Sports Facilities – Page 13 – The Sport Journal

A Review of Service Quality in Corporate and Recreational Sport/Fitness Programs

Submitted by: Chia-Ming Chang, Chin-Tsu Chen and Chin-Hsien Hsu, Tajen Institute of Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract

This article is a review of the literature related to the study of service quality in corporate and recreational sport and fitness programs. It considers earlier discussions of conceptualization and operationalization aspects of consumers’ perceptions of service quality. It reviews several models used by researchers in the past, as well as more recent approaches to understanding the constructs of service and service quality and the various means used to measure them.

Quality of service has been studied within the discipline of business management for years, because the market is increasingly competitive and marketing management has transferred its focus from internal performance (such as production) to external interests like customer satisfaction and customers’ perceptions of service quality (Gronroos, 1992). However, the concept of service quality has only recently—over the last two decades—gained attention from sport and recreation providers and those who study them (Yong, 2000). The service-quality framework known as SERVQUAL comprises a traditional disconfirmatory model and was the first measurement tool to operationalize service quality. Although it made a contribution to the field of service quality and was very popular among service-quality researchers in many areas, SERVQUAL proved insufficient due to conceptual weaknesses in the disconfirmatory paradigm and to its empirical inappropriateness.

Later service-quality frameworks included a greater number of dimensions than SERVQUAL offered. Most recent models, such as Brady’s (1997) hierarchical multidimensional model, have synthesized prior approaches and suggest the complexity of service-quality perception as a construct. Because of this complexity, despite numerous efforts in both business management and the sport/fitness field, the study of service quality is still in a state of confusion. No consensus has been reached on its conceptualization or its operationalization of consumers’ perceptions of service quality.

Service and Service Quality

Service quality has long been studied by researchers in the field of business management. However, they have reached no consensus concerning how the service quality construct is best conceptualized or operationalized. In presenting the literature that reflects this lack of consensus, it is first necessary to focus on the definitions and characteristics of service and service quality. The concept of service comes from business literature. Many scholars have offered various definitions of service. For example, Ramaswamy (1996) described service as “the business transactions that take place between a donor (service provider) and receiver (customer) in order to produce an outcome that satisfies the customer”(p. 3). Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) defined service as “deeds, processes, and performances” (p. 5). According to Gronroos (1990),

A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less
intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, take place in
interactions between the customer and service employees and /or
systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions
to customer problems. (p. 27)

Some researchers have viewed service from within a system-thinking paradigm (Lakhe & Mohanty, 1995), defining service as

a production system where various inputs are processed, transformed
and value added to produce some outputs which have utility to the service
seekers, not merely in an economic sense but from supporting the life of the
human system in general, even maybe for the sake of pleasure. (p. 140)

Yong (2000) reviewed definitions of service and noted the following features of service that are important to an understanding of the concept. First, service is a performance. It happens through interaction between consumers and service providers (Deighton, 1992; Gronroos, 1990; Ramaswamy, 1996; Sasser, Olsen, & Wyckoff, 1978; Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). Second, factors such as physical resources and environments play an important mediating role in the process of service production and consumption (American Marketing Association, 1960; Collier, 1994; Gronnroos, 1990). Third, service is a requirement in terms of providing certain functions to consumers, for example problem solving (Gronroos, 1990; Ramaswamy, 1996). From these points Yong (2000) concluded that “a service, combined with goods products, is experienced and evaluated by customers who have particular goals and motivations for consumers for consuming the service.” (p. 43)

Among researchers generally, there is no consensus about the characteristics of service. According to Yong (2000), their various conceptualizations fall into two groups. First, there are those researchers who view the concept from the perspective of service itself. They pay attention to the discrepancy between marketing strategies for service and goods, in an approach that differentiates service (intangibles) from goods (tangibles). The suggestion is that distinct marketing strategies are appropriate for the two concepts. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) as well as Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) identified the following features of service that distinguish it from goods: Service is intangible, heterogeneous, simultaneous, simultaneous in production and consumption, and perishable.

Pointing out the unique features of service advances understanding of the concept, but it has drawn criticism, for example because the identified features are not universal across service sectors. As Wright (1995) noted, first, a service industry depends more on tangible equipment to satisfy customers’ demands, while some customers do not care whether or not goods are tangible. Second, some service businesses are well standardized; an example is franchise industries (Wright, 1995). In addition, some customers value equality and fairness in the service provided. Third, many services are not simultaneously produced and consumed (Wright, 1995). Fourth, highly technological and equipment-based services could be standardized. Critics other than Wright (Wyckham, Fitzroy, & Mandry, 1975) have argued that the four-point approach to service ignores the role of customers.

The second group of researchers conceptualizing service comprises those who view service from the perspective of service customers. These researchers focus on the utility and total value that a service provides for a consumer. This approach points out that service combines tangible and intangible aspects in order to satisfy customers during business transactions (Gronroos. 1990; Ramaswamy, 1996). The approach implies that because consumers evaluate service quality in terms of their own experiences, customers’ subjective perceptions have great impact upon service businesses’ success or failure (Shostack, 1997).

Conceptualization and Operationalization of Service Quality

Although researchers have studied the concept of service for several decades, there is no consensus on how to conceptualize service quality (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Rust & Oliver, 1994), in part because different researchers have focused on different aspects of service quality. Reeves and Bednar (1994) noted that “there is no universal, parsimonious, or all-encompassing definition or model of quality” (p. 436). The most common definition of service quality, nevertheless, is the traditional notion, in which quality is viewed as the customer’s perception of service excellence. That is to say, quality is defined by the customer’s impression of the service provided (Berry, Parasuraman, & Zeithaml, 1988; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985). This definition assumes that customers form a perception of service quality according to the service performance they experience and in light of prior experiences of service performance. It is therefore the customer’s perception that categorizes service quality. Many researchers accept this approach. For example, Bitner and Hubbert (1994) defined quality as “the consumer’s overall impression of the relative inferiority/superiority of the organization and its services” (p. 77). But their definition of service quality differs from that of the traditional approach, which locates service quality perception within the contrast between consumer expectation and actual service performance (Gronroos, 1984; Lewis & Booms, 1983; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1990).

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) viewed quality as “the degree and direction of discrepancy between customers’ service perception and expectations.” According to this approach, services are different from goods because they are intangible and heterogeneous and are simultaneously produced and consumed. Additionally, according to the disconfirmation paradigm, service quality is a comparison between consumers’ expectations and their perceptions of service actually received. Based on the traditional definition of service quality, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) developed their gap model of perceived service quality. The model incorporates five gaps: (a) the gap between management’s perceptions of consumer expectations and expected service, (b) the gap between management’s perceptions of consumers’ expectations and the translation of those perceptions into service-quality specification, (c) the gap between translation of perceptions of service-quality specification and service delivery, (d) the gap between service delivery and external communications to consumers, and (e) the gap between the level of service consumers expect and actual service performance. This disconfirmation paradigm conceptualizes the perception of service quality as a difference between expected level of service and actual service performance. The developers of the gap model proposed 10 second-order dimensions consumers in a broad variety of service sectors use to assess service quality. The 10 are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security, access, communication, and understanding (Parasuraman et al., 1985).

Using these 10 dimensions, Parasuraman et al. (1988) made the first effort to operationalize the concept of service quality. They developed an instrument to assess service quality that empirically relied on the difference in scores between expectations and perceived performance. Their instrument consisted of 22 items, divided along the 10 second-order dimensions, with a seven-point answer scale accompanying each statement to test the strength of relations. The 22 items were used to represent 5 dimensions, ultimately: reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, assurance, and empathy. Yong (2000) described the five as follows:

Reliability refers to the ability to perform the promised service
dependently and accurately. Responsiveness reflects the willingness
to help a customer and provide prompt service. Tangible refers
to the appearance of the physical facilities, equipment, personnel and
communication material. Empathy refers to caring, individualized
attention the firm provides its customer. (p. 66)

In their seminal study, Parasuraman and colleagues used SERVQUAL to measure service quality as the gap between expectation and perception in several venues: an appliance repair and maintenance firm, retail banks, a long-distance telephone provider, a securities broker, and credit card companies (Parasuraman et al., 1985). The study provided a comprehensive conceptualization of service quality, and it marked the first time, in service-quality research, that an instrument for measuring perceived service quality was used. It became very well known among service-quality researchers.

However, numerous researchers challenged the usefulness of the SERVQUAL scale as a measure of service quality (e.g., Babakus & Boller, 1992; Brown, Churchill, & Peter, 1993; Carmen, 1990; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Dabholkar, Thorpe, & Rentz, 1996). Carmen (1990) selected four service settings that were quite different from those in the original test and found that in some situations, SERVQUAL must be customized (items added or edited), despite its introduction as a generic instrument measuring service quality in any sector. In addition, Carmen suggested that SERVQUAL’s five dimensions are insufficient to meet service-quality measurement needs, and that measurement of expectation using SERVQUAL is problematic.
Finn and Lamb (1991) argued that “the SERVQUAL measurement model is not appropriate in a retail setting” (p. 487). Furthermore, they argued, “retailers and consumer researchers should not treat SERVQUAL as an ‘off the shelf’ measure of perceived quality. Much refinement is needed for specific companies and industries” (p. 489). According to Brown, Churchill, & Peter (1993) SERVQUAL’s use of difference between scores causes a number of problems in such areas as reliability, discriminate validity, spurious correlations, and variance restriction. Finally, Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that the disconfirmation paradigm applied by SERVQUAL was inappropriate for measuring perceived service quality. The paradigm measures customer satisfaction, not service quality, and Cronin and Taylor’s study employing solely the performance scale SERVPERF showed SERVPERF to outperform SERVQUAL.

