Fantasy sport has become a prominent topic of study for sport management scholars over the last decade, and along with the rise of this research have come questions regarding how fantasy sport involvement impacts fans’ loyalty to their favorite team(s). Although this question has been posed several times, results have been mixed. We posit that this is largely attributable to the fact that to this point researchers have not considered the situational environment under which fantasy sport has proliferated or the psychological processes of consumers facing multiple consumption options. Therefore, we examined a model featuring fear of missing out as an antecedent to fantasy sport involvement, social media involvement, and team identity salience during games. Furthermore, we examine the role social media involvement plays in allowing fans to accommodate both their fantasy sport and team identities during games. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Ben A. Larkin and Janet S. Fink
Brody J. Ruihley and Jacob Chamberlin
The fantasy sport industry has seen tremendous growth over the past three decades. Estimated at 500,000 North American participants in 1988, the industry has had positive growth every step of the way to a current estimate of 59.3 million participants ( Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association, 2020
Brody J. Ruihley and Heidi Grappendorf
Fantasy Sports Collection, Inc. Fantasy Sports Collection, Inc. (FSC) is a gaming business that deals with creating, hosting, and offering fantasy sport activities to residents of the United States and Canada. FSC offers traditional season-long leagues as well as daily fantasy sport games in the
Brody J. Ruihley and Robin L. Hardin
Fantasy sport joins competition, sport knowledge, and socialization into one interactive sport activity. This research specifically focuses on the socialization aspects of the activity. This analysis addresses overall satisfaction in fantasy sport, future intentions to return to the activity, and reasons why fantasy sport users (FSUs) do or do not use message boards. Data were collected from 322 FSUs in a questionnaire format using quantitative-scale items and qualitative open-ended questions. The results indicate 62.1% (n = 200) of the sample using message boards in their fantasy sport experience. Reasons for their use were based on the themes of logistical conversation, socializing, surveillance, and advice or opinion. FSUs chose not to use message boards for reasons based on no interest, information, time, and alternative options. Other results indicate that those using message boards have higher overall satisfaction and future use intentions than those not using message boards. This suggests that message boards enhance the fantasy sport experience.
Brody J. Ruihley, Jason Simmons, Andrew C. Billings, and Rich Calabrese
represents the top-rated program on five major networks ( Nielsen Sports, 2018 ; Norman, 2018 ). The error was, instead, a technical issue causing ESPN’s fantasy-football website and mobile application (app) to crash. This Web- and app-based crash kept fantasy-sport participants from accessing their league
Ben Larkin, Brendan Dwyer, and Chad Goebert
Fantasy sport is a tremendously popular activity, achieving steady growth in participation in the nearly 30 years since the Fantasy Sport Trade Association began tracking activity. According to the Fantasy Sport Trade Association, there were nearly 60 million participants in the USA and Canada in
Andrew C. Billings, Melvin Lewis, Kenon A. Brown, and Qingru Xu
mobile device and distracting from the primary NFL product). This study deciphers the demographics and outcomes of second-screen engagement, influences of fantasy-sport participation, and device-specific deviations of fans engaging in social TV as it relates to professional (American) football, surveying
Brendan Dwyer, Joris Drayer, and Stephen L. Shapiro
attitudinal factors than TFS-only participants? Literature Review Differences in TFS and DFS Participation Although TFS and DFS are both fantasy sport games, the structures of these activities are distinct in many ways. TFS has a season-long format where participants are competing on a week-to-week basis
Brendan Dwyer, Joshua M. Lupinek, and Rebecca M. Achen
communication with potential customers ( Schmitt, 2015 ). Sport fan motives have been explored empirically for decades, primarily not only within the context of event attendance, but also including television viewership, social media use, and fantasy sport participation (cf., Dwyer & Kim, 2011 ; Hambrick
