences between athletes and young residents with regard to the effects of age, income, education, and sport hours on different well-being dimensions, suggesting that more needs to be done that the athletes’ investments into sport and education yield well-being benefits.

Although enormous sums are spent on sport sponsorships, knowledge of sponsorship information processing is still limited. For a continuing growth of sponsorship as a field significant improvements in our understanding of sponsoring effectiveness are required. Whereas the direct effect of sponsor signage exposure on sponsor recall has been identified in several studies, attention to sponsor signage as the mediator of sponsorship information has not been investigated thoroughly. Based on spotlight theory and the associative network model of memory, the present paper addresses this research gap and investigates the viewer’s visual attention to sponsorship information by applying eye tracking methodology. Regression models have been estimated to analyze information reception and processing in sport telecasts. The results reveal that the capture of attention is determined by the placement of sponsor signage and by exposure variables. Furthermore, sponsor recall is found to be a function of attention and brand-related variables.

Size is a central characteristic of organizations. While previous studies point to size differences among nonprofit sport clubs, size effects have not yet been investigated systematically. The concepts of economies of scale and economies of scope are used to explain size advantages. Yet, club theory stresses that benefits from sharing production costs only exist until some point and decrease afterward. The purpose of this study is to examine size effects in sport clubs using data from two nationwide online surveys in Germany (n = 19,345) and Switzerland (n = 6,098). The results support the existence of economies of scope, since costs decrease with increasing number of different sports (not codes) offered in the same club. Yet, clubs only benefit from reduced costs until some point supporting club theory. Organizational size has a significant effect on various organizational problems. The findings have implications for the management of sport clubs and for policy makers.