Khondker, H.H. Several papers address how resistance to commercialization is manifested among fans. * Hyatt, C.G. (2014), Estimating consumer spending on tickets, merchandise, and food and beverage: a case study of a NHL team, Journal of Sport Management, Vol. A more recent study outlines three . * Putra, L.R.D. This should be addressed given the rapid increase in commercial influences in women's elite sports (Meier and von Uechtriz, 2020; Mumcu etal., 2016). 279-297, doi: 10.1177/1469540517747094. 23, pp. It has been claimed in some sports that commercialisation results in poorer player performance at international levels. However, as pointed out in this review, several aspects of intensified commercialization may also lead to positive responses and effects on fans. This development supports financial growth and, e.g. 159-169, doi: 10.1108/02651339710170230. (2012) study clubs from a branding perspective and focus on the implications of commercial brand extensions on fans' emotions. Heere, B., James, J., Yoshida, M. and Scremin, G. (2011), The effect of associated group identities on team identity, Journal of Sport Management, Vol. 15 No. 465-486, doi: 10.1177/101269000035004002. For this paper, issues relating to degrees of subjectivity and bias must be addressed. 359-376, doi: 10.1080/14660970.2012.655505. Most of the articles are based on qualitative research methodology (18 articles). The literature has mainly derived conclusions from European elite football contexts. Thus, studying other contexts with different background and traditions of sport is important to gain an holistic understanding of commercialization. Merkel, 2012), and the pursuit of teams to engage with more fans (e.g. * Rouvrais-Charron, C. and Kim, C. (2009), European football under close scrutiny, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 3, pp. 37 No. 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). (2012), Football fans and clubs in Germany: conflicts, crises and compromises, Soccer and Society, Vol. * Duke, V. (2002), Local tradition versus globalisation: resistance to the McDonaldisation and Disneyisation of professional football in England, Football Studies, Vol. 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. 147-159, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2017.06.003. . 3, pp. Fans are defined as individuals with a psychological connection and specific interest in one or several sports, teams, and/or athletes (Funk and James, 2001). Commercialisation is about media exposure for the sport. In the previous literature, other concepts are often interlinked to commercialization of elite sports, such as commodification, marketization, modernization and globalization. * Jensen, R., Bowman, N., Wang, Y. and Larson, B. 6 No. 121-134, doi: 10.1080/16138171.2009.11687833. Woisetschlger etal., 2013) or critical theory. Belk, R.W. 510-531, doi: 10.1080/02642069.2016.1255730. Click the card to flip . The field of sports in the 20th-21st century was influenced by the process of globalization. 5, pp. 28, pp. The literature also illustrates how sponsors affect fan identification. Commercialization is defined as the process of subordinating traditional values and norms in favour of profit maximization (Fritz etal., 2017). 600-619, doi: 10.1177/1469540515611199. Consider the inspiring images from the Paralympic Games and how they change people's perception of people with disabilities in our . 2, pp. international player recruitment, which fans may perceive differently compared to how intensified commercialization is perceived in men's elite football. We then categorized the papers based on empirical contexts: the type of sport studied, the geographical focus, and the gender balance (Table 3). The six former databases contain a wide scope of articles, and the two latter databases specialize in elite sports and leisure research. There are many forms of media to show sports such as social media, radio, TV and newspapers. Stenling, C. and Fahln, J. The varying implications for fans are also present when looking at the main outcome variables. 17 No. The effects of elite sport commercialization have attracted increased attention from scholars, but as this review has shown, it is still in a rather early stage of maturity and is dominated by conceptual and qualitative studies. 1, pp. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. We identified four outcome variables in our review: Fan Identity, Fan Attitudes, Fan Emotions and Fan Behaviours. * Delia, E.B. Given the multifaceted nature of elite sports commercialization, more research is needed using other theoretical and conceptual approaches, such as consumer psychology, consumer behaviour and stakeholder theory, which have already been applied with interesting outcomes (see Table4). However, as Snyder (2019) suggests, it is important to consider excluding articles that, based on a detailed evaluation, do not meet the scope of the review to make the review more trustworthy. Swanson, K.K. 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. 2023 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. (2023), "How are fans affected by the commercialization of elite sports? However, as research on commercialization is remarkably scarce outside Europe, for instance in North America and, or Asia, it indicates that commercialization may not cause the same types of tensions and resistance in these contexts as in Europe. 207-222, doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.00375. For this review, we used the following eight databases: Academic Search Complete, BusinessSource Premier, Google Scholar, JSTOR, PsycINFO, Scopus, CABI Leisure Tourism and SportDiscuss. 323-344, doi:10.1080/16184742.2014.926379. 3, pp. 392-412, doi: 10.1080/16184742.2016.1276208. 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). 