SERVQUAL’s shortcomings result from the weakness of the traditional disconfirmatory definition of service quality which it incorporates. Yong (2000) notes several problems in this traditional definition of service quality. First, customers’ needs are not always easy to identify, and incorrectly identified needs result in measuring conformance to a specification that is improper. Schneider and Bowen (1995) pointed out that

[C]ustomers bring a complex and multidimensional set of expectations to the service encounter. Customers come with expectations for more than a smile and handshake. Their expectations include conformance to at least ten service quality attributes (i.e., Parasuraman et al.’s 10 dimensions—reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding, and tangible).” (p. 29)

Second, the traditional definition fails to provide a way to measure customers’ expectations, and expectations determine the level of service quality. Because customer expectations may fluctuate greatly over time (Reeves & Bednar, 1994), a definition of quality based on expectation cannot be parsimonious. It is invalid, empirically speaking, to use the disparity of scores for expectation and scores for perceived service quality to measure service quality.

Oliver (1997) is another researcher who pointed out the traditional model’s difficulty distinguishing service quality from satisfaction. While perception of quality may come from external mediation rather than experience of service, consumers must experience satisfaction in person. In addition, judgments and standards of quality are based on ideals or perceptions of excellence, while judgments concerning satisfaction involve predictive expectations, needs, product category norms, and even expectations of service quality. Moreover, while judgments concerning quality are mainly cognitive, satisfaction is an affective experience (Bitner & Hubbert, 1994; Oliver, 1994). Service quality is influenced by a very few variables (e.g, external cues like price, reputation, and various communication sources); satisfaction, in contrast, is vulnerable to cognitive and affective processes (e.g., equity, attribution, and emotion). Quality is primarily long-term, while satisfaction is primarily short-term.

Discussing various analyses in terms of their definitions of service quality, Yong (2000) pointed out that service quality should not be defined using a disconfirmation paradigm (i.e., by comparing expectation and perceived quality). Indeed, since service quality may not necessarily involve customer experience and consumption, the disconfirmation paradigm does not clarify service quality (Yong, 2000). Furthermore, it is easier to measure service quality if judgment occurs primarily at the attribute-based cognitive level. Yong (2000) stated as well that customer perception of quality to date has been the main focus of service-quality research; consumers’ overall impressions determine service quality. Yong (2000) argues that what constitutes service changes from one service sector to another, so each sector’s consumers may perceive service quality differently, and that service quality is multidimensional or multifaceted. Finally, according to Yong (2000), service quality must be clearly differentiated from customer satisfaction.

Several researchers have approached service quality from perspectives quite different from that of Parasuraman et al. (1988). On the one hand, some scholars argue for multidimensional models of service quality. At first, Gronroos (1984) used a two-dimensional model to study service quality. Its first dimension was technical quality, meaning the outcome of service performance. Its second dimension was functional quality, meaning subjective perceptions of how service is delivered. Functional quality reflects consumers’ perceptions of their interactions with service providers. Gronroos’s model compares the two dimensions of service performance to customer expectation, and eventually each customer has an individual perception of service quality. McDougall and Levesque (1994) later added to Gronroos’s model a third dimension, physical environment, proposing their three-factor model of service quality. This later model consists of service outcome, service process (Gronroos, 1984), and physical environment. McDougall and Levesque (1994) tested the model with confirmatory factor analysis, using the dimensions of the SERVQUAL scale (which provided empirical support for the three-factor model). The three components from the above models, together with Rust and Oliver’s (1994) service product, represent one important aspect of services. All of them contribute to consumers’ perception of service quality (Yong, 2000).

On the other hand, Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Tentz (1996) proposed a hierarchical model of service quality that describes service quality as a level, multidimensional construct. That construct includes (a) overall consumer perception of service quality; (b) a dimension level that consists of physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving, and policy; and (c) a subdimension level that recognizes the multifaceted nature of the service-quality dimensions. Dabholkar and colleagues found that quality of service is directly influenced by perceptions of performance levels. In addition, customers’ personal characteristics are important in assessing value, but not in assessing quality.

The two lines of thought on the modeling of service quality were combined by Brady (1997). He developed a hierarchical and multidimensional model of perceived service quality by combining Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Tentz’s (1996) hierarchical model and McDougall and Levesque’s (1994) three-factor model (Brady, 1997). Brady’s model incorporates three dimensions, interaction quality, outcome quality, and physical environment quality. Each dimension consists of three subdimensions. The interaction quality dimension comprises attitude, behavior, and expertise subdimensions. The outcome quality dimension comprises waiting time, tangibles, and valence. Finally, the physical environment quality dimension comprises ambient conditions, design, and social factors. Brady’s hierarchical and multidimensional approach is believed to explain the complexity of human perceptions better than earlier conceptualizations in the literature did (Dabholkar, Thorpe, & Rentz, 1996; Brady, 1997). Furthermore, empirical testing of Brady’s model shows the model to be psychometrically sound.

In a study of service quality in recreational sport, Yong (2000) further developed Brady’s (1997) model, proposing that perception of service quality occurs in four dimensions. The first is program quality: the range of activity programs, operating time, and secondary services. The second is interaction quality, or outcome quality. The third is environment quality. Yong tested his model with a two-step approach of structural equation modeling, and he supported multidimensional conceptualization of service-quality perception.

Conclusion

Perception of service quality is quite a controversial topic; to date no consensus has been reached on how to conceptualize or operationalize this construct. In its summarization of the existing literature about service quality, this article explored the concepts of service, service quality, consumer perception of service quality, and the conceptualization and operationalization of the service-quality concept. It covered several models of service quality, the earliest one of which was SERVQUAL. An application of the traditional disconfirmatory model, SERVQUAL represents the first effort to operationalize service quality. Although it made a great contribution to the field and was very popular among service-quality researchers in many areas, SERVQUAL is now thought to be insufficient because of conceptual weaknesses inherent in the disconfirmatory paradigm and also because of its empirical inappropriateness. Service-quality researchers working after SERVQUAL’s introduction proposed models containing additional dimensions. Brady developed a hierarchical and multidimensional model of perceived service quality by combining the ideas of earlier researchers. The relatively recent approaches like Brady’s (1997) utilize ideas seen in earlier models, yet more fully represent the complexity of the concept of service-quality perception.

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U.S. Sports Academy2015-10-24T01:32:33-05:00February 15th, 2008|Sports Facilities, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off

Economic Values of Professional Sport Franchises in the United States

Submitted by: Soonhwan Lee, D.S.M. and Hyosung Chun, M.S.S. Graduate Student United States Sports Academy

Abstract

In professional sport, the value of media rights, fees, and luxury suites is enormous. As a result of increasing revenues in professional sport, the economic value of teams has risen, and it will continue to rise to unpredictable levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the economic value of media rights, luxury suites, and club seats in North American professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey franchises. Secondary data from league offices and networks were used to describe the significance to professional sport franchises of revenues deriving from media rights and luxury seat sales, and their symbiotic relationships.

Value of Professional Sport Franchises in the United States

Unlike industrial or financial business, which is generally valued on cash flow and assets, sport franchises are valued on their revenues. There are two reasons for this. First, in the long term, the operating expenses within each league are about the same for every team. Second, revenues most closely measure the quality of a team’s venue, and they also track athletic performance, ultimately the two most critical elements of team evaluation (Ozanian, 1994). The value of professional sport teams has risen over the past decade and is expected to rise to unpredictable levels during the next few years. The reason for the rise is revenues from the leagues, including gate receipts, broadcast rights fees, luxury boxes, club seats, concessions, advertising, and membership fees.

Professional sport leagues and network television have enjoyed significant growth for more than 30 years. Needless to say, many people participate in and enjoy the games of major professional sport. For example, 62% of Americans call themselves “Major League Baseball fans,” according to a 1997 ESPN/Chilton sports poll (John, 1998). Spectators consume sport indirectly, through television, to a far greater extent than they do directly, through personal attendance at events. More than 2,100 hours of televised sport are programmed per year by the four major networks, and cable televisionprovides an additional 6,000 hours. Professional sport and the media, especially television, are mutually dependent institutions, and extremely popular forms of entertainment. Although each has independent origins, their relationship now makes it hard to imagine one without the other. In total, 98% of all American homes have television sets, which are on for an average 7 hr 51 min a day (Sage, 1998). ESPN, which reaches 70% of American homes with televisions, broadcasts more than 8,000 hours of sport each year. Regional sport cable networks and direct satellite sport broadcasts are growing rapidly, and these generate countless thousands of hours of sport each year (Sage, 1998).

Revenue Streams

Broadcast Rights

To understand professional team sport, it is important to recognize that sport is not just games, it is business. The overall logic of professional sport is grounded in the principles of buying and selling goods, services, and labor. In the major professional sport leagues, revenues are divided among league members in varying percentages. National Football League (NFL) teams split ticket sales, or gate receipts; 60% goes to the home team, 40% to the visiting team. In Major League Baseball (MLB), the split is approximately 80–90% to the home team and 10–20% to the visiting team. The basketball and hockey leagues permit the home team to keep all gate receipts. Depending on the individual contract, a stadium or arena’s owner or an outside contractor may keep the revenues, or there may be a split with the franchise-tenant.

