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This study examined the impact of repetitive sport video gaming on sport brand attitudes, attitude strength (e.g., attitude accessibility and confidence), and the attitude-behavior relationship. An experiment was designed to demonstrate the attitude-behavior consistency in a hypothetical choice context. The results indicated that repeated exposure to sport video games emulating a real-life sport influences sport attitude and its strength, and subsequently hypothetical choice behavior. The sport attitudes formed on virtual sport experience (e.g., playing sport video games repetitively) are as accessible and held with the same degree of confidence as those formed on direct experience (e.g., watching a sport on TV). The findings also confirmed the moderating effect of attitude confidence on the attitude-behavior relationship.

The contemporary sport fan has the ability to consume spectator sport through several means including event attendance, television and radio broadcasts, print publications, and Internet applications. Recently, an ancillary sport service, termed fantasy sports, has become one of the most popular activities among sport fans. As a result, the business of fantasy sports is booming. This study examined motivational dimensions underlying fantasy football participation from a Uses and Gratifications perspective. Utilizing Churchill’s (1979) five-step method for developing quality marketing measures, this study identified and validated three motivational dimensions: entertainment/escape, competition, and social interaction. The results suggest a pattern of fantasy football participation that is more purposeful and active than traditional media use. Discussed are the gambling associations, future research opportunities, and suggestions for developing fantasy football participation into a more creative and interactive marketing communication tool.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumer innovativeness on sport fans’ behavioral intention to adopt and use sport team apps. Combining the diffusion theory with the technology acceptance model, the current study proposed three extended technology acceptance models. The proposed models were tested with data collected from 233 sport team apps users in the United States. The findings indicate that consumer innovativeness has direct and indirect influences on behavioral intention through beliefs about sport team apps. The partially mediated model fits the data well, was more parsimonious, and had a greater proportion of the variance explained by intention than the other models and thus was chosen for further analysis. Consumer innovativeness and beliefs about the apps explained 55.4% and 42% of the variance in intention to adopt sport team apps, respectively. Empirical evidence also provides strong support for the integrative approach. The study suggests an extended model of technology acceptance model for the acceptance and use of the sport team apps, which can help scholars and marketers understand sport fans’ media behaviors.

To successfully evolve, organizations should change at the same pace as the environment changes. It is particularly important when adapting and utilizing new media technology is a huge part of an organization’s success. Presently, media professionals in all industries including intercollegiate athletics are experiencing a significant change in their work environment due to the ever-changing nature of new media technology. In particular, media convergence, an integration of production by combining both old (e.g., television) and new media (e.g., the Internet), has been one of the most influential phenomena creating unexpected changes and complex dynamics in the current media industry. Nonetheless, what have been previously overlooked in sport communication literature are challenges generated by media convergence, which affects the nature of sport communication. This case study provides a scenario based on semi-fictitious information so that students can critically examine the dynamic nature as well as the effect of media convergence facing sport communication in intercollegiate sport. Further, the students are provided with an opportunity to practice decision-making skills to address the challenges stemming from media convergence. By doing so, discussion regarding media convergence in the context of intercollegiate sport could be better presented to relevant classroom discussion.