736-757, doi: 10.1002/mar. 606-621, doi: 10.1123/jsm.25.6.606. interest in football and the increasing commercialisation of the sports and thus protects the emotional bond that exists between the club and its fans. 3, doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2019.04.005. Zhang, Z., Won, D. and Pastore, D.L. There are several aspects of commercialization that may impinge on the authenticity of a team and the role of fans. John has published within Tourism Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Event Management, Scandinavian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality. For some fans, brand extensions and other potential ways to increase revenues can deepen fans' emotionally derived involvement with a club (Abosag etal., 2012). Erik Lundberg PhD is associate senior lecturer in Marketing and at the Centre for tourism, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. 9 No. 41 No. Granados etal., 2011). 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. Furthermore, quantitative studies open for assessing different types of fans (from highly involved to more occasionally involved fans) and how these fans embrace and, or resist commercialization. Formalization and planning of major sport events to attract millions. 3, pp. This skewness mirrors the emerging nature of this research stream and emphasizes that several themes require more studies. 14 No. 32 No. Sporting events, teams and even individual players wear logos on uniforms and appear in television advertising. Participants in the study give word to the notion that overcommercialization can lead to disenchantment and thus erode fan loyalty (Hyatt and Foster, 2015). However, some contexts are quite different. 1-21, doi: 10.1080/02614367.2012.667819. As Table7 pinpoints, the negative consequences of elite sport commercialization for fans are more prevalent in connection to fan behaviours. Fritz etal., 2017). Abstract. - professionalism. 6, pp. 10 No. However, to date, no structured review has been published on this topic. 3293-3310, doi: 10.1177/0042098011422395. 25-49, doi: 10.1080/16184742.2013.865248. 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. Lee, S., Kim, Y. and Heere, B. Almost all articles (34 of 42 papers) focus on commercialization in the context of elite football. On an overarching level, the results indicate that increasing commercialization can lead to both value-co-creation and value-co-destruction in these service ecosystems. While there are probably more positive than negative impacts of commercialization in sports, there are still some negatives worth mentioning. commercialization has promoted a democratic transformation of fan involvement (Bauers etal., 2019). (1987), A child's Christmas in America: Santa Claus as deity, consumption as religion, The Journal of American Culture, Vol. (2019), Your Neighbors Walk Alone (YNWA): urban regeneration and the predicament of being local fans in the commercialized English football league, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Vol. 70-91, doi: 10.1080/23750472.2018.1481765. This yielded eight additional articles. The final theme that emerged in the review focuses on fan behaviours. Twenty-one articles included commercial elite sports as a fixed context in studying fan identification and the identity of fan communities. Examples of changed structures for fan identification are, for instance, the growth of global superstars, which for some are more important to the identity than the team (Hoegele etal., 2014). 48 Nos 7-8, pp. Click the card to flip . and Campos, C.P. 103-117, doi: 10.1177/019372359001400203. Sports teams are businesses like any other and they need to make money to survive. 10 No. Lpez Fras, F.J. (2018), Football transfers and moral responsibility, Soccer and Society, Vol. 4, pp. A review of the literature and a research agenda", Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 3, pp. * 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. signing new sponsors, building new arenas, and setting up a strategy to communicate with fans. The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of extant studies addressing the impact of commercialization on fans of elite sports. Yet, some themes have received considerably more attention than others. In many contexts, especially within elite football, there is an increasing tendency of clubs being bought by private investors to earn money or for clubs to become marketing platforms for owners. Liang, Y. 203-240. - advertising. For instance, in the dominant setting, i.e. The authors illustrate five dimensions generating emotions among fans in stadiums: customers' density, customers' appearance, customer behaviours, arena ambiance and arena design (Uhrich and Benkenstein, 2012). (2017), Marketization impact on the relationships between supporters and football clubs, International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. As Turk points out: Unlike a retail clerk, the teacher's role is not to sell a product or please customers. Examining the effect of expansion teams and soccer-specific stadiums on Major League Soccer attendance, 'I was there from the start': the identity-maintenance strategies used by fans to combat the threat of losing, Social change and the commercialization of professional sports, Critical service logic: making sense of value creation and co-creation, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, The effect of associated group identities on team identity, Estimating consumer spending on tickets, merchandise, and food and beverage: a case study of a NHL team, The attractiveness of national and international football leagues: perspectives of fans of star clubs and underdogs, Sport team emotion: conceptualization, scale development and validation, How to use your Olympian: the paradox of athletic authenticity and commercialization in the contemporary Olympic games, The market for football club investors: a review of theory and empirical evidence from professional European football, Sports teams heritage: measurement and application in sponsorship. Qualitative approaches are dominant in previous literature (18 of 42 papers), and several papers (11) are conceptually written. 18 No. Furthermore, Giulianotti (2002) argues that commercialization changes fans' identities and roles from a hot, traditional identification with local clubs to a detached, cool, consumer-orientated identification (p. 25). 55-66, doi: 10.1108/13555851011013155. 