Revenue from national broadcast rights is shared equally among the teams that constitute the football, basketball, baseball, and hockey leagues (Shropshire, 1995). By the end of 1961, the U.S. Congress had passed the Sport Broadcasting Act permitting the professional sport franchises to negotiate the sale of national broadcast rights as a single economic unit. These antitrust exemptions applied to professional baseball, hockey, and basketball as well as to football. In 1962, CBS purchased the exclusive rights to broadcast the NFL, with a package worth $4.6 million a year. Two years later, assisted by 50% growth in ratings and therefore even fiercer bidding by all three networks, CBS agreed to a 300% increase and a package of $14 million for each of the following two years. This contract, incidentally, ensured the survival of the Green Bay Packers, who proceeded to dominate the league for years afterwards (Barnett, 1990). Thirty-six years later, the price tag for television rights for the NFL have increased dramatically. In 1998, the rights to televise NFL games, as well as the Super Bowl, for eight years were sold to several networks for $17.6 billion.

All NFL television money is split evenly among the teams, for an average $73.3 million per team per year. The rate is thus much higher than what MLB teams derive from that league’s network TV deal, which is not quite $11 million for each club. About 65% of all revenues of NFL teams comes from the sale of television rights (Sage, 1998).

Luxury Seating

Luxury suites and clubs seats are becoming one of the most lucrative of revenue sources for professional leagues. The revenue-generating potential of such luxury seats is tremendous, and luxury seating represents the leagues’ fastest growing revenue source (Hoffman & Greenberg, 1989). For most stadium construction projects, luxury seating has become a critical strategy to maximize cash flow per seat (Howard & Crompton, 1995). This potential revenue stream, for instance, has been instrumental in securing financing for Oakland-Alameda’s $121 million arena and Detroit’s $235 million Tiger Stadium. Realizing the tremendous potential revenue, many stadium and team owners are now trying to renovate and repair seats to make luxury boxes.

Pay-Per-View Networks

In addition, professional sport franchises are adding to their revenues through contracts with local pay-per-view television networks. Current trends show increasing revenues for pay-per-view over the next few years. The $435 million pay-per-view revenues of 1991 grew to total revenues of $1.1 billion in 1996 and of nearly $3 billion in 2000. The National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, and San Antonio Spurs are involved in pay-per-view (Worsnop, 1991). It is possible that in the near future the World Series and Super Bowl may be televised in a pay-per-view format. Professional sport franchises see pay-per-view as a new source of revenue, beyond what they take in from the broadcast networks. It may help them to keep pace with escalating players’ salaries (see Table 1).

Table 1. Average Salary Climbs of MLB Players


Year	Average Salary	Increased Rate*	Decreased Rate*

1977	$76,066	47.70%	N/A
1979	$113,558	13.70%	N/A
1982	$241,497	30.08%	N/A
1985	$371,571	12.80%	N/A
1987	$412,454	N/A	-0.02 %
1990	$597,537	20.17%	N/A
1992	$1,028,667	20.81%	N/A
1995	$1,110,766	N/A	-4.92 %
1997	$1,336,609	19.34%	N/A
1998	$1,398,831	4.65%	N/A
1999	$1,611,166	15.18%	N/A
2000	$1,895,630	17.65%	N/A
2001	$2,138,896	12.83%	N/A
2002	$2,384,779	11.50%	N/A

* Means as compared to the previous year (source: USA Today)

Table 2. 1999–2000 Season Values and Revenues of Top Five NBA and NHL Teams (in Millions), with League Averages


Teams	Values	Revenues*	One-Year Change in Value

NY Knicks	$395	$152	18 % ^
LA Lakers	$360	$133.2	28 % ^
Chicago Bulls	$314	$112.2	2 % ^
Portland Blazers	$272	$97.3	6 % ^
Phoenix Suns	$252	$96.8	5 % ^
NBA Average	$207	$79.9	15 % ^
NY Rangers	$263	$97.6	12 % ^
Philadelphia Flyers	$240	$88.9	14 % ^
Detroit Red Wings	$218	$80.7	12 % ^
Boston Bruins	$217	$77.6	10 % ^
Toronto Maple Leafs	$203	$84.4	35 % ^
NHL Average	$148	$60.6	10 % ^

* Revenues include media revenues, gate receipts, and stadium revenues (source: Forbes)

Media Revenues in Professional Sport

Television contributed to the nationalization of sport by making the prosperity of professional sport dependent on the creation of a broad-based national constituency. When NBC provided the first live network coverage of the World Series in 1949, fewer than 12% of U.S. households had television sets. By 1953, 15 of the 16 baseball clubs had local television contracts, and ABC introduced the first network game-of-the-week format. The share of U.S. households with televisions grew rapidly through the 1950s, reaching 67% of households (34.9 million homes) in 1955 and 87% of households (45.8 million homes) in 1960 (Zimbalist, 1992; Gorman, Calhoun, & Rozen, 1994). During the 1950s, none of the networks considered sport programming critical to their overall success. They put far more of their resources and effort into comedies, Westerns, and popular dramas.

But in the early 1960s, ABC broke with this pattern. ABC gambled that increased sport programming would give its network greater visibility, bring in new local television stations as affiliates, and improve the audience ratings for all shows. Sport telecasts contributed substantively to ABC’s rise from third place in prime-time audience ratings in the 1950s to the top in the 1970s (Rader, 1999). Today, up to 40 hours of professional team sport are beamed to home television sets each week by the major networks, and hundreds of additional hours are provided by cable networks spread across the country.

According to Zimbalist (1992), when the Yankees signed their first media contract, in 1946, radio and television together contributed only 3% of MLB’s revenues. That figure rose to 16.8% by 1956 and continued to increase through the years until, in the 1990s, television money represented more than half of baseball’s yearly earnings. In the case of football and basketball, broadcasting monies also amount to about one half of overall revenues; only hockey, whose history with national television can only be described as spotty, has thus far been left out of the formula. For example, MLB was in the middle of four-year pacts with ESPN and CBS that earned $400 million and $1.06 billion, respectively. Four-year NBA contracts with NBC and Turner, expiring in 1994, totaled $875 million. Hockey was not left out completely, however; the NHL’s five-year contract with ABC and ESPN, signed in 1992, was worth nearly $80 million (Gorman et al., 1994).

In addition to revenue from national broadcasting contracts, the leagues negotiated with over-the-air and cable networks to further increase their revenues. Deals cut between individual teams and local stations are crucial in sport and weigh heavily in a team’s financial success or failure. In the case of MLB, local television, radio, and cable generated more than $350 million for the 28 teams in 1993. For the NBA, revenues from local radio, cable, and over-the-air television come to over $100 million each year.

Table 3. Values and Revenues of MLB Teams (in Millions), 1998–2001


Team	Values 1998	2001	Increased Rate	Revenues* 1998	2001	Increased Rate

NY Yankees	$491	$730	48.68 % ^	$175.5	$215	22.51 % ^
Cleveland Indians	$359	$360	0.27 % ^	$149.7	$150	0.87 % ^
Atlanta Braves	$357	$424	18.77 % ^	$142.7	$160	12.12 % ^
Baltimore Orioles	$305	$319	4.60 % ^	$130.5	$133	1.91 % ^
Colorado Rockies	$311	$347	11.58 % ^	$124.6	$129	3.53 % ^
Arizona D’Backs	$256	$280	9.38 % ^	$116.3	$127	9.2 % ^
Texas Rangers	$281	$356	26.69 % ^	$108.1	$134	23.96 % ^
LA Dodgers	$270	$435	61.11 % ^	$107.9	$143	32.53 % ^
Boston Red Sox	$256	$426	66.40 % ^	$106.9	$152	42.19 % ^
NY Mets	$249	$482	93.57 % ^	$99.7	$169	69.51 % ^

* Revenues include media revenues, gate receipts, and stadium revenues (source from the Forbes)

Sport and television coexist in a high-priced equation. The leagues in the major sports sell the rights to broadcast their games, making millions of dollars each season. The networks in turn sell advertising by the half-minute to sponsors on national, regional, and local levels. The sponsors, confident that sport reaches the right customers for their products, pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their flashes of exposure.

The Baseball Network (TBN) is an example of creativity in advertising. TBN, in partnership with MLB, NBC, and ABC, was scheduled to run for six years beginning in 1994. As a media entity, TBN was charged with generating revenue for MLB by selling advertising time and promotional rights. Rather than take a projected 55% cut in rights fees and receive a typical rights fee from the networks, MLB agreed to accept 88% of the net revenue generated by TBN from sale of advertising and corporate sponsorship. Consequently, MLB shared the financial risk with the networks. It was thought that, if its advertising rates were reasonable, TBN would help the networks, MLB, corporate sponsors, and players market in sport. The networks stood to benefit because they reduced the risk associated with purchasing broadcast rights outright. (For example, in 1993, the year before the TBN deal, CBS had lost approximately $500 million on its four-year, $1.06 billion contract, due to its high bid and a shortfall in advertising revenue.) MLB and its players liked the new arrangement because the recently expanded play-off format would further line their already bulging pockets. Finally, the advertisers were excited about the arrangement with TBN because the new package included several changes intended to boost ratings, especially among younger viewers. Since this type of partnership appeared to please all parties involved, many thought other major sport leagues and their affiliated networks would eventually adopt it, thus furthering the growth of sport sponsorship and advertising (Carter, 1996).

