341-358. 43 No. 127-163, doi: 10.1080/16184740903563406. For the final stage of the review, i.e. 4, pp. All of this could be seen as a major distraction from the sport itself. 4, pp. We empower you to efficiently solve each new challenge and make your life better and easier. 5-23. Rose, M., Rose, G.M., Merchant, A. and Orth, U.R. 199-217, doi: 10.1108/SBM-06-2013-0013. (2011), Divided loyalty? 14 No. They argue that stadiums that are overly rationalized, McDonaldized, and unauthentic can reduce the emotional dimensions embedded in stadiums, thus weakening emotional intensity (Ritzer and Stillman, 2001). 13 No. * Woisetschlger, D.M., Haselhoff, V.J. 10 No. * Totten, M. (2016), Football and community empowerment: how FC Sankt Pauli fans organize to influence, Soccer and Society, Vol. (2012) study clubs from a branding perspective and focus on the implications of commercial brand extensions on fans' emotions. Those reactions span from the formation of a negative attitude towards the involved businesses or clubs to a complete boycott of the sport itself (e.g., Crompton 2014; Howard 1999), which ultimately widens the gap between the sports fans on the one side and . 8 No. Thus, Table4 is a combination of theoretical frameworks as well as theoretically oriented concepts. 399-417, doi: 10.1123/jsm.2013-0199. Thus, commercialization can spur opportunities for teams and, or athletes to earn more profits and therein, to become more successful. 1, pp. In addition, surveys are the most used method for collecting data (11 articles). The resulting themes emerged without any specific analytical or theoretical model and set the basis for the analysis and research agenda. 33-4610, doi: 10.1108/IJSMS-10-03-2009-B005. 392-412, doi: 10.1080/16184742.2016.1276208. Meier, H.E. 1487-1510, doi: 10.1108/EJM-03-2012-0140. Another aspect of commercialization revolves around the ownership structures of teams. 2, pp. 26 No. Having split loyalties, Hognestad (2012) argues that Norwegian fans can have favourite clubs both locally and in other leagues (so-called poly-supporter). (2018), Sport team emotion: conceptualization, scale development and validation, Sport Management Review, Vol. For this paper, issues relating to degrees of subjectivity and bias must be addressed. Several studies are discussing this intensified commercialization in general and its consequences for fans (e.g. Finally, this review indicates that commercialization poses a threat to fans as it may affect many aspects of being a fan. Backman, J. and Carlsson, B. This as the standardized design, process and analysis reduces biases and errors in the review process (Snyder, 2019). 3, pp. * Petersen-Wagner, R. (2017), The football supporter in a cosmopolitan epoch, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Vol. * Frew, M. and McGillivray, D. (2008), Exploring hyper-experiences: performing the fan at Germany 2006, Journal of Sport and Tourism, Vol. These effects are increased injuries, possible loss of tradition in the sport and the exclusion of athletes due to loss of access of the technology. (2009), The order of logics in Swedish sportfeeding the hungry beast of result orientation and commercialization, European Journal for Sport and Society, Vol. (2016) illustrate that as sponsors increase in numbers, it is important for the sponsoring brand to match its brand identity with the team identity. Sponsorship is the financial support for a sport (whether this is an event, organisation or performer) by an outside body (be it a person or organisation) for the mutual . Yoshida, M., Gordon, B., Nakazawa, M. and Biscaia, R. (2014), Conceptualization and measurement of fan engagement: empirical evidence from a professional sport context, Journal of Sport Management, Vol. 2, pp. Noticeable reactions by fans in response to increased commercialization may be protests against their clubs (Merkel, 2012), as shown with the European Super League (Panja and Smith, 2021), and some fans may even abandon their team and, or sport (Giulianotti, 2002). Hence, papers with little relevance and/or only a minor focus on the impacts of commercialization on fans of elite sports were excluded. Sponsorship can have both positive and negative effects on fan attitudes towards teams and sponsors (e.g. Merkel, 2012), and the pursuit of teams to engage with more fans (e.g. 33, pp. The only way they can keep up with rising wage costs, improving facilities and bringing in new players is to sell advertising space to increase revenues. 3 No. - more media interest. While there are probably more positive than negative impacts of commercialization in sports, there are still some negatives worth mentioning. 28, pp. 21 No. This is at a time when there is national worry about the health of young people with regards to what they eat and the level of exercise they participate in. 5, pp. which factors have led to the commercialisation of sport? * Richardson, B. and Turley, D. (2006), Support your local team: resistance, subculture, and the desire for distinction, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. For instance, new ways of organizing events and organizing a fan community can form a perceived disenchantment and over-rationalization that fans resist (Hognestad, 2012). 