Sports Management – Page 14 – The Sport Journal

The 2011 National Football League Labor Dispute

Authors: Marcos A. Abreu, Brandon D. Spradley

Affiliations: United States Sports Academy

Corresponding Author:
Marcos Abreu
Doctoral Student
United States Sports Academy
One Academy Drive
Daphne, Alabama 36526
mabreu@students.ussa.edu
251-626-3303

Marcos Abreu is a doctoral student at the United States Sports Academy studying sports management.

Collective Bargaining & Conflict Management

ABSTRACT
In 2011, after two years of negotiations since the NFL opted out of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, conflict between the players and owners increased and the relationship between employee and employer became dysfunctional. As a result, the NFLPA that represents the players during collective bargaining, decided to decertify. By announcing that the NFLPA no longer represented the players in collective bargaining before the current CBA expired, the players were able to invoke the Sherman Act that allowed the NFL players to file class-action anti-trust lawsuits against the NFL.

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U.S. Sports Academy2016-08-10T11:54:09-05:00August 23rd, 2016|Sports Management|Comments Off

Assessing the Impact of Service Quality Attributes on Customer Satisfaction: A Case of Private Golf Courses in South Korea

Author: Boyun Woo*

*Corresponding Author:
Boyun Woo
Associate Professor
Endicott College
School of Sport Science
376 Hale Street
Beverly, MA 01915
Phone: 978-335-9966
Email: bwoo@endicott.edu

ABSTRACT
Responding to a highly competitive golf course environment in South Korea, it is important to investigate factors that influence customer satisfaction that will lead to a revisit. The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of different service quality attributes on customer satisfaction among golf courses in South Korea. Service quality attributes included in this study were website reservation system, caddy competency, accessibility, physical environment, cost, course difficulty, and employee service. Data was collected from 609 recreational golfers who played golf in 12 private golf courses across South Korea. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that all the service quality attributes together, with an exception of convenience of website reservation system, explained 40.5% of the variance in customer satisfaction. In terms of the individual attributes of the service quality, caddy competency had the greatest influence on customer satisfaction followed by accessibility, physical environment, cost, course difficulty, and employee service. The findings suggest golf course managers on what service quality attributes they need to focus on in order to satisfy customers.

Keywords: service quality, customer satisfaction, golf, South Korea

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U.S. Sports Academy2016-07-15T16:00:28-05:00July 29th, 2016|Sports Management|Comments Off

Big 12 Football: Competitive Balance Before and After Realignment

Authors: Jeffrey S. Noble*, Martin M. Perline, G. Clayton Stoldt

Institutional Affiliation of Authors: Wichita State University

*Corresponding Author:
Jeff Noble, Ed.D
Department of Sport Management
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, Kansas 67260-0127
Email: jeffrey.noble@wichita.edu
Phone: (316)978-5442

Abstract
Conference realignment among athletic programs that compete at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been prevalent among various institutions over the past decade, particularly among institutions that sponsor football. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects on competitive balance when a conference lost member institutions who chose to join other conferences, and then added new institutions to replace those which had departed. Specifically, the effects on competitive balance in football in the Big 12 Conference, which lost four members and replaced with two additional schools, were examined. Using the standard deviation as our measure of competitive balance it was discovered that competition among the football programs were not as competitively balanced as before the initial realignment began.

Keywords: college athletics, conference realignment, economic inequality

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U.S. Sports Academy2016-06-14T15:49:50-05:00July 8th, 2016|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

Volunteering: Is it a Waste of Time or Best Experience Ever?

Authors: Meliha Atalay Noordegraaf*

Meliha Atalay Noordegraaf is a PhD freelance researcher in Izmir, Turkey. Her PhD and MS are in Sport Management.

*Corresponding Author:
Meliha Atalay Noordegraaf, PhD
Tepecik Mah. 1509. Sokak
Asiyan Sitesi 1/5
Seferihisar/Izmir, Turkey
atalaymel@hotmail.com
(+90) 532 5510724

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the volunteering experiences of experienced and inexperienced volunteers who were physical education and sport students, during “recreational events”. In this study qualitative research design and action research approach (emancipating/enhancing/critical science mode) were used. This research was carried out with 41 university students (16 female, 25 male) who participated in “recreational events” as volunteers during the fall semester of 2015-2016. Research data was collected in two different ways. The first one was by semi-structured focus group interviews. The second one was by diaries which were kept by the volunteers. This research was conducted as two different “recreational events within the educational content”. According to the results of both experienced and inexperienced volunteers four main themes emerged. These themes were: 1. Definition of voluntarism, 2. Motivations, 3. Gains and 4. Continuity.

KEYWORDS: Volunteerism, volunteer, recreational education

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U.S. Sports Academy2016-05-27T13:36:18-05:00June 3rd, 2016|Research, Sports Management|Comments Off

New York Cosmos: Twice in a Lifetime; A New Business Look at a Legendary Sports Franchise

Authors: Sarbjit Singh*

Sarbjit Singh is Assistant Professor, Sport Management, at Farmingdale State College in New York

*Corresponding Author:
Sarbjit Singh, MBA/JD
Farmingdale State College
2350 Broadhollow Road
Farmingdale, NY 11735
singhs@farmingdale.edu
631-794-6212

ABSTRACT
The New York Cosmos were the dominant professional soccer franchise, on and off the field, during the 1970s and ‘80s. However, the team folded just a few years after its peak, succumbing to excessive spending and lagging revenues. Twenty-five years later, the Cosmos returned seeking a place on the local, national and global sports scenes. Via a case study, we take a look at the team’s history, its relaunch, and factors such as facility development and league affiliation impacting the team’s business plans. Like the franchise itself, the reader is tasked with determining whether the team’s new strategy and efforts can make it a profitable enterprise. The reader is also encouraged to think of practical ideas that will connect the team with both its first-generation of fans who regaled in their winning history and attract new fans who may not know their history and may be impatient when it comes to the team’s performance on the field.

The “Twice in a Lifetime” case study is grounded with a review of historical and recent literature on the life of the Cosmos brand, providing a foundation for readers to understand the birth of the Cosmos franchise, its subsequent evolution, and those impacting the direction in which the team would go, e.g. Stephen Ross, Warner Communications, the NASL, and Pele. The proposed discussion builds on this understanding and the specifics of the Cosmos relaunch and asks us to act like real-life managers who may have some important information, but not all, and still must make important decisions determining the fate of the franchise.

KEYWORDS: Strategy, Sports Business, Entrepreneurship, Brand Management, International, Case Study (more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2016-05-24T07:46:01-05:00May 27th, 2016|Commentary, Sports Management|Comments Off