Table 4. TV Sports: Broadcast Rights Fees


Network	Years Covered	Avg. Cost Per Year	Total Cost

MLB
CBS	1990 – 1993	$265 million	$1.06 billion
ESPN	1990 – 1993	$100 million	$400 million
ABC/NBC	1994 – 1999	$0-revenue sharing	$0-revenue sharing
ESPN	1994 – 1999	$42.5 million	$255 million
	Voided after 1995 season
FOX	1996 – 2000	$115 million	$575 million
NBC	1996 – 2000	$80 million	$400 million
ESPN	1996 – 2000	$87 million	$435 million
FOX Cable	1997 – 2000	$40.5 million	$162 million
FOX	2001 – 2006	$417 million	$2.5 billion
ESPN	2000 – 2005	$141.8 million	$851 million
NBA
NBC	1990/91 – 1993/94	$150 million	$600 million
TBS/TNT	1990/91 – 1993/94	$68.75 million	$275 million
NBC	1994/95 – 1997/98	$187.5 million	$750 million
TBS/TNT	1994/95 – 1997/98	$87.5 million	$350 million
NBC	1998/99 – 2001/02	$437.5 million	$1.75 billion
TBS/TNT	1998/99 – 2001/02	$222.5 million	$890 million
ABC/ESPN	2002/03 – 2007/08	$400 million	$2.4 billion
AOL Time Warner	2002/03 – 2007/08	$366.5 million	$2.2 billion
NFL
ABC (Mon. Night)	1990 – 1993	$225 million	$900 million
CBS (NFC)	1990 – 1993	$265 million	$1.06 billion
NBC (AFC)	1990 – 1993	$188 million	$752 million
ESPN (Sun. Night)	1990 – 1993	$111.25 million	$445 million
TNT (Sun. Night)	1990 – 1993	$111.25 million	$445 million
NBC (Superbowl)	1994	$40 million	$40 million
ABC (Mon. Night)	1994 – 1997	$230 million	$920 million
FOX (NFC)	1994 – 1997	$395 million	$1.58 million
NBC (AFC)	1994 – 1997	$217 million	$868 million
ESPN (Sun. Night)	1994 – 1997	$131 million	$524 million
TNT (Sun. Night)	1994 – 1997	$124 million	$496 million
ABC (Mon. Night)	1998 – 2005	$550 million	$4.4 billion
FOX (NFC)	1998 – 2005	$550 million	$4.4 billion
CBS (AFC)	1998 – 2005	$500 million	$4.0 billion
ESPN (Sun. Night)	1998 – 2005	$600 million	$4.8 billion
NHL
SportsChannel	1989 – 1991	$17 million	$51 million
ESPN	1992 – 1996	$16 million	$80 million
FOX	1994 – 1998	$31 million	$155 million
ESPN (ABC & ESPN2)	1999 – 2003	$120 million	$600 million

(source: Forbes)

Sport Venues’ Golden Seats

Revenues from luxury suites—alternatively called sky boxes, luxury boxes, or executive suites—have become important to the professional franchises for maximizing cash flow per seat (Howard & Crompton, 1995; Funk, 1997). Luxury boxes are fancy rooms inside stadiums and arenas, in which corporations and some private individuals entertain clients and friends while also watching sport events. They are always up high, often near press-box level, and they are usually equipped with closed-circuit television for close-ups of the action. Every facility built within the last 20 years has luxury suites, and most of the older ones have been retooled to include them (Gorman & Calhoun, 1994). Wrigley Field in Chicago, for example, added 67 sky boxes for the 1989 season, each accommodating 12–15 people. Most of them rent for $45,000 to $65,000 a year. The revenue-generating potential of these luxury boxes would go untapped through the late 1980s. However, by the early 1990s, luxury suites had emerged as the most coveted and profitable of the venue-based revenue sources, contributing to unprecedented growth in sport venue construction. Club seats, sometimes called premium seats, are another source of increased revenue. Even when club seats lack a private entertainment or reception area adjoining the seats, they are usually more comfortable than seats found elsewhere in the stadium or arena (Rosentraub, 1997).

Luxury suites in stadiums hosting NFL franchises range in number from 47 in Seattle’s Kingdome to 370 in Irving’s Texas Stadium. MLB facilities have suites numbering from 19 in New York’s Yankee Stadium up to 161 in Toronto’s Sky Dome. The number of luxury suites in arenas used by the NBA range from 12 in Charlotte’s Coliseum to 360 in Detroit’s Palace at Auburn Hills. NHL teams play in facilities that have suites numbering from 16 in Florida’s Miami Arena to 135 in Montreal’s Molson Center. Table 5 shows the number of luxury suites and club seats in professional sport venues.

Table 5. Luxury Suites and Club Seats in Professional Sport Venues


Team/League	Luxury Suites	Club Seats	Total Capacity

Florida Marlins	215	6,750	47,662
Cleveland Indians	129	2,058	42,400
Texas Rangers	120	4,099	49,292
MLB Total	1,841	40,500	N/A
Atlanta Falcons	203	6,300	71,280
Carolina Panthers	135	10,800	72,300
St. Louis Rams	120	6,200	65,300
NFL Total	3,091	60,978	N/A
Chicago Bulls	216	3,000	21,500
Detroit Pistons	180	3,000	21,454
Cleveland Cavaliers	92	3,000	20,562
NBA Total	2,057	32,780	N/A
NHL Total	1,860	28,978	N/A

(source: USA Today)

The revenue-generating capability of luxury suites and premium seats is enormous. Luxury suites at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego rented for $29,000 to $49,000 a season; at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, for $24,000 to $60,000 for the baseball season and $40,000 to $80,000 for the football season; and at Houston’s Astrodome, for $25,000 per baseball season and $15,000 to $45,000 per football season (Gorman & Calhoun, 1994). Taking the Dallas Cowboys as a specific example, use of luxury suites is the primary reason stadium revenue is such a significant portion of a franchise’s total revenue. The Cowboys have approximately 360 luxury suites that represent more than $23 million annually in potential revenue. Table 6 indicates the economic value of the Cowboys’ luxury suites.

Table 6. Economic Values of the Cowboys’ Luxury Suites


Suites Category	# of Suites	Average Price	Potential Revenue

Circle	180	$31,000	$5,580,000
Crown	172	$57,000	$9,804,000
Platinum	8	$1,000,000	$8,000,000
Total	360		$23,384,000
			(22.8% of Total Team Revenue)

The data in this table are from Financing Sport, by D. Howard and J. Crompton, 1995, Morgantown, W.V.: Fitness Information Technology. Reprinted with permission

The economic power of sales of luxury boxes and sales of club seats contributing to gross revenue has the potential to reach over $625.8 million and $329.9 million, respectively. As these dollar figures indicate, luxury seats and premium seats illustrate how a number of factors affect the amount of revenue a team realizes from sales of special seating. Currently, there are 8,090 luxury suites and 151,451 club seats for sale in professional sport venues, at a total amount of $955.7 million (as detailed in Table 5 and Table 7). The potential revenue from the sale of luxury suites and club seats by professional leagues is seen in Table 7.

Table 7. Potential Gross Revenue from Luxury Boxes and Premium Seats


League	Luxury Boxes	Premium Seats	Potential Revenue

NFL	$204,119,771	$56,231,120	$260,350,891
MLB	$130,270,819	$84,115,293	$214,386,112
NBA	$149,975,179	$115,627,254	$265,602,433
NHL	$141,446,090	$73,982,339	$215,428,429
Total	$625,811,859	$329,956,006	$955,767,865

* Adjusted for facilities housing more than one team (source: Forbes)

Conclusion

The development of the professional sport industry during past decades has been phenomenal. Prior to 1960, there were only a few independent sport leagues whose members could legitimately claim “major” status. Today, however, the situation is dramatically different. As professional sports have grown in recent decades, they have gained recognition as a vital part of the burgeoning mass-entertainment industry (Worsnop, 1995). The teams in the NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL are worth, combined, more than $12 billion. Furthermore, over the next decade, the value of professional sport teams is going to rise to unpredictable levels.

Traditionally, revenues earned by professional team sport were a combination of media revenues, game receipts, and especially luxury boxes and club seats. In the coming 10 years, media revenues, particularly, will increase, attaining what currently seems an unthinkable position. The main reason will be the consolidation of media and entertainment companies and the voracious appetite these companies will have for sport programming. Also, among the various private sources of revenue for sport franchises (stadiums’ and arenas’ proceeds from parking fees, concessions, advertising, corporate naming rights, and special seating), luxury boxes and club seats have become one of the most valuable. The revenue-generating potential that luxury boxes and club seats offer to professional sport franchises is second only to the potential for media revenue. In conclusion, professional sport franchises now see the importance of attracting fans to their stadiums and arenas in order to increase their private revenues. Sport, especially professional team sport, can earn money in more ways than one.

References

Badenhausen, K. (2000). Name games. Forbes, 166(15), 132-135.

Badenhausen, K., Fluke, C., Kump, L., & Ozanian, M. K. (2002). Double play. Forbes, 169(9), 92-94.

Badenhausen, K., & Sicheri, W. (1999). Baseball games: Revenue sharking has struck out. So why does Bud Selig want another inning? Forbes, 163(11), 112-117.

Barnett, S. (1990). Games and sets: The changing face of sport on television. London: BFI Publishing.