39 No. Still in a European context, more specifically German elite football, studies have provided more nuanced understanding to commercialization as both negative and positive responses have been presented, e.g. Fritz, K., Schoenmueller, V. and Bruhn, M. (2017), Authenticity in branding exploring antecedents and consequences of brand authenticity, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. Fritz etal., 2017). Despite the fact that commercialization has brought about unprecedented prosperity in sport, it causes a series of issues. While fans and other major stakeholders traditionally have been local, teams and athletes increasingly seek to internationalize their fan bases to expand commercially (e.g. This is because these tourist fans have not been loyal to the teams for long. 133-150, doi: 10.1177/0193723517696967. Our review illustrates that the effects on fans of elite sport commercialization have mainly been studied in men's elite football, especially in English top-division contexts (14 of 42 papers are related to the English Premier League). Qualitative approaches are dominant in previous literature (18 of 42 papers), and several papers (11) are conceptually written. 378-390, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2016.02.002. (2016), Influence of the virtual brand community in sports sponsorship, Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 4, pp. 2, pp. * Nash, R. (2000), Contestation in modern English football, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. As fans spend time, resources, and money on activities and apparel related to a team or sport, fans are sometimes, in commercial settings, regarded as customers of elite sports (Giulianotti, 2002). 5) Performers, teams and events can be manipulated or exploited to suit the sponsor. Below, we set out a research agenda focusing on methodological, theoretical, conceptual, and empirical development. 3, pp. 19 No. While local culture, norms, and history may still play a role, Petersen-Wagner (2017) argues that commercialization drives an individualization of fans. Disadvantages with Commercialized Sport. 457-484, doi: 10.1080/16184742.2017.1318410. The results are organized according to (1) methodological applications, (2) studied contexts and (3) the theoretical nature of the reviewed articles. This yielded eight additional articles. 4, pp. (2011), Foreign fandom and the Liverpool FC: a cyber-mediated romance, Soccer and Society, Vol. The review contributes with an analysis of studies and an agenda for future research, focusing on how fans are affected byand respond toincreasing commercialization. (1987), A child's Christmas in America: Santa Claus as deity, consumption as religion, The Journal of American Culture, Vol. Commercialisation also offers a distraction from the game as the top name players are singed up by major labels to promote products. European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport and Society, Sport Management Review, Journal of Sport and Tourism, and Sport Marketing Quarterly, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal. sponsors). 363-376, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.08.007. Management of sport for profit makes sport a product to be bought and sold. The six former databases contain a wide scope of articles, and the two latter databases specialize in elite sports and leisure research. 1, pp. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode. Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates, Answers to the most commonly asked questions here, 2022, Erik Winell, John Armbrecht, Erik Lundberg and Jonas Nilsson, References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the review, Examining the relationship between brand emotion and brand extension among supporters of professional football clubs, Spectacularized sport: understanding the invention of a nostalgic, commodified sporting event, International Journal of Sport Communication, Jokerits move to KHL: an odd momentum in the commercialization of Nordic elite ice hockey, Brand image and fan loyalty in professional team sport, Club members in German professional football and their attitude towards the 50+1 RuleA stakeholder-oriented analysis, Uniting a sport teams' global fan community: prototypical behavior of satellite fans enhances local fans' attitudes and perceptions of groupness, A child's Christmas in America: Santa Claus as deity, consumption as religion, The effects of emotions on football spectators' satisfaction and behavioural intentions, Football's emerging market trade network: ego network approach to world systems theory, Experiential marketing in sport spectatorship services: a customer perspective, The Politics and Culture of FC St. Pauli: from leftism, through anti-establishment, to