Brian V. Larson

DRIVING NFL FAN SATISFACTION AND RETURN INTENTIONS WITH CONCESSION SERVICE QUALITY

Sports organizations have begun to focus on assessing quality. Rising ticket prices, skyrocketing team costs for owners, and increasing competition from other entertainment entities make service quality central. SERVQUAL, as applied to a National Football League (NFL) game day concession experience is discussed in this paper. Studies were conducted at two separate NFL games where total of 558 respondents reported assessments of service quality and important dependent variables. The results help to clarify the impact of key service quality drivers on fan satisfaction and return intentions. Results are reported and conclusions and recommendations are drawn dealing with how fans respond to the key dimensions of service.

Gaining from a Giving Relationship: A Model to Examine Cause-Related Marketing's Effect on Salespeople

ABSTRACT Relationships between business firms and not-for-profit organizations already represent

New league, new market and new sponsorship: an exploratory study of attitudes towards shirt sponsorship in Major League Soccer

6.5 to

Relationship Selling: Finding a Revelation or Findings of a Re-Evolution?

8.5 billion annually (Deutsch 1997) and are growing. However, there is a dearth of research dealing with the effect on internal stakeholders even though research is needed. This research contributes to the marketing literature as cause-related marketing relationships between firms and not-for-profit organizations, a form of corporate social responsibility, are examined as a recruitment, motivation, and retention tool available to marketing managers. Specifically, we examine the current literature and propose a model to examine the direct effect that a cause-related marketing partners evaluation exerts on a marketing representatives corporate evaluation and possibly more importantly, the conditions under which this effect is moderated.

Wanted: Contagious Gameday Staff. Testing the Effect of Smiling on Fan Responses

In 2007, Major League Soccer (MLS) became the first major professional sports league in the USA to allow individual franchises to sell advertising space on their game jerseys. While these shirt sponsorships are considered the norm in international soccer, in the US game uniforms are considered ‘sacred space’ free from the increasingly commercialized American sports landscape. Team owners and sports writers have given their opinions – the former arguing they are a necessity for increasing revenue, the latter arguing they represent a dangerous commoditization of sports – yet, little attention has been paid to the opinions of sports fans. To address this, an exploratory survey was conducted to assess fan reactions to shirt sponsorships in MLS, how these ads are affecting fan behaviours, and whether or not fans believe these ads to be starting a trend for other sports to follow. Preliminary results found no strong negative opinions about the presence of jersey advertisements, and respondents – soccer fans, sports fans and non-fans – showed support for shirt sponsorship if it helped keep games affordable and/or helped teams stay competitive. These results are discussed in greater detail, along with implications for more theoretical approaches to understanding the effect of shirt sponsorships on sports fans.

Looking at shirt sponsorships from both sides of the pond: comparing global trends versus America’s Major League Soccer

Abstract Recently marketing has witnessed an explosion of interest in creating and maintaining relationships. It is widely being heralded as a revolutionary new way of responding to markets. But has this „new” method been explored or practiced before? Undertaking an early century literature review, the author uncovers evidence that writers and practitioners of 1910-1935, contrary to current belief, incorporated relational methods and espoused a relationship philosophy. Results indicate that relational selling was not only practiced for the benefit of the seller, but was also for the customer and the relationship. Conclusions about why relationship selling disappeared only to resurface again at the end of the twentieth century are put forth

The Role of Spectators’ Attitudes Toward Commercialization on the Effectiveness of Corporate Sponsorhip of Sporting Events

ABSTRACT In services marketing related to sports, the live, direct interaction between the provider and the customer is crucial. Service quality influences how fans form attitudes and behaviors at sports events; there are several touch points where services are provided and fans often have high expectations. Smiling employees influence fan opinions about sports events. This study tested the effect of smiling on key marketing outcomes by conducting an experiment and field study pertaining to services marketing in sports. Results showed interesting and significant findings about the effect of smiling on sport fans’ perceptions and behaviors about the service provider.

Linking Cause-Related Marketing to Sales Force Responses and Performance in a Direct Selling Context

This paper seeks to compare shirt sponsorship in professional football (soccer) in the United States with global trends. We try to answer why America has been slow to accept shirt sponsorship. In 2007, Major League Soccer (MLS) became the first professional team sports league in the USA to embrace shirt sponsorships, breaking a long-standing taboo that banned this practice. To date, 14 of the 19 MLS clubs wear a sponsored jersey. Only a few fledging professional sports leagues in the USA allow shirt sponsorships (e.g. the Women’s National Basketball Association, the United Football League, and the Women’s Professional Soccer League). No prestigious professional sports leagues in America allow shirt sponsorships (e.g. Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League). This opposition to shirt sponsorship in professional sports places America in stark contrast to the rest of the world.

Image Transfer in Corporate Event Sponsorship: Assessing the Impact of Team Identification and Event-Sponsor Fit

Event sponsorship has moved from primarily philanthropic activities to mutually advantageous business arrangements between sponsors and the sponsored (Abratt, Clayton, and Pitt 1987). The objectives being sought by sponsoring organizations are focusing more and more on exploitable commercial potential and bottom-line results (Cornwell 1995; Hoek, Gendall, and Sanders 1993; Hoek, Gendall, Jeffcoat, and Orsman 1997; Irwin and Sutton 1994; Marshall and Cook 1992; Wilson 1997), and less on altruism or a sense of social responsibility without expectation of return. With this heightened awareness on ROI comes an increased importance for understanding what makes some sponsorship efforts more successful than others.