Status and reputation have become increasingly important to cities seeking to differentiate themselves in a competitive global marketplace; sports events, franchises, and infrastructure have become a critical means to contest this. This article takes a grounded theory approach and develops a series of propositions on the basis of a single case study, making several important contributions to the literature. Although others have argued for an affiliation effect, this study sheds new light on how the affiliation mechanism works by including both positive and negative affiliations. In doing so, we reveal how cities are actively managed, how sports facilities emerge as status signals on the policy agenda of entrepreneurial cities, and how notions of status are articulated and mobilized by managers.
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Signaling Status Through Stadiums: The Discourses of Comparison Within a Hierarchy
Daniel S. Mason, Marvin Washington, and Ernest A.N. Buist
Southern Methodist University Football and the Stadia: Moving toward Modernization
Chad Stephen Seifried and Patrick Tutka
The specific information provided in this paper offers a descriptive history regarding the attempts of Southern Methodist University (SMU) to be “modern” through tracing the institution’s movement from one playing field to another. Like other southern universities, SMU started football and built an on-campus stadium of concrete and steel believing their legitimacy as an institution could be enhanced through providing football as a product for consumption. However, SMU is unique among many of its contemporaries because soon after building an on-campus facility, it decided to move off campus in the pursuit of greater name recognition and revenue. Collectively, such efforts were recognized as helping to make SMU the “educational surprise of the decade, if not the century,” following its opening in 1915. The modernization of SMU football stadia involves construction and renovation of facilities from Armstrong Field (1915) to Gerald J. Ford Stadium (current).
Understanding Organizational and Public Perspectives on Stadium Redevelopment Through Social Media: A Case Study of Georgia State University’s “New” Stadium
Glynn M. McGehee, Armin A. Marquez, Beth A. Cianfrone, and Timothy Kellison
Stadium-construction projects are costly and affect the community—positively and negatively. At urban universities, these impacts extend beyond campuses into the broader community. Thus, athletic-department communication about the value of stadium projects to a diverse group of stakeholders becomes important. Following stakeholder theory, the purpose of the study was to investigate social-media messages disseminated by an urban university engaged in a stadium-redevelopment project (Georgia State University [GSU]) and the public response. A content analysis of Facebook and Twitter posts by GSU (N = 39) and the public response (N = 359) yielded 8 themes: a focus on athletics, a focus on university, informing about urban community development impact, explaining capital project funding source, maintaining the stadium legacy, promoting public–private partnerships, and understanding effects on transit. Findings support previous literature that organizational communication reflects organizational priorities.
If You Rebuild It, Will They Come? The Impact of Renovated Sports Facilities on Total Revenue and Attendance
Brian P. Soebbing, Chad S. Seifried, and Patrick Tutka
eras of professional stadium construction ( Clapp & Hakes, 2005 ). Additional scholarship examined differences in the novelty effect between amateur/minor and major professional stadiums ( Gitter & Rhoads, 2014 ; Popp et al., 2018 ; Soebbing et al., 2016 ). For example, Gitter and Rhoads found that
Talking Baseball When There Is No Baseball: Reporters and Fans During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Alexander L. Curry and Tiara Good
in-stadium recollections, old ticket stubs from random games, favorite jerseys, etc.); speculation about what a return to baseball—if there would be a return at all—would look like; and there were practical concerns (e.g., ticket refunds, stadium construction, Tommy John surgeries, etc.). These
Measuring the Yard Lines: A Discussion on Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment in Sport Management
James Weiner
past decade, sport management faculty have had to adapt course content to incorporate internet broadcasts, name, image, and likeness changes, modern stadium construction, new international conflicts, and an increased focus on athlete mental health. For example, the internet streaming of major sporting
A New Pitch: Building an Innovative Sport Organization Through Sport Employees
Nathan Baer, Claire C. Zvosec, Brent D. Oja, and Minjung Kim
of the organization. In an effort to compensate for early expenditures (e.g., franchise fees, stadium construction, etc.), Ben needs to build a staff who can facilitate sustainable growth. Ownership views this as the most important piece to the Comets’ puzzle. New sport organizations can aim high in
“Dead but Standing Erect”: Why Southern Conference Members Left to Form the Southeastern Conference
Jim Watkins
Collection, Folder “Athletic Department-General Correspondence,” University of Mississippi; “President’s Box,” November 30, 1939, Folder “Athletics-Stadium Construction and Dedication, 1937–1946,” Presidential Records of Luther N. Duncan, Auburn University Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Auburn, AL
Analogous Forecasting for Predicting Sport Innovation Diffusion: From Business Analytics to Natural Language Processing
Liz Wanless and Michael L. Naraine
technological innovation in a community sport organization . Journal of Sport Management, 26, 213 – 223 . https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.26.3.213 Hong , S. , Magnusen , M.J. , & Coates , D. ( 2019 ). Collaborative innovation in professional sport stadium construction: An event history analysis
On the Road With Minor League Baseball Externalities
Scott Tainsky, Brian M. Mills, Zainab Hans, and Kyunghee Lee
.A. ( 2013 ). Stadium construction and minor league baseball attendance . Contemporary Economic Policy, 32 ( 1 ), 144 – 154 . doi:10.1111/coep.2014.32.issue-1 10.1111/coep.12016 Goff , B. , Wilson , D.P. , Martin , W.C. , & Spurlock , B. ( 2015 ). Attendance effects of FBS transition and
