While network analysis is a major methodological approach in many disciplines of the social and natural sciences, it has only recently come into the focus of sport researchers. This article assesses the utility of network analysis to analyze sport phenomena. We begin with an overview of social network analysis (SNA) and related concepts. To explore research topics and approaches, we conduct a systematic review of empirical literature of SNA and its application to sport. Based on this review, we provide a six-dimensional conceptual typology of SNA applications in sport – competition networks, interaction networks, inter-organizational networks, intra-organizational networks, affiliation networks and social environments. Potential future directions for this promising approach in sport research are discussed.

Current marketing research on attitudinal constructs such as commitment and loyalty is characterized by conceptual confusion and overlap. This study aims to improve the clarity of these terms by separating the commitment and loyalty constructs. It also provides a new scale for measurement of team loyalty. Commitment is a construct that is cross-sectional in nature and is internal to the individual. Alternatively, loyalty is longitudinal in nature and should be regarded as the result of interaction between negative external changes in the environment and the individual’s internal level of commitment. The proposed scale has its origins with the Psychological Commitment to Team scale. Our revisions to the scale provide the needed longitudinal dimension. The new Attitudinal Loyalty to Team Scale (ALTS), which has resistance to change as a central feature, demonstrates both reliability and validity.

Esports is a rapidly growing industry. However, the unidentifiable governance structure of the industry has contributed to a number of integrity-eroding activities. By exploring esports stakeholder dynamics, this paper answers the question, “Is the esports governance model sustainable?” Data were sourced from documentation, focus groups (N = 3) and semi-structured interviews (N = 6). Thematic analysis was conducted using Nvivo. The findings suggest that (1) the current esports governance framework features some attributes of the “lead organisation-governed network”, with the power residing mainly in game publishers; (2) the rising power of other stakeholders in the network seeking to address integrity issues has caused fragmentation of the esports governance framework; (3) esports governance is evolving towards a network administration organisation (NAO) model. Such evolution has a few challenges—most notably, the compliance of game publishers. Given the social impact of the integrity issues, governments should play a main role in facilitating a NAO model.

Research question: Building on identity theory and stakeholder theory, this study explores the concept of fan identity based on self-perceived levels of power, urgency, internal and external legitimacy, and examines their effects on behavioural intentions. Research methods: Data were collected from professional football fans (n = 532). A confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model examined the effects of fan identity on three behavioural intention measures. Results and findings: The results indicate acceptable psychometric properties of the multidimensional construct of fan identity composed of power, urgency, internal legitimacy and external legitimacy. Power and internal legitimacy were significantly related to the intentions to attend more games and to purchase merchandise, with internal legitimacy also influencing intentions to recommend games to others. Implications: This study provides the first exploration of fan identity as a multidimensional construct. The findings provide sport managers with useful insights on how to measure fan identity. This study serves as a catalyst for future research to understand the linkages between professional sport teams and their fans.

This article reports on 11 narrative-based case histories which sought to: (1) uncover the attitudes of players and athletes to drugs in sport, and (2) explore contextual factors influencing the formation of those attitudes as informed by social ecology theory. Overall, participants viewed the use of banned performance-enhancing substances as cheating, ‘hard’ non-performance-enhancing recreational or illicit substances as unwise, legal non-performance-enhancing substances as acceptable, and legal performance-enhancing substances as essential. In short, attitudes were sometimes quite libertarian, and contingent upon first, the legality of the substance, and second, its performance impact. Results also indicated that athletes’ attitudes about drugs were fundamentally shaped by sport's culture. Other significant factors included its commercial scale, closely identifiable others, early experiences and critical incidents of players and athletes, and their level of performance.\ud \u

In this study we explored brand community markers in the context of newly established sport teams. We examined whether managers of new sports teams utilize group experience, organizational history, ritual/traditions and physical facility in their branding strategies. A case study approach was used; featuring both interviews with managers of three newly established New Zealand professional sports teams and direct observations of games. The findings revealed managers generally considered group experience, history and heritage, ritual/traditions and physical facility to be important, but they failed to implement and apply these mechanisms to an overall marketing strategy. Evidence of the four mechanisms was only apparent on an infrequent and fragmented basis. Promotion of these antecedents was largely absent from the team's branding strategies. This is the first study to extend the study of brand communities from successful and established brands to new organizations and explored how the different mechanisms relate to this environment.