commercialization, A digital ethnography of fan reaction to sponsorship termination, Football fandom and Disneyisation in late-modern life, Influence of the virtual brand community in sports sponsorship, The neoliberalization of football: rethinking neoliberalism through the commercialization of the beautiful game, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Local tradition versus globalisation: resistance to the McDonaldisation and Disneyisation of professional football in England, Divided loyalty? Table2 highlights the methods used in the research to date. 21 No. 217-232, doi: 10.1080/14775085.2016.1231621. Thus, in some contexts, such as cycling, where sponsors are intimately connected to the team, fans may identify with the sponsor and even do so after the commercial agreements are terminated (Delia, 2017). Uhrich and Benkenstein (2012) surveyed German football fans and show how fans and their behaviours remain fundamental for evoking fan emotions. * Rouvrais-Charron, C. and Kim, C. (2009), European football under close scrutiny, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. . Attitudes are fans' overall evaluation of an object, issue or person (Parganas etal., 2017). The second stage of the review process, i.e. * Hoegele, D., Schmidt, S.L. Wann, D.L. 14 No. * Parganas, P., Papadimitriou, D., Anagnostopoulos, C. and Theodoropoulos, A. We then categorized the papers based on empirical contexts: the type of sport studied, the geographical focus, and the gender balance (Table 3). 159-169, doi: 10.1108/02651339710170230. In European contexts and in a competition like the Olympics, elite sports often have close associations to ideals of amateurship and local connectedness. Again, commercialization is neither good nor bad it simply is what it is. Studying Spanish and German football fans, Behrens and Uhrich (2019) observed that fans may be sceptical of newcomers. The results also imply that most fans, at least in Germany, do not support what is seen as a significant involvement of private actors (Bauers etal., 2019). 402-419, doi: 10.1108/03090569910253251. 17 No. The structured review shows that the impacts of commercialization on fans relate to four different themes. Increased professionalism. Germany (Merkel, 2012; Merkel etal., 2016) or Sweden (Fahln and Stenling, 2016)). He received his PhD in marketing, and his research interest lies within the intersection of experiential marketing, value creation and value measurement within empirical fields such as cultural tourism, cultural economics and event and festival management. Students should be taught to justify why the impact . While it is difficult to generalize from the four papers, most arguments discuss the negative impacts of commercialization on fan loyalty. * Kerr, A.K. 17 No. Rahman, M. and Lockwood, S. (2011), How to use your Olympian: the paradox of athletic authenticity and commercialization in the contemporary Olympic games, Sociology, Vol. 2, pp. The failed attempts by club owners to start a European Super League in football [1] (Panja and Smith, 2021) and the debates of whether to allow sponsorship within College Sports in the USA (Zhang etal., 2005) are two examples when commercialization has been heavily criticized. Broadcasted sports as an entertainment product, Athletes/players/teams becoming global brands, Expansion of marketing reach beyond domestic borders. Merkel, S., Schmidt, S.L. 3, pp. For instance, in a study on former fans of NHL teams, commercialization is brought up as a reason for the de-escalation of fandom (Hyatt and Foster, 2015). 44-68, doi: 10.1177/0193723518800433. Mason, 1999), major broadcasting contracts (e.g. (2012), Split loyalties: football is a community business, Soccer and Society, Vol. 2, doi: 10.1108/SBM-05-2014-0025. We use the term football for European style football (soccer). Most of the articles are based on qualitative research methodology (18 articles). The final theme that emerged in the review focuses on fan behaviours. 517-528, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2015.08.006. Woisetschlger etal., 2013) or critical theory. 41 No. Thani, S. and Heenan, T. (2017), The ball may be round but football is becoming increasingly Arabic: oil money and the rise of the new football order, Soccer and Society, Vol. Gordon, K.O. and Exler, S. (2008), Brand image and fan loyalty in professional team sport, Journal of Sport Management, Vol. As shown in this review, commercialization is not unidimensional. The relationship between sport, sponsorship and the media. 