Sport team fandom, arousal, and communication : a multimethod comparison of sport team identification with psychological, cognitive, behavioral, affective, and physiological measures

The study of sport fandom is undertaken in a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to communication, psychology, sociology, economics, marketing and business. These investigations are significant because of the ubiquitous presence of sport fandom in world culture and its interdisciplinary adaptability in academia. To date however, there has not been a consistent conceptual or operational definition of sport fandom and related factors such as spectatorship, involvement and identification. Consequently, this lack of cohesiveness has serious ramifications, including lack of comparability in results and an inability to generate consistent evidence of the validity and reliability of the various self-report measures developed and utilized. This investigation aims to contribute to the stability of the sport communication field by applying previously refined scales (Keaton & Gearhart, 2013) and contributing to their validity portfolios through comparison with a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and physiological measures of team fandom. This endeavor will have multiple effects, namely the development of more consistent and empirically supported operational constructs of sport fandom, recognition of sport fandom’s antecedents and effects, and further understanding the role of communication in this process. In service of these goals, current sport literature is reviewed, followed by an overview of theoretical foundations. Afterwards, theoretical connections between these constructs are posited. Next, the methods, procedures and manipulation checks are detailed, followed by methods triangulation and hypothesis assessment. Finally, relevant theoretical considerations are discussed

Who ate all the pies? The importance of food in the Australian sporting experience

Australians watch live sport in large numbers and traditionally consume high quantities of meat pies, chips and beer within stadiums. However the food and beverage preferences of stadium-attending Australian sports fans are not well understood, particularly in comparison to their North American and European peers. This paper utilised a survey-based approach to understand the satisfaction of fans of Australia’s national Rugby Union team with stadiums in Australia. While food and beverage offerings were found to be a particular point of dissatisfaction the price and service quality were found to be of greater concern than the healthiness of these. The study also drew on the researchers’ observations and knowledge of recent Australian stadium redevelopments to examine how the traditional offerings may be changing. We conclude that in order to attract greater attendances from a wider market, stadiums in Australia need to provide more varied, higher quality, healthy food and beverage offerings that are both affordable and easy to eat