Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the interrelationships among the dimensions of sport event experience, event satisfaction and event behavioral intentions.Design/methodology/approach: The sample was comprised of 186 individuals who actively participated in a mass participation sport event. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the relationships among the latent constructs.Findings: The results indicated that the dimensions of sport event experience predicted 55% of the variance of event satisfaction and 63% of the variance of event behavioral intentions was predicted by sport event experience dimensions and event satisfaction. Specifically, the sensory, affective and relational dimensions of experience sought to have a statistically significant and positive association with event satisfaction, while event satisfaction and the relational dimension of experience were found to have a statistically significant and positive correlation with event behavioral intentions. In addition, event satisfaction was found to mediate the relationships between sensory, affective and relational experiences and event behavioral intentions.Originality/value: The present study is one of the first that explores the relationships among sport event experience’s dimensions, event satisfaction and positive behavioral intentions in the context of sport event participation.

Purpose: Given the increased competition among running events, it is important for event organizers to comprehend how they can retain a base of loyal customers. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between sport event personality and loyalty intentions of runners participating in a running event. More specifically, it examined the relationship of sport event personality dimensions with the overall image of a sporting event as well as the association of event image with runners’ loyalty intentions. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 247 participants of an international running event. A structural equation model analysis was followed. Findings: The results showed that three dimensions of event personality (namely, excitement, sophistication and sincerity) predicted event image, which in turn positively associated with loyalty intentions. Practical implications: The study discusses how event managers can improve the image of their events in order to increase their customers’ loyalty levels. Originality/value: This is one of the first endeavors that examined the role of event image, a construct that has not received much attention in the context of road races, in a model concerning event participation.

This study explores the antecedents of fans’ social media engagement with their favorite football team, focusing on sport involvement, team identification, and subjective perceptions of performance through the lens of the Consumers’ Online Brand-Related Activities (COBRAs) framework. Data was collected from 609 football (i.e., soccer) followers of a sport Facebook page. The structural equation model analysis results showed that sport involvement predicts team identification, and that team identification leads to subjective perceptions of performance. Team identification was related to all social media engagement dimensions (i.e., consumption, contribution, and creation), whereas involvement was associated only with consumption and subjective perceptions of performance only with creation. Also, team identification was shown to mediate all the relationships between sport involvement and engagement dimensions, while subjective perceptions of performance mediated the team identification/creation relationship. This research expands on the literature surrounding social media fan engagement, highlighting the key role of sport team identification in shaping online fan behavior.

Purpose: The aim of this research was to investigate fans’ responses toward a sponsor that has had a long-standing sponsorship deal with a club and decided also to sponsor the club’s rival.Design/methodology/approach: A long-term sponsorship deal between a retsina wine company and a popular football club and a newly established deal between the company and the main rival club were selected as the research setting. Data were collected from a total sample of 302 participants, fans of the two teams, using an online survey and PLS-SEM was employed to test the relationships of the proposed structural model.Findings: The results provided evidence for the importance of the inclusion of perceptions of fit for both teams to the model as it impacted the responses in the joint sponsorship. Team identification emerged significant for improving fans perceptions of fit between the sponsor and their favorite club but also led fans of the long-term sponsored club to feel betrayed from the sponsor. The sense of betrayal impacted the level of fit, the rejection of sponsorship but did not emerge significant for driving negative responses toward the sponsor’s brand. The same held for the rejection of the joint sponsorship.Originality/value: This is the very first study that incorporated the effects of the perceptions of fit of two rival clubs to test the effect of sponsorship for a sponsor brand of a deal that includes a longtime sponsored football club and its rival as a newly sponsored one. It is also one of the first attempts that explores relationships between perceptions of fit, sense of betrayal and rejection of a joint sport sponsorship in a rivalry context, highlighting the importance of preventing fans' betrayal.

Introduction: Because of the importance of having engaged sport fans on social media, research has also focused on the antecedents of fan social media engagement. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between team brand associations (i.e., benefits, product related attributes, and non-product related attributes) and individuals’ engagement with their favorite team on social media (i.e., consumption, contribution, and creation activities), while also considering the mediating role of sport team identification. Methodology: A quantitative approach was followed by using an electronic questionnaire, which was disseminated through a football-related Facebook page. The sample consisted of 213 fans of football teams who were followers of this page. Results: The findings indicated that benefits predicted the consumption and contribution dimensions of social media engagement, while non-product related attributes predicted only the consumption facet. Benefits and non-product related attributes were also found to be related to sport team identification. Sport team identification was shown to be associated with benefits and non-product related attributes, while it also acted as a mediating variable in the relationships between benefits and social media dimensions and in the relationships between non-product related and social media engagement dimensions. Conclusions: This research uncovers how team brand associations can be related to fan social media engagement and offers practical implications to sport managers aiming to engage their fans on social media.

Purpose: This study aims to explore how technology-enabled services influence the overall experience of participants in running events by applying a structured service design methodology. Specifically, it examined how recreational runners engage with technology-enabled services throughout the customer journey of a running event, and how the application of the MINDS method contributes to enhancing the runners’ experience. Design/methodology/approach: Thirty-nine running event participants were interviewed to explore their experiences. The interviews took place in Greece in 2023, across various mass-participation events from marathons to 5K city races. Using the Management and INteraction Design for Service (MINDS) method, qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Findings: The study identified how recreational runners interact with technology-enabled services across the pre-, during-, and post-event stages. Using the MINDS method, participants’ experiences were mapped to reveal emotional touchpoints, service gaps, and opportunities to enhance the event experience. These findings were translated into service design proposals through the MINDS method, resulting in visual outputs that illustrate how technology-enabled services could be better integrated across the event journey. Originality/value: This study is among the first to examine running event experiences from the participants’ perspective using a service design methodology. It also contributes to the advancement of the MINDS by introducing customer journey and emotional journey extensions, offering richer insights into how participant experiences can be optimized across the event lifecycle.