3, pp. and Shani, D. (1997), Attitudinal constructs towards sponsorship: scale development using three global sporting events, International Marketing Review, Vol. 51 No. Kerr and Emery, 2011; Richardson and Turley, 2006), Commercialization elevates the importance of fan attitudes towards sponsors (Lee etal., 1997; Parganas etal., 2017), Commercialization of teams, leagues and overarching structures impacts fan attitudes towards sport entities as well as other fans (Rouvrais-Charron and Kim, 2009; Behrens and Uhrich, 2019; Chanavat and Bodet, 2014; Jensen etal., 2012), Commercialization impact emotional arousal and emotional attachment among fans (e.g. First, the choice of explicitly focusing on how commercialization affects fans of elite sports implies that papers that do not have this explicit aim are not included. For instance, Delia (2017) illustrates, in the context of cycling, that sponsors may be perceived as a crucial and beneficiary element of an elite sport team and to the fan's identification with the teams. Sport was the principal keyword, combined with Commercialization. It is also important to note that fans are not a homogenous group (Wang etal., 2020). Indeed, as shown in the tables above, there seems to be signs that research using certain methodologies and that takes place in certain cultural contexts (Europe) finds mainly negative responses among fans. * Torchia, D. (2016), An alternative football club in a liquid modernity: FC United of Manchester, Culture and Organization, Vol. Sponsorship in sport. The third most applied theoretical framework is cultural theory. Why Nike Uses Endorsements & Sponsorships, The average semi-pro footballer's salaries, Instructions for Monopoly Simpsons Edition. 22-34, doi: 10.1080/14610980008721860. Lpez Fras, F.J. (2018), Football transfers and moral responsibility, Soccer and Society, Vol. Winell, E., Armbrecht, J., Lundberg, E. and Nilsson, J. 3, pp. As Table7 pinpoints, the negative consequences of elite sport commercialization for fans are more prevalent in connection to fan behaviours. Erik Lundberg PhD is associate senior lecturer in Marketing and at the Centre for tourism, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Finally, attitudes among fans have also been studied in relation to the increased tensions between the local and global that commercialization contributes to. Sponsorship has been extensively researched in relation to fans' attitudes. 3, pp. 14 No. 12 No. * Behrens, A. and Uhrich, S. (2019), Uniting a sport teams' global fan community: prototypical behavior of satellite fans enhances local fans' attitudes and perceptions of groupness, European Sport Management Quarterly, Vol. individuals with a psychological connection to one orseveral team(s), sport(s), and/or athlete(s) (Funk and James, 2001), are important actors inthis regard. 1741-1757, doi: 10.1080/02642069.2011.556190. Quantitative papers, on the other hand, often find both positive and negative responses among fans. 2, pp. Additionally, Dubal (2010) recognizes the rise of tensions regarding modern football adopting market-based structures. The tension between the local and distant fans is also stressed by Evans and Norcliffe (2016), who illustrate that local fans may repel the commercialization of fan identities. 1, pp. * Evans, D. and Norcliffe, G. (2016), Local identities in a global game: the social production of football space in Liverpool, Journal of Sport and Tourism, Vol. Twenty-one articles included commercial elite sports as a fixed context in studying fan identification and the identity of fan communities. 489-499, doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.10.007. 22, pp. On the same topic, Delia (2017) studied fan identities in the service ecosystem of cycling and found that long-term sponsorship may result in positive legacy effects. * Hognestad, H.K. 4 No. 2, pp. This implies that fans increasingly construct their self-identities using commercial elements that best fit their own desire, in contrast to previously more community-oriented self-identification (Petersen-Wagner, 2017). Woisetschlger etal., 2013), new types of ownership structures (e.g. Over the past decades, sport has been increasingly commercialized, where enormous sums of money has been poured constantly. Advertising. 48 No. 11, pp. Ticket prices, refreshments and team shirt prices have all gone up at the same time more and more advertising space is sold around the stadium and television rights are sold for almost every game. We thereafter extended the search to academic journals explicitly focusing on sports and elite sport management, i.e. Studies on fan identity, attitudes and emotions portray more varying effects. Lee, S., Kim, Y. and Heere, B. English elite football, commercialization is mainly associated with negative effects for fans. 4, pp. Commodification is closely related to commercialization and is often used to describe that in a process where commercial gains are increasingly prioritized, people, services, ideas, and objects, such as sports teams and fans, become commodities with market values (Numerato and Giulianotti, 2018). 23, pp. (2019) studied German football fans' attitudes towards selling more than 50% of clubs to private investors. 