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. The marketing of professional sports leagues, The key role of sport policies for the popularity of women's sports: a case study on women's soccer in Germany, Engaging fans through social media: implications for team identification, Football fans and clubs in Germany: conflicts, crises and compromises, The future of professional football: a Delphi-based perspective of German experts on probable versus surprising scenarios, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, Alternative to what? Instead, the reviewed papers show the many different aspects of commercialization, such as sponsorship, business-like management, and modernization of stadiums. All of this could be seen as a major distraction from the sport itself. References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the review. He started his PhD studies in autumn 2019 and has his research interest in the nexus of elite sport commercialization, customer engagement and value co-creation. 4, pp. which factors have led to the commercialisation of sport? Sport was the principal keyword, combined with Commercialization. 95-118, doi: 10.1207/s15506878jobem5001_6. Following this principle, we categorized the papers based on (1) year of publication, (2) author, (3) journal, (4) method, (5) geographical context, (6) type of elite sport, (7) theoretical framework, (8) empirical results and (9) effects on fans of commercialization. Regarding the theoretical frameworks applied, many papers did not use one overarching theoretical framework. * Merkel, U. 133-150, doi: 10.1177/0193723517696967. It is a multifaceted process which may take on many different forms. Radio was the first form to show sports and now TV is the most powerful form for spectator to . Stokvis, R. (2000), Globalization, commercialization and individualization: conflicts and changes in elite athletics, Culture, Sport, Society, Vol. Hoegele etal., 2014; Meng etal., 2015). Granados, M.L., Hlupic, V., Coakes, E. and Mohamed, S. (2011), Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship research and theory: a bibliometric analysis from 1991 to 2010, Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. While there can be certain negative effects resulting from commercialization such as the tried and true concept of "manufacturing consent"; there are also huge positives to commercialization such as the ability to broadcast to society the existence of something in the . 23 Nos 1-2, pp. 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. Khondker and Robertson, 2018). and Branscombe, N.R. An analysis of fantasy football involvement and fan loyalty to individual national football league (NFL) teams, Local identities in a global game: the social production of football space in Liverpool, International orientation of professional football beyond Europe: a digital perspective on the global reach of English, German and Spanish clubs, Exploring hyper-experiences: performing the fan at Germany 2006, Authenticity in branding exploring antecedents and consequences of brand authenticity, The psychological continuum model: a conceptual framework for understanding an individual's psychological connection to sport, Sports versus all comers: comparing TV sports fans with fans of other programming genres, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Supporters and football governance, from customers to stakeholders: a literature review and agenda for research, Supporters, followers, fans and flaneurs: a taxonomy of spectator identities in football, Sport spectators and the social consequences of commodification: critical perspectives from Scottish football, Sport mega events, urban football carnivals and securitised commodification: the case of the English premier league, Emotion and memory in nostalgia sport tourism: examining the attraction to postmodern ballparks through an interdisciplinary lens, Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship research and theory: a bibliometric analysis from 1991 to 2010, Discordant fandom and global football brands: 'Let the people sing', Superstars as drivers of organizational identification: empirical findings from professional soccer, Split loyalties: football is a community business, 'Rimi Bowl' and the quest for authenticity: fan autonomy and commodification in Norwegian football, How context shapes value co-creation: spectator experience of sport events, Examining minor league baseball spectator nostalgia: a neuroscience perspective, Using identity work theory to understand the de-escalation of fandom: a study of former fans of national hockey league teams, New league, new market and new sponsorship: an exploratory study of attitudes towards shirt sponsorship in Major League Soccer, Football stadium relocation and the commodification of football: the case of Everton supporters and their adoption of the language of commerce, Foreign fandom and the Liverpool FC: a cyber-mediated romance, Glocalization, consumption, and cricket: the Indian premier league, Sport in business studies: a state-of-the-art literature review, Attitudinal constructs towards sponsorship: scale development using three global sporting events, Marketization impact on the relationships between supporters and football clubs, International Journal of the History of Sport, Football transfers and moral responsibility, What is the sports product and who buys it? Subsequently, having evaluated the papers on a more detailed level, we arrived at a list of 42 relevant articles. 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. Therefore, in line with Garca and Welford (2015), future research must delve into other types of elite sports and other geographical settings to understand how commercialization affects fans to elite sports. * Meng, M.D., Stavros, C. and Westberg, K. (2015), Engaging fans through social media: implications for team identification, Sport, Business and Management, Vol. Fahln, J. and Stenling, C. (2016), Sport policy in Sweden, International Journal of Sport Policy, Vol. Rimi Bowl, Pepsi Super Bowl, Ligue 1Uber Eats). (2015), Supporters and football governance, from customers to stakeholders: a literature review and agenda for research, Sport Management Review, Vol.
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