Bodley, H. (1998). Disparity in team payrolls is alarming: Fans know without high priced talent, hopes for title are slim. USA Today, Friday November 20, 1998.

Carter, D. M. (1996). Heeping score: An inside look at sports marketing. Grants Pass, OR: The Oasis Press.

Funk, D. C. (1997). Economics of professional sport franchises: Luxury seating’s impact on construction and renovation of sport venues in North America. Paper presented at the 12th Annual North American Society for Sport Management Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Gorman, J., Calhoun, K., & Rozin, S. (1994). The name of the game: The business of sports. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Hoffma, D., & Greenberg, M. (1989). Sportsbiz: An irreverent look at big business in pro sport. Champaign, IL: Leisure Press.

Howard, D., & Crompton, J. (1995). Financing sport. Morgantown, WV: Fitness
Information Technology.

John, A. S. (1998, October). Baseball’s billion-dollar question: Who’s on deck?
American Demographics, 20(10), 60-69.

Ozanian, M. K. (1994). The $11 billion pastime: Why sports franchise values are soaring even as team profits fall. Financial World May, 1994.

Rader, B. G. (1999). American sports: From the age of folk games to the age of televised sports (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Rosentraub, M. S. (1997). Major league losers: The real cost of sports and who’s paying for it. New York: A Division of Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.

Sage, G. H. (1998). Power and ideology in American sport: A critical perspective (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers.

Shropshire, K. L. (1995). The sports franchise game: Cities in pursuit of sports franchise, events, stadiums, and arenas. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Worsnop, R. L. (1991). Pay-per-view. CQ Researcher, 1(21), 731-751.

Worsnop, R. L. (1995). The business of sports: Are greedy owners and players hurting pro leagues? CQ Researcher, 5(6), 121-144.

Zimbalist, A. (1992). Baseball and billions. New York: Basic Books.

U.S. Sports Academy2015-11-08T07:41:03-06:00February 15th, 2008|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Facilities, Sports Management|Comments Off

Athletes’ Expectations for Success in Athletics Compared to Academic Competition

Submitted by:Jeffrey W. Lucas, The University of Akron and Michael J. Lovaglia, The University of Iowa

INTRODUCTION

In
this paper, we describe a study in which we investigate attitudes
held by student-athletes and non-athlete students towards
academic and athletic success. Athletic success is largely
viewed in the United States as a vehicle for disadvantaged
students to attain higher education. Most colleges and universities
in the U.S. have admittance programs in which a designated
percent of students who do not meet standard admissions criteria
are allowed to enroll. According to the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (1995), about 3% of all students enter
college under these programs. However, more than 20% of college
football and basketball players enter universities under special
admittance programs (Lapchick 1995). Thus, athletic prowess
may allow for an increased opportunity for education.

While
successful high school athletes may have increased educational
opportunities, these students often struggle when they enter
college. College athletes earn fewer bachelor’s degrees than
do students in general, they take longer to do so, their grades
are lower, and their curricula are less demanding (Adelman
1990).

Some
have also argued for the social benefit of sport participating.
Findings indicate that sport involvement is an important activity
that has the potential for reducing at-risk behavior and enhancing
development in adolescents (Agnew and Peterson 1989; Burling,
Seidner, Robbins-Sisco, and Krinsky 1992). However, student-athletes
report greater difficulty than other students in taking leadership
roles, learning from their mistakes, discussing their personal
problems, and articulating their thoughts (Dudley, Johnson,
and Johnson 1997).

One
reason that student-athletes struggle in college may be that
athletes have unrealistic expectations for careers in professional
sports. While a relatively high percentage of university athletes
expect careers in professional sports (Center for the Study
of Athletics 1989; Kennedy and Dimick 1987) a professional
sports career is not an option for any but the most elite
of student athletes (Lapchick 1991).

It
appears that student-athletes are diverted into athletic career
aspirations and away from mainstream opportunities for success,
such as academic achievement. In that student-athletes often
struggle academically and socially in college, it may be that
athletes expect greater costs and fewer benefits to accompany
a university education than do other students. We predict
that student-athletes, in comparison to scholars (not athletes),
will indicate higher expectations for costs and fewer expectations
for benefits to obtain from a successful university education.

Athletes
also often hold unrealistic expectations for professional
sports careers. We predict that student-athletes will expect
lower costs and higher benefits to accompany sport involvement
than will scholars (not athletes). And, because of expectations
for careers in professional sports, we also predict that athletes
will indicate lower motivation toward school performance and
higher motivation toward athletic performance than will scholars.

SURVEY
INSTRUMENTS

We
designed two survey instruments to measure the costs and benefits
that students expect to accompany academic and athletic success,
as well as motivation to perform both athletically and academically.
We designed one instrument, the Student Academic Questionnaire
(SAQ), to measure attitudes towards academic success and the
other instrument, the Student Assessment Survey (SAS),
to measure attitudes towards athletic success.

Each
respondent is assigned one of the two questionnaires. After
answering a number of demographic items, the respondent reads
a brief vignette. The vignette for the SAQ informs students
that the researchers are interested in looking at ways that
individuals feel about academic success. Respondents are asked
to imagine themselves in a scenario in which they are successful
university students. The vignette for the SAS tells students
that the researchers are interested in measuring attitudes
about athletic success. Respondents read a vignette in which
they are successful university athletes.

Imagining
themselves in the given scenario, respondents answer a number
of attitude questions designed to measure the costs, benefits,
and performance motivation they feel towards academic or athletic
achievement. We included three scales (each containing between
8 and 18 items) in the attitude questions, one for academic
or athletic costs, one for academic or athletic benefits,
and one for performance motivation. Questions in each scale
were identical across questionnaires except that we included
information about academic success in questions on the SAQ
and information about athletic success in questions on the
SAS. Respondents answered all questions on 5-point scales
from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.”

PREDICTIONS

We
make the following predictions regarding the costs, benefits,
and motivations that non-athlete scholars and student-athletes
will feel towards academic and athletic success:

Hypothesis
1: Student-athletes, in comparison to scholars (non-athletes)
will

anticipate higher costs accompanying a college education,
anticipate
lower benefits accompanying a college education, and
be
less motivated to perform at a high level academically.

Hypothesis
2: Student-athletes, in comparison to scholars (non-athletes)
will

anticipate lower costs accompanying athletic success,
anticipate
higher benefits accompanying athletic success, and
be
less motivated to perform at a high level athletically.

RESULTS

In
order to test the hypotheses described above, we passed out
the SAQ and the SAS to samples of students at The University
of Akron, The University of Iowa, Kent State University, and
Louisiana State University. Among the demographic items on
the questionnaires, we designed six questions to measure whether
we should classify respondents as scholars, athletes, or both.
We asked respondents their high school academic and sports
involvement, their academic and athletic scholarship status
in college, and whether they viewed themselves primarily as
scholars or athletes.

The
three items we designed to measure athletic status showed
strong correlations with each other-all correlations produced
probability levels less than .001. The same is true for the
items designed to measure academic status. Because correlations
between items were so high, we chose one item, the extent
to which respondents considered themselves scholars or athletes,
as our measure of academic or athletic status.

We
asked respondents two questions to evaluate the extent to
which they considered themselves primarily athletes or scholars,
with 1 indicating “very much” and 9 indicating “not
at all.” If respondents circled 4 or lower on the scholar
scale and greater than 5 on the athletic scale, we considered
them scholars in our analysis. If respondents circled greater
than 5 on the scholar scale and 4 or less on the athletic
scale, we considered them athletes for our analysis. Again,
answers to these questions correlated highly with high school
athletic involvement and with academic or athletic scholarship
status.

SAQ
Findings

The
SAQ measured the costs, benefits, and motivation that students
felt towards academic success. In all, 302 students completed
the SAQ, 135 scholars and 33 athletes. We predicted that student-athletes
would perceive greater costs for academic success than would
scholars. The cost of success scale is an average of the fourteen
items designed to measure the costs of academic success, with
1 indicating low costs of academic success and 6 indicating
high costs. The mean score on the SAQ cost of success scale
for scholars was 1.42 (st. dev. = .47) and for student-athletes
was 1.53 (st. dev. = .52). This difference is in the predicted
direction-athletes perceive higher costs for academic success
than do scholars. A t-test of the difference, however, is
not significant (t = 1.167, one-tailed p = .123).

We
also predicted that student-athletes would perceive fewer
benefits to accompany academic success than would scholars.
The mean score for scholars on the benefits of academic success
scale was 3.10 (st. dev. = .60) and for athletes was 2.80
(st. dev. = .69). This difference indicates that scholars
expect higher benefits for academic success than do athletes.
Further, a t-test of the difference is significant (t = 2.47,
one-tailed p = .008).

We
further predicted that student-athletes would indicate lower
motivation to perform academically than would scholars. The
mean score for scholars on the academic motivation scale was
3.34 (st. dev. = .52) and for student-athletes was 3.02 (st.
dev. = .55). This difference is in the predicted direction,
and a t-test of the difference produces significance (t =
3.16, one-tailed p = .001).

SAS
Findings

The
SAS measured the costs, benefits, and motivation that students
felt towards athletic success. 252 students completed the
SAS, 124 scholar and 23 athletes. We predicted that student-athletes
would perceive fewer costs associated with athletic success
than would scholars. Student-athletes had a mean score on
the costs of athletic success scale of 1.97 (st. dev. = .61),
while scholars had a mean score of 1.88 (st. dev. = .52).
This slight difference is actually in the opposite direction
of that predicted by our hypothesis, but a t-test of the difference
does not produce significance (t = .722, two-tailed p = .472).

