Nicholas M. Watanabe

Major League Baseball and Twitter Usage: The Economics of Social Media Use

From the perspective of economic demand theory, this study examines the factors that determine daily changes in Twitter following of Major League Baseball teams as a form of derived demand for a sport product. Specifically, a linear regression model is constructed by taking consideration of factors relevant to fan interest: team performance, market characteristics, scheduling, and so on. The results reveal specific determinants that have significant relationship with Twitter following. From a team management perspective, factors such as the content of social media messages, certain calendar events, and postseason appearances can be used to enhance fan interest on social media. In so doing, it brings together communication inquiries and economic literature by delineating a comprehensive and nuanced account of interpreting sport social media from a consumer demand perspective.

Demand for pay-per-view consumption of Ultimate Fighting Championship events

The purpose of this study is to consider the economic factors driving the demand for pay-per-view (PPV) purchases for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events by consumers in the USA. Traditionally, sport consumers within the USA have sought out bigger and more famous sport leagues, but there is a growing trend of consumption of MMA and combat sports. Within this growth, the UFC has positioned themselves as the dominant force in the North American MMA market. The focus of this research seeks to examine consumption of MMA through a new lens by employing an economic demand model to estimate the demand for pay-per-view for UFC events in the USA. The results of this model indicate the significance of certain factors which are related to viewership, and thus have important management and scheduling implications for the UFC.

Chinese Super League: attendance, pricing, and team performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of team performance, price dispersion – having multiple ticket prices for a single event, and market characteristics on fan attendance. By considering the context of the Chinese Super League (CSL), this study considers multiple strategies for enhancing the demand for sport in relation to factors on- and off-the-field of play. Design/methodology/approach This study uses economic demand theory to examine consumer interest in sporting events in relation to pricing. Through employing econometric modeling, regression analysis is used to estimate results from match-level data encompassing multiple seasons. Findings The findings estimated from the linear regressions indicate that using multi-tiered pricing for sporting events does not significantly enhance demand in this context. Furthermore, it is found that consumers are responsive to matches against rival teams and strong opponents. Research limitations/implications The results run counter to prior literature on price dispersion, indicating that attendance demand may not always be influenced by the number of price points. Practical implications The findings help to develop an understanding of how team performance and pricing are important parts of meeting organizational goals in sport. From this, strategies can be formed to help stakeholders and managers in improving organizational performance. Originality/value This research is one of the first to consider the CSL, where both single and multiple price points exist for sporting events. Thus, it helps to build both theoretical and empirical knowledge in regards to the importance of pricing systems.

Do college athletics marketers convert social media growth into ticket sales

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between growth in social media engagement, as defined by annual percentage increase in Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers, of US college athletics departments and outcome metrics of attendance and ticket revenue. Design/methodology/approach Regression models were developed to determine the amount of variance in dependent variables (attendance and ticket revenue) could be explained by several independent variables, including team success, team history, conference affiliation, Facebook Likes, and Twitter Followers. Four years of data were collected for each variable. Findings The regression models predicted between 53 and 88 percent of the variance among dependent variables. Social media measures, however, were not statistically significant predictors of attendance or ticket revenue. Research limitations/implications The number of Facebook Likes and Twitter Followers were used as a proxy measure of social media engagement. While growth in Likes and Followers are a popular and convenient gauge of social media engagement, they represent a single measure of a multi-faceted construct. Also, data were limited to public university athletics departments, which are required to disclose annual ticket revenue. Findings may not be generalizable to other sport organizations. Practical implications The findings suggest growing social media interactions may not necessarily achieve marketing objectives related to increasing attendance or ticket revenue. Originality/value While numerous studies have examined the impact of social media on sport organizations, no prior studies have attempted to draw empirical connections between social media marketing efforts and revenue measures within sport organizations. This study represents the first to begin to examine this relationship.

The Liancourt Rocks: Media Dynamics and National Identities at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games

After the South Korean men’s soccer team beat its Japanese counterpart in the bronze-medal match at the 2012 London Olympics, South Korean player Park Jung-Woo celebrated with a banner that displayed Dokdo is our land. Dokdo is called the Liancourt Rocks in English, the sovereignty over which has been an ongoing point of contention between South Korea and Japan. This study conducts a critical discourse analysis to examine media representations of Park’s banner celebration, as well as the ensuing discussion in major Korean and Japanese newspapers. The analysis reveals a contrastive picture: The Korean media vocally approached Park’s behavior as an emotional response of self-righteous indignation and quickly enacted memories of Korea’s victimhood in World War II to make justifications, whereas the Japanese media participated in a relatively disengaged absence. Japan’s silence disclosed a glimpse into its rich postwar history of social conflict and political resistance. Such contrast is also indicative of ho...

Unfolding the Twitter scene of the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final: social media networks and power dynamics

ABSTRACT Research question: This study investigated the Twitter networks of the Champions League hashtag (#UCL) across the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. Through an examination of network parameters and shifting structures, the analyses disclosed patterns of attention and power distributed among various sport stakeholders and fans. It advanced the inquiry of sport social media ecologies by engaging in theoretical discussions of media gatekeeping and power dynamics. Research methods: The study employed a social network analysis. A data scraping software was utilized to collect all conversations attached to #UCL during the pre-match, halftime, and post-match. Overall, the data included 19,869 posts for pre-match, 3276 posts for halftime, and 5691 for post-match. Results and findings: The #UCL network emerged with relatively low density and heterogeneous communication interest during the pre-match, and then moved towards higher density. Meanwhile, emergent game dynamics played a meaningful role in structuring the networked relationships. Large sport entities and star players, including the Champions League and Cristiano Ronaldo, had relatively stable and privileged positions in organizing the networks. Implications: The results indicated that the Twitter network structures allowed the prominence of large sport entities to be further recognized and legitimated, whereas individual citizens had constrained capacity to generate influence. This finding holds implications for sport teams and their stakeholders as it underscores the relational and dynamic nature of digital networks and the importance of strategically managing social media as a critical communication resource.

The impact of price discrimination, price dispersion, and facilities on organizational revenue: lessons from Major League Baseball

ABSTRACT The present research seeks to examine the impact that price discrimination and price dispersion have on an organization’s revenue. Furthermore, we seek to understand whether facility type moderates the relationship between pricing behavior and revenue. Using a data set of Major League Baseball team ticket pricing behavior from 1990 through 2010, a two-staged least squares model is estimated. The findings indicate that both price discrimination and price dispersion does not impact a team’s total revenue. We find that new facilities do moderate this relationship between pricing behavior and revenues. We discuss the impact on the role that price behavior and venues have on revenue decisions for sport and leisure organizations.