1-21, doi: 10.1080/02614367.2012.667819. Tinson, J., Sinclair, G. and Gordon, R. (2021), How value is disrupted in football fandom, and how fans respond, European Sport Management Quarterly, pp. Several studies share the view that fan resistance develops when commercialization leads to perceived alienation (Duke, 2002; Hewer etal., 2017). Andon and Houck, 2011), Commercialization can reduce, or establish the loyalty among fans (e.g. Positive impacts of commercialisation on society. Daniel and Kassimeris, 2013; Torchia, 2016; Totten, 2016). Although commercialization has almost become part of the modern games, but it is crucial to remember it has positive and negative impacts on the sponsor, sports, players and fans. 3, pp. This is in accordance with research, which highlights that as fields or subfields develop, the first stages are often dominated by conceptual and qualitative studies (e.g. and Shapiro, S.L. 12 No. This implies a process that remains strict to the scope, as well as to the relevance of the paper (Tranfield etal., 2003). 46 No. 184-197, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2016.04.006. We identified four outcome variables in our review: Fan Identity, Fan Attitudes, Fan Emotions and Fan Behaviours. Finally, there is a complete lack of studies on the commercialization of women's elite sports and its impacts on its fans in this review (Table3). The authors find that the nostalgic cues used in this event are a means to yield excitement and evoke more emotions (Andon and Houck, 2011). * Giulianotti, R. (2011), Sport mega events, urban football carnivals and securitised commodification: the case of the English premier league, Urban Studies, Vol. Almost all articles (34 of 42 papers) focus on commercialization in the context of elite football. For instance, 16 articles are related to impacts on Fan Behaviours, while only 4 articles deal with impacts on Fan Emotions. The Pro's and Con's for the Sport! Study Paper 2 - Media, Sponsorship and commercialisation flashcards from Josie Phillips's QE class online, or in Brainscape's iPhone or Android app. 3, pp. Yet, some themes have received considerably more attention than others. Youth Kia Wazza; Commercialization of Sports -- What Good? Loyalty thus refers to both the psychological connection and intention to remain a fan to a team, as well as the behavioural aspects of being a fan, such as if and to what extent the fan attends games (Bauer etal., 2008). 118-137. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-11-2021-0135, Copyright 2022, Erik Winell, John Armbrecht, Erik Lundberg and Jonas Nilsson, Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. Commercial spectator sports attrracted the interest of much of the population. (2012) and Dos Santos etal. 205-226, doi: 10.1123/jsm.22.2.205. 1012-1026, doi: 10.1080/14660970.2015.1133416. 229-252, doi: 10.1080/01639620590905618. 20 No. He received his PhD in 2014, where he describes and analyses tourism and event impacts from a sustainable development perspective. Review of Literature In order to analyse the possible effects of commercialisation on fan loyalty, it is not sufficient to only take a closer look at the current situation. 45 No. 25 No. - growing public interest and spectatorship. . Major sport events having a major impact on local societies through increased tourism, new infrastructure etc. Public becomes more knowledgeable. Merkel etal., 2016; Laurell and Soderman, 2018) and is at least partly induced by sponsors (e.g. As Turk points out: Unlike a retail clerk, the teacher's role is not to sell a product or please customers. 4 No. (1990), Diehard and fairweather fans: effects of identification on BIRGing and CORFing tendencies, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Vol. 1835-1853, doi: 10.1080/09523367.2017.1341873. A detailed list of areas, processes and activities that exemplifies the intensified commercialization of elite sports, Summary of methodological foundation and methods used in the literature, Note(s): 2 papers combine geographical contexts, The analytical themes and content in the literature, Commercialization and, e.g. 34 Nos 17-18, pp. 4, pp. This study therefore aims to address this knowledge gap in the nexus between increased commercialization, elite sports, and the impacts on fans. 206-216. For instance, if clubs prioritize financial profits, fans may respond negatively to the fact that they are treated as regular customers. 3, pp. First, it will assess the view that modern sport was a lagged by-product of the . DeSchriver, T.D., Rascher, D.A. It can also help young people find a hobby which gets them off the streets and discourages them from crime. 13 No. * Meng, M.D., Stavros, C. and Westberg, K. (2015), Engaging fans through social media: implications for team identification, Sport, Business and Management, Vol. They provide needed publicity and create and maintain spectator interest among large numbers of people. Their money, time and passion are the cornerstones for this intensified commercialization. However, commercialization, such as more revenues from sponsors, increases the possibilities of recruiting better players or modernizing club facilities that may be embraced by fans.
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