We
also predicted that student-athletes would perceive greater
benefits to accompany athletic success than would scholars.
The mean score on the benefits of athletic success scale for
student-athletes was 2.43 (st. dev. = .60) and for scholars
was 2.20 (st. dev. = .93). This difference is in the predicted
direction, but a t-test of the difference is not significant
(t = 1.11, one-tailed p = .135).

We
also predicted higher motivation towards athletic performance
for student-athletes than for scholars. Student-athletes had
a mean score on the athletic motivation scale of 3.52 (st.
dev. = .45), while scholars had a mean of 3.44 (st. dev. =
.57). This difference, while in the predicted direction, is
not significant (t = .628, one-tailed p = .266).

In
sum, two of the six hypotheses we tested (hypotheses on the
benefits of academic success and on motivation to perform
academically) produced significance. Two hypotheses (on the
costs of academic success and on the benefits of athletic
success) approached significance. The hypotheses on the costs
of athletic success and on athletic motivation did not approach
significance.

DISCUSSION

Results
of our data collection provided partial support for our predictions.
Student-athletes, in comparison to scholars, perceived greater
costs and fewer benefits to accompany a university education.
Further, student-athletes were less motivated to perform academically
than were scholars. These findings support our predictions
and are in line with findings that athletes struggle academically.
Findings on the costs and benefits of athletic success received
less support.

Our
findings provide some support for our argument that athletics
serves to channel a disadvantaged minority away from mainstream
opportunities for success in the United States. If this is
true, then expectations about success in athletics and academics
may differ in countries were athletics does not serve this
purpose. It also may be that respondents in countries with
less rigid racial, economic, and ethnic partitions than the
United States will report smaller differences in their expected
costs for academic and athletic success. A valuable direction
for future research would be to shed light on these issues.

REFERENCES

Adelman,
C. (1990). Light and Shadows on College Athletics. Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Agnew,
R. and D.M. Peterson (1989). “Leisure and delinquency.”
Social Problems, 36(4), 332-250.

Burling,
T.A., A.L. Seidner, D. Robbins-Sisco, and A. Krinsky (1992).
“Relapse prevention for homeless veteran substance abusers
via softball team participation.” Journal of Substance
Abuse, 4(4), 407-413.

Center
for the Study of Athletics (1989). Report No. 3: The Experiences
of Black Intercollegiate Athletes at NCAA Division I institutions.
Palo Alto, CA: American Institute for Research.

Dudley,
B.S., D.W. Johnson, and R.T. Johnson. (1997). “Using
cooperative learning to enhance the academic and social experiences
of freshman student athletes.” The Journal of Social
Psychology, 137(4), 449-459.

Kennedy,
S.R., and K.M. Dimick. (1987). “Career maturity and professional
sports expectations of college football and basketball players.”
Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 293-297.

Lapchick,
R. (1991). Five Minutes to Midnight: Race and Sports in the
1990’s. Lanham, MD: Madison Books.

Lapchick,
R.E. (1995). “Race and college sport: A long way to go.”
Race and Class, 36(4), 87-94.

National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). (1995). 1995 Division
I Graduation-Rates Report. Overland Park, KS: Author.

Contact
information:

Jeffrey
W. Lucas
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
The University of Akron
Akron, OH 44325-1905
(330) 972-6915
jlucas2@uakron.edu

U.S. Sports Academy2013-11-26T21:37:01-06:00February 15th, 2008|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Facilities, Sports Management|Comments Off

Analysis of Perceived Leadership Styles & Levels of Satisfaction of Selected Junior College Athletic Directors and Head Coaches

Submitted by: Dr. Dexter J. Davis, Alfred State College

Athletics and the administration of athletics at the collegiate level are undergoing a continual metamorphosis. No longer is athletics seen as just fun and games for the entertainment of fans. Nor can it be considered only big business, making large amounts of money for the sponsoring institution. It has become a combination of the two, entertainment and business, all within the structure and mission of higher education. Out of necessity, this metamorphosis is also evident in those who manage these programs. The essence of this change has been captured in the following statement:

The athletic director of the coming decades will be asked to meld the demands of business with the constraints of politics, all within the unique parameters of academia. It is a far cry from what it was only 20 years ago, when many schools simply ceded control of the department to the most powerful coach on campus. Or even 10 years ago when the AD with a knack for managing coaches could get by on a superficial understanding of business principles, so long as he surrounded himself with a few bean counters. (King, 2000, p. 35)

As this change continues, leadership ability will continue to increase in importance as a determinant of success for the athletic administrator. Previously, leadership ability was assumed because of athletic success (Linam, 1999). Today, those in administrative positions are receiving much more training and formal education in the business of sport than they would have in former times. Part of this education includes instruction in the nuances of leadership. Leadership has been defined by Roach and Behling (as cited in Watkins & Rikard, 1991, p. 46) as “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.” Placing this definition in the context of intercollegiate athletics, one can see its application to the athletic director: The AD would influence the activities of an organized group, the athletic department, toward the goals of athletic success and economic viability, all within the unique atmosphere of academia.

There are numerous labels given the many different ways this influencing process is played out. Two such labels are transactional leadership and transformational leadership, which have been identified as points on a continuum of leadership behavior (Bass, 1985). Field and Herold (1997) described transactional leadership as a reward-driven behavior, the follower behaving in such a manner as to elicit rewards or support from the leader. Transformational leadership has been described as behavior that transcends the need for rewards and appeals to the followers’ higher-order needs, inspiring them to act in the best interest of the organization rather than in their own self-interest (Bass, 1998).

Prominent leadership researchers (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1999) feel that transformational leadership is key to the continued success of organizations, because transformational leadership promotes team cohesion, organizational commitment, and higher levels of job satisfaction. Many times intercollegiate athletic departments, especially those outside the realm of Division I, are understaffed, with individuals performing multiple tasks. In these instances it would seem reasonable to think that leadership behaviors that inspire department members to act in the best interest of the organization would be essential for success.

NCAA Division I athletics, with its high-visibility programs and emphasis on the business aspect of intercollegiate sport, is an inviting subject for research. NCAA Division III, with its emphasis on the academic success of its athletes, provides an excellent alternative for a researcher. However, junior college athletics is a forgotten portion of intercollegiate athletics. By its very nature, junior college athletics can offer neither of these divergent points of view. Therefore, little research has been conducted in this realm of intercollegiate athletics.

Athletic directors at the junior college level face many of the same issues as their counterparts at four-year institutions, albeit at a much more anonymous level. These individuals need to be concerned about their leadership abilities and the levels of satisfaction of their subordinates, just like those at higher echelons of competition. It is hoped that this study will help to fill the void in the current research at this level of athletic administration and provide these sport professionals with insight into how to better lead their organizations.

Methodology and Findings

This study examined the perceived leadership styles of selected athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of selected head coaches serving National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) member colleges from Regions III and XV. These institutions (n=50) are located in the states of New York and Vermont. Leadership data was collected using the latest version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ form 5X) (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1995). The MLQ was chosen because of its extensive use in leadership research, as it has been used in nearly 200 research programs, doctoral dissertations, and master’s theses around the globe (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, 1995, p. 6). A demographic survey, constructed by the researcher and validated by a panel of experts, was used to gather information regarding the age, gender, educational background, and levels of experience of the athletic directors and head coaches.

The subjects in this study were the intercollegiate ADs (n=50) and head coaches (n= 345) of the NJCAA colleges in Regions III and XV (n=50), representing 2 of the 24 regions that NJCAA covers. Each athletic director was mailed a packet containing a cover letter, a copy of the “leader” version of the MLQ form 5X, the “athletic director” version of the demographic survey, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Each head coach received a similar packet containing the same cover letter, a copy of the “rater” version of the MLQ form 5X, the “head coach” version of the demographic survey, and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

These packets were mailed to each individual on 16 October 2000, with a request to return the completed MLQ form 5X and demographic survey by 1 November 2000. Follow-up was done according to the procedures suggested by Dillman (1978) in his work concerning survey sampling. This involved mailing a follow-up postcard a week after the original mailing. The postcard served as a thank you to the respondents and as a gentle reminder to those who had not yet responded. Three weeks after the original mailing, a second packet with a new cover letter and replacement copies of the appropriate MLQ form 5X and demographic survey was mailed to non-respondents only. Seven weeks after the original mailing, a final request for responses was mailed to non-respondents. It contained a cover letter very similar to the preceding letter, with replacement MLQ form 5Xs and demographic surveys. This packet was sent by certified mail to ensure delivery to the appropriate individual and to stress the importance of a reply (Dillman, 1978). Data collection ceased on 15 December 2000 and analysis began. Thirty-four athletic directors (68%) and 142 coaches (41%) responded and were considered in the study.

Findings

Descriptive statistics were generated for the athletic directors and the coaches both from the demographic data and from information gathered by the MLQ form 5X. Frequencies for age, gender, highest degree earned, and total years of experience were determined for coaches and for athletic directors. An additional variable, employment status, was determined for coaches.

Perceived leadership styles and levels of satisfaction were determined from the MLQ form 5X data. The mean scores for the transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire components were determined for each group (coaches and athletic directors). If the individual score fell above the mean for that component, that leadership style was considered dominant. If more than one component fell above the mean, the individual was determined to have a combined leadership style. A similar procedure was used to determine levels of satisfaction. If the individual’s satisfaction score was above the mean, the individual was considered satisfied; scores falling below the mean indicated lack of satisfaction.

Chi-square analyses for independence were used to measure 10 associations. First was the association between the perceived leadership styles of selected junior college athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of head coaches reporting to them. Second was the association between perceived leadership styles of selected junior college athletic directors and the directors’ gender. Third was the association between perceived leadership styles of selected junior college athletic directors and the directors’ ages. Fourth was the association between perceived leadership styles of selected junior college athletic directors and their levels of education. The fifth association measured was that between perceived leadership styles of selected junior college athletic directors and their years of experience. The sixth association measured was that between gender of the selected junior college athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of head coaches reporting to them. Seventh was the association between the age of selected junior college athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of head coaches reporting to them. Eighth was the association between levels of education of selected junior college athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of the head coaches reporting to them. Ninth was the association between years of experience offered by selected junior college athletic directors and the levels of satisfaction of head coaches reporting to them. Tenth was the association between levels of satisfaction and employment status of junior college head coaches. For each chi-square analysis, a Yates correction was automatically performed. Yates correction is a statistical technique that enhances the robustness of the chi-square in those instances in which the cells have counts below five.

An athletic director in the present study was most likely to report perceiving his or her personal leadership style as transformational, rather than another style; the proportion of ADs who reported a perceived transformational leadership style was 26.5%, and the rate rose to 50% when including the ADs who reported a perceived style combining transformational leadership with other styles. Similarly, head coaches in the study tended to perceive those ADs to whom they reported as having predominately transformational leadership styles. The head coaches perceived 28.9% of the ADs to whom they reported to exhibit a transformational style of leadership; the rate rose to 62.7% when including ADs whom the coaches perceived as combining transformational leadership with other styles.

Using a chi-square analysis for independence, no statistically significant association (p< .05) was found between the ADs’ perceptions of their leadership styles and (a) their perceptions of the levels of satisfaction their leadership provided (p = .183), (b) their gender (p=. 299), (c) their age (p=. 253), (d) their levels of education (p=. 482), or (e) their years of experience (p=. 583). Additionally, no statistically significant association (p< .05) was found between the ADs’ gender (p=. 971), age (p=. 057), levels of education (p=. 581), or years of experience (p=. 353) and the levels of satisfaction perceived by head coaches reporting to them. Finally, no statistically significant association (p< .05) was found between the perceived levels of satisfaction of junior college head coaches and their employment status (p=. 127). However, a chi-square analysis for independence did indicate a statistically significant association (p< .05) between a head coach’s perception of the leadership style of his or her AD and that coach’s perception concerning level of satisfaction provided by the AD’s leadership (p = <0.01).

Conclusions

As is evidenced by the breadth of research on the topic, leadership is a very complex phenomenon. It can be argued that leader behavior is impacted by the traits and skills of the leader, the traits and behaviors of the followers, the complexity of the situation, and numerous other variables, some of which may be currently unidentified. One of the prominent theories used to explain effective leadership is that of the transactional-transformational leadership continuum. Transformational leadership focuses on inspiring followers to set aside self-interest and seek the betterment of the organization; in contrast, transactional leadership focuses largely on the effort-reward exchange between followers and leader. In athletics in general, and in junior college athletics specifically, transformational leadership is essential for success. As budgets and human resources diminish and the need to do more with less increases, leadership able to transform and inspire individuals to act in organizations’ best interests will be vital.

Soucie (1994) states that leadership is perhaps the most important skill the sport administrator should possess. Sport administrators, or athletic directors, are perceived to be the causal agents in the success or failure of their organizations. Therefore, the leadership they provide determines the level of success of the organization and even the organizational culture itself, which includes among other things subordinates’ perceived levels of satisfaction.

The findings of this study resemble those of other studies (Doherty & Danylchuk, 1996; Wallace & Weese, 1995) that examined the relationship between leader behavior within the transactional-transformational paradigm and organizational factors such as levels of satisfaction. In the earlier studies, transformational leadership behaviors were found to be positively associated with high levels of satisfaction. While the current study did not examine exclusively the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and levels of satisfaction, the study results do indicate that (a) the head coaches perceived their ADs to have predominately transformational leadership styles, (b) most coaches perceived their ADs’ leadership to be satisfying, and (c) there was a highly significant association between the perception of AD leadership style and perceived levels of satisfaction.

The results of the current study indicate that other variables did not have a statistically significant association (p< .05) with perceived levels of satisfaction. This finding should not be a surprise, given the nature of coaches. Wallace and Weese (1995) noted that YMCA employees are altruistic individuals, working toward the common goal of providing excellent service for their clients. Coaches, while they may not be every bit as altruistic as YMCA employees, tend to be practical individuals. Variables such as the age and gender of the AD or education or experience of the AD are unlikely to make much impact on a coach’s perceived satisfaction. If a coach is provided the resources and support needed to produce an excellent program, that coach will be satisfied. It is quite possible that if the variables of funding, other resources, and institutional support were to be examined, more significant associations might be found.

In conclusion, leadership research will continue to be a priority in the sport setting, as it is in other organizations. Currently, the conclusions reached are unclear or, oftentimes, contradictory. However, as the research continues, we will begin to gain a clearer understanding of the role of leadership and its impact on subordinates in the sport enterprise. Perhaps Soucie (1994) put it best, when he said that there are no absolute truths about effective leadership, but those of us privileged to serve in a formal leadership role within an athletic enterprise know that the rewards are plenty (p. 11). We owe both those whom we lead, and ourselves, a continued examination of this complex and amazing phenomenon we call leadership.

References

Avolio, B.J., Bass, B.M., & Jung, D.I. (1999). Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72, 441-463.

Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.

Bass, B.M. (1998). Transformational leadership: Industry, military, and educational impact. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Doherty, A.J. & Danylchuk, K.E. (1996) Transformational and transactional leadership in interuniversity athletics management. Journal of Sport Management, 10, 292-309.

Dillman, D.A. (1978). Mail and telephone surveys: The total design method. New York: John Wiley & sons.

Field, D.L. & Herold, D.M. (1997). Using the Leadership Practices Inventory to measure transformational and transactional leadership. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57, 569-580.

King, B. (2000, June 12-18). Unearthing the AD of the future. Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 3(9), 25, 35.

Linam, K. (1999). Leadership styles of collegiate athletic directors and head coaches’ satisfaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, United States Sports Academy, Daphne, AL.

Soucie, D. (1994). Effective managerial leadership in sport organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 8, 1-13.

Wallace, M. & Weese, W.J. (1995). Leadership, organizational culture, and job satisfaction in Canadian YMCA organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 9, 182-193.

Watkins, D.L. & Rikard, G.L. (1991). Perceptions of leader behaviors of athletic directors: Implications for change. Physical Educator, 48,(1), 2-6.

U.S. Sports Academy2017-08-07T11:59:40-05:00February 15th, 2008|Contemporary Sports Issues, Sports Facilities, Sports Management|Comments Off

Student Fundraising at Beijing University of Physical Education – A Practical Experience for Chinese Sports Management Students

Submitted by: Reginald F. Overton, Ed.D.

Abstract

With the dramatic economic changes taking place in China there is a move to promote sports and the sports industry through individual and corporate support. Curriculum must be established on the university level to accommodate these needs. The purpose of this research was to investigate the interest in a sport event fundraising program by undergraduate and graduate students at Beijing University of Physical Education (BUPE), Beijing, China. Results indicate an interest in initiating fundraising events at the respective institutions. Students require education on potential careers in sports marketing and fundraising in order to enhance their potential success in the field.

Introduction

Sport administrators and marketers with skills to organize and administer clubs and sport events could lay the basis for future community sport structures in China (Boshoff, 1997). An important part of this effort would include education. There is a diversity of opportunities for the sport fundraiser in international sport. Because technology will continue to improve and trade barriers between countries will continue to decline, the opportunities in international sport will increase. To capitalize on these opportunities, the sport management student must become knowledgeable and sensitive to cultures of other countries.

Overview of History of Sports Industry in China

Like other enterprises, the sports industry has benefited from government directed initiatives. Unfortunately, financial support has decreased in recent years forcing people who work in sports related businesses to seek new fundraising opportunities. There were two methods of management that appeared during this era, one was to encourage the sport units with incentives to diversify management. The other was to draw funds from society, to find sponsorship for sports activities and high level sports teams. Therefore, many excellent sport teams were formed with corporate ties.

In addition to the fact that China’s sport industry is in its infancy, there are many unique problems within the sports industry in China. One example is the imbalance in industry development, which is geographic-based. The sports industry has developed in metropolitan cities including Shanghai and Beijing whereas sports marketing initiatives in western and rural-China have not yet been formed. Another example is that domestic sports enterprises are relatively small and cannot compete with the larger and established foreign sports corporations (Bao Mingxiao, personal communication, October 15, 1999).

“The concept of sport marketing is new in China and the size of the Chinese sport market is enormous. China has 22% of the world’s population; even if a portion of China became spenders on sport, it would increase consumers in the global marketplace by millions” (Hong, 1997).

An urgent call for promotion and development of sports commercial markets during the 1993 Chinese Sports Ministry Conference was therefore recognized. The Minister of Sport, Wu Shaozhu, claimed that the Chinese sports system must reform without delay.

The strategy of reform is to commercialize sport and to integrate sport into people’s daily life. This includes people paying for sport and exercise, privately sponsored sport, the club system, and promotion of sport commercial market (Hong, 1997). Two specific goals of the conference were to extend sport science, technology, and research, and to reform sport training systems along market lines. The administrative structure of the Chinese Sports Ministry suggests a commitment to Sport Administration education as it includes a department of Sports Education (Hong, 1997). Hong (1997) has reported an extensive review of the history of Sport Education in China.

When sports administration education in China started in 1988, there were only two schools (Beijing University of Physical Education and WuHan Institute of Physical Education) that implemented an undergraduate major in this area. Today there are six schools that provide sports administration education. This is where most of the sports administration courses are housed. There are no uniform curriculums as each school has different courses such as Sports Science, Sports Management, Sports Marketing, Statistics, Administration, Operational Research, Computer, Sports Conspectus, Sports Administrative Psychology, Sports Information, Communication, Knowledge and Basic Skill of Sports and Foreign Language (Yang Ping, personal communication, October 15, 1999). As seen there are no programs that utilize sports fundraising opportunities as part of the curriculum or the mere offering of a fundraising course.

Methods

In May-July 2000 a 15-item questionnaire that investigated event management and fundraising topics was administered to undergraduate and graduate students from Beijing

University of Physical Education. Due to the investigative nature of the study, the investigators designed the questionnaire from their knowledge base in international sports marketing. Administrative Personnel at BUPE approved the questionnaire and participation was voluntary.

Facility Description

Beijing University of Physical Education was opened on Nov. 1st 1953 as a College of Physical Education located in the north part of Beijing. In 1956, the name of the institution was changed to Institute of Beijing Physical Education. It was changed to the present name in order to more accurately reflect its expanding role as the leader in teaching, research, and public service for the development of the national and global sports. One vital aspect of these efforts is to understand and educate the students and the public in the science and benefits of human movement. Now it has emerged as one of the key universities in China. This university offers programs from baccalaureate through the doctorate for more than 3,000 full-time students in 5 academic areas: Department of Physical Education, Department of Traditional Folk Sport, Department of Exercise Physiology, and College of Sport Management. There are about 400 faculty. Among them, two hundred are professors and associate professors, and about 200 are assistant professors and lecturers (Zhongyi Yuan, personal communication, August 31, 2000).

Results

Demographic Information

Demographic information on respondents is listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Graduate Status, Age, and Gender of Students from Beijing University of Physical Education, Beijing China

		Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
Graduate Status	under-graduate	14	24.56
	graduate	43	75.44
Age	<20-24	52	91.23
	25-30	4	7.02
	>31	1	1.75
Gender	male	36	36.84
	female	21	63.16

*10RMB approximates $1.25 US
**numerical value not provided, response stated that “a proper or an acceptable price” should be charged.

There were a total of 57 respondents (36M, 21F) to the questionnaire, 25% (n=14) undergraduate and 75% (n=43) graduate students. The majority (91%; n=52) of respondents were 18-24 years old, 7% (n=4) were 25-30, and 2% (n=1) were over 31. The majority (81%, n=46) of respondents were majoring in sport management, although other sport-related disciplines (sport biomedicine n=1, social sport n=3, sport training n=1, sport education n=1, sport psychology n=2, sport anatomy n=1, sport dance n=1, Chinese traditional medicine n=1) were represented (Table 2).

Table 2. Course of Study of Students from Beijing University of Physical Education, Beijing China

Course of Study	Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
Sport Management	46	80.70
Sport Psychology	2	3.51
Sport Dance	1	1.75
Sport Training	1	1.75
Sport Education	1	1.75
Social Sport	3	5.26
Sport Anatomy	1	1.75
Chinese Traditional Medicine	1	1.75
Sport Biomedicine	1	1.75
Total	57	100

Event Management and Fundraising Topics Enthusiasm

Forty Six percent (n=26) of respondents had not taken coursework that addressed event management and fundraising topics. However, this did not deter their enthusiasm for such topics, as 72% (n=41) were interested in assisting in event management for sponsoring collegiate sport competitions, 58% (n=33) would be willing to work throughout the year to plan an event, and 25% (n=14) would be willing to enroll in a US-college sponsored internet course to help prepare students for sponsorship of an exhibition at their respective university. It is noted that forty-three respondents did not respond to the internet course question as they currently do not have access to the internet.

US Sports Interest

Eighty-six percent (n=49) of respondents reported that sponsoring a US collegiate sports team would be well received by students at their respective university. Respondents indicated that the sporting events that would receive the most attendance include men’s basketball (67%), baseball (42%), soccer (40%), and tennis (39%). Other sporting events, including track and field, and bowling only received 32% interest combined. Please note that respondents could choose various combinations of sporting events. The most effective methods for advertisement of an exhibition included television (77%), on the internet (68%), and by newspaper (49%). Please note that respondents could choose various combinations advertising and marketing.

Event Fundraising and Sport Management

The majority (72%; n=41) of respondents reported that spectators should be charged a fee to view a US sport exhibition. In regard to cost for attendance, there was a wide price range (3 to 100 RMB; 10 RMB approximates $1.25 US) that respondents reported as a reasonable charge; the highest frequency response (11%; n=6) was 10 RMB (Table 3). However, 32 respondents (56% of total) did not provide a numerical value, stating that “a proper or an acceptable price” should be charged. Respondents reported favorably (77%; n=44) that spectators would buy shirts, hats, and other memorabilia and food and soft drinks (70%; n=40) during the event.

Table 3. Respondent Report on Cost of Viewing a US-Sport Exhibition

Cost (China RMB)*	Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
3	1	1.75
5	4	7.02
8	1	1.75
10	6	10.53
15	1	1.75
20	3	5.26
30	1	1.75
50	1	1.75
100	1	1.75
>100	3	5.26
Missing**	35	61.40
Total	57	100

Discussion

It is evident from the survey responses that there is an interest in implementing a fundraising event at Chinese Universities by Chinese sports management students. The majority of students participating in this study were male graduate students. In addition, most were sports management majors with some biomedicine majors. The majority of the students have not had any formal training or practical experience in fundraising or implementing an event. The students were interested in hosting a US athletic team for the purpose of gaining practical experience in fundraising and event management. Men’s basketball was seen as the team that would provide the greatest interest for students and the general public. Students determined that television, internet, and the newspaper would be the most effective means of advertising such an event. The student respondents indicated that spectators should be charged a fee for the event and that 5 to 10 RMB would be the most affordable price. Many of the respondents did not answer this question due to a lack of understanding of the event management process. Most indicated that memorabilia and food/soft drinks should be made available. The student’s interest in the aforementioned areas has been affected by the shift in economic policies and the open trade agreement. Chinese students now see the opportunity for economic gain through sports as seen on television and the web.
Most Chinese students are interested in pursuing an internet course in sport fundraising due to the global perspective that is being stressed by the Chinese government. In addition, young students have seen the fast development of sports in China along with increases in international exchange of sports activities therefore the interest in the field has obviously increased. The high interest in an international sport fundraising curriculum may reflect strategies being implemented by the Chinese Sports Ministry. In June of 1993, a conference titled “The Urgent Promotion and Development of Sports Business” addressed administrative restructuring of Chinese sport (Hong, 1997). This information may be a factor in the high interest of undergraduate and graduate Chinese sports management students towards sport fundraising education. Student interest in fundraising has also increased from proliferation of sporting events on Chinese television and the internet. The internet has increased and thus a wealth of information on sports is at students’ fingertips.

Summary

Curriculum in international sport fundraising adheres to the structure established by the Chinese Education Ministry in regard to the number of hours of credit. Education of Chinese undergraduate and graduate sports management students in the aforementioned academic discipline will serve as a base for overall understanding of the unique nature of sports fundraising. Practical experience gained from hosting an American Collegiate team will further strengthen the understanding of the fundraising process by Chinese students.

Due to the small sample size of this study, results should be interpreted with caution. However, the findings deserve reflection and consideration because it was found that Chinese undergraduate and graduate students have expressed interest in gaining practical experience in the area of fundraising by implementing an event at their respective institutions. A curriculum to fit the needs of both entities could be met and further enhanced by offering an international sports fundraising course over the internet and by offering practical experiences to the Chinese students by affording them the opportunity to host events. Further studies should increase sample size and include representation of many more colleges and universities in China.

Reference

Bao Mingxiao (personal communication, October 15, 1999).
Boshoff, Gary. “Barefoot” Sports Administrators: Laying the Foundation for Sports Development in South Africa. Journal of Sport Management, 1997:11 (1), 69-79.

Hong, Fan. Commercialism and Sport in China: Present Situation and Future Expectations. Journal of Sport Management. 1997:11 (4): 343-354.

Yang Ping (personal communication, October 15, 1999)

Zhongyi Yuan (personal communication, August 31, 2000)

Author’s Note:

Address correspondence to Dr. Overton, Laughlin Building 217D, Morehead State University, Morehead, KY 40351, phone 606-783-2176, FAX 606-783-5058,
e mail r.overton@morehead-st.edu

Reginald F. Overton, EdD, Assistant Professor of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Morehead State University
Brenda Malinauskas-Overton, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sports Nutrition, Morehead State University
Zhongyi Yuan, Associate Professor, Beijing University of Physical Education

U.S. Sports Academy2017-08-07T15:09:50-05:00February 14th, 2008|Sports Facilities, Sports Management|Comments Off