Changing a League Structure: Marketing Implications for Rugby League Clubs in the UK

AIM The sport of rugby league in the UK underwent a Policy Review in 2013 that saw the sport move from a licensing system which was first introduced in 2009 to restore a promotion and relegation league system to be implemented in 2015 (RFL, 2015). In its 2015-2021 strategic plan, the Rugby Football League (RFL) outlined its rationale and vision to increase the visibility and profile of the sport in the UK (RFL, 2015). The resulting 2015 season new competition format included a 12 team elite Super League, a 12 team Championship, and a new 14 team League One. The integration of all league competitions through promotion and relegation presented a particular opportunity to increase the interest and attractiveness for rugby league as a sport product in the Championship division. The aim was to explore the impact of the new league structure on the Championship clubs marketing activities to reinvigorate fan interest ahead of the 2015 season

#RLNewEra: An exploratory study into the marketing planning activities of rugby league clubs in the UK. European Association of Sport Management Conference, September 9-12, 2015. Dublin, Ireland: EASM.

#RLNEWERA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY INTO THE MARKETING PLANNING ACTIVITIES OF RUGBY LEAGUE CLUBS IN THE UK Mackreth, K ¹, Bond, A¹, O’Keeffe, L¹ ¹ Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK. [email protected] AIM: The sport of rugby league in the UK has embraced a new ‘whole game’ philosophy following the 2013 Policy Review that restored promotion and relegation (RFL, 2015). The resulting 2015 season competition format included a 12 team elite Super League, a 12 team Championship, and a new 14 team League One. In its 2015-2021 strategic plan, the Rugby Football League (RFL) outlined its vision to increase the visibility and profile of the sport in the UK, through an integrated marketing and communication plan (RFL, 2015). The integration of all league competitions through promotion and relegation facilitates an opportunity to increase the the visibility and profile of Championship teams. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the marketing activities that Championship teams have implemented to take advantage of the RFL’s new era. LITERATURE REVIEW: The sport marketplace in the UK is currently saturated, with consumers having a wide choice of sport and leisure offerings to engage with. This competitive environment requires sport industry managers to realise the contribution that marketing in general, and strategic marketing in particular, can make to the success of their organisation (Brooksbank, Garland & Werder, 2012). Strategic marketing planning has been stated as an appropriate policy for a wide range of organisations, from large multi-nationals to not-for-profit and small to medium sized enterprises (Harris & Jenkins, 2001). Regardless of size, many sporting organisations now employ marketing specialists to manage the contribution of marketing in the planning process. Despite this, it has been suggested that the sports industry is guilty of complacency in relation to marketing and promotion of their product (Shilbury, Westerbeek, Quick & Funk, 2009). Unfortunately there is currently a limited understanding of the marketing activities that have been utilised within rugby football league. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative research design was employed to investigate the RFL’s marketing strategy and the marketing planning activities of Championship RFL clubs. A purposive sampling technique was used, with semi-structured interviews carried out between July 2014 and January 2015 with appropriate representatives who had responsibility for marketing activity within their organisation. The sample included 12 participants, comprising of 1 RFL Executive Officer, ten Championship Club representatives, and 1 League One club representative, who had been relegated from the Championship. An interview guide was developed in line with a strategic sport marketing planning framework (Shilbury et al, 2009). The interview guide facilitated the data collection of key areas including: identification of marketing opportunities, strategy determination, strategy implementation, evaluation, and the exploration of barriers and facilitators to planning activities. All interviews lasted between 35 minutes to 65 minutes and were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were then analysed using MAXQDA11 qualitative software package. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: The RFL had a marketing strategy with clear objectives of how to grow interest in the sport. Despite this, results indicate that 7 out of 11 Championship League clubs did not have a formalised strategic marketing plan in place. Instead, there was a reliance on a range of reactive and short-term marketing tactics to engage fans and increase attendances. Primary barriers recognised as impacting a club’s ability to develop and execute a coordinated strategic marketing plan were organisational structure, limited staffing resource, limited expertise and limited finance. All 11 clubs welcomed the restructuring of the league as they believe promotion and relegation would reinvigorate interest amongst their supporters and present an opportunity to broaden their fan base. Clubs felt they would benefit from a more formalised approach to strategic marketing planning to maximise engagement and take advantage of the change in league structure. IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Due to the limited staffing resource, finance and expertise acknowledged within clubs, it is essential to develop shared expertise and resource across the sport. Without the development of shared resource there will continue to be a gap between the leagues and clubs off field performance. The findings support that greater commercial development is needed in Championship clubs to address the aforementioned barriers in the strategic marketing planning process. This will allow clubs to efficiently and effectively allocate marketing resources to engage supporters and generate a new fan base, especially within the restructured league format. REFERENCES: Brooksbank, R., Garland, R., & Werder, W. (2012). Strategic marketing practices as drivers of successful business performance in British, Australian and New Zealand golf clubs. European Sport Management Quarterly, 12(5), 457-475. Harris, L.C. & Jenkins, H, (2001) Planning the future of rugby union: a study of the planning activities of UK rugby clubs, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 19 Iss: 2, pp.112 – 124. RFL. (2015). Strategic and Operational Plans 2015 – 2021. Retrieved from http://www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/about_the_rfl/annual_report__governance. Shilbury, D.,Westerbeek, H., Quick, S. & Funk, D. (2009). Strategic sport marketing,3rd ed. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin

Competitive intensity, fans' expectations and match day tickets sold in the Italian football Serie A, 2012-2015

This article investigates the impact of the competitive intensity on the stadium attendance for Italian soccer in three Serie A seasons (2012-13 to 2014-15). The central element of novelty concerning the existing literature is that fans expectations are also included among the explanatory variables of the Tobit model. Our results show that competitive intensity has a significant impact on match-day attendance in relation to all the sporting prizes but Europa League qualification. Moreover, we find evidence supporting the existence of reference- dependent preferences, where the attendance increases when the home team rank is higher than the pre-season expectations

Gambling lifestyles: The importance of social capital and diverse networks

Scholars often overlook leisure gambling perspectives and focus on more health-related mechanisms, such as compulsive gambling behaviours. Consequently, understanding gambling as leisure is under-explored, especially in an economic sociological context. We begin to address this gap by identifying whether (1) leisure gambling is stratified across gambling activities and society, (2) social capital and (3) diverse networks are essential in leisure gambling consumption. Using 12,991 respondents to the 2007–2008 Taking Part Survey, we apply latent class analysis to identify different typologies of leisure gamblers, modelling the influence of socio-cultural characteristics and network resources and diversity. We identify five leisure gambling typologies, with social capital and network diversity playing an important role in their formation. Generally, leisure gambling consumption depends on more social capital and diverse networks

Sport prosumer networks: exploring prosumption value in Twitter conversations during COVID-19

Purpose: Value within prosumption systems such as Twitter is underexplored. We adopt an economic sociology perspective to measure prosumption value, using the #ProjectRestart campaign as football looked to resume following COVID-19. Design: We use social network analysis to analyse 21,000 tweets involving 10,810 Twitter users using the #ProjectRestart hashtag. Specifically, we apply network theory measures, community clustering, betweenness, domain prestige and proximity prestige to explore how prosumption value can be measured. Findings: Our empirical findings demonstrate how value can be perceived within prosumption systems. Specifically, it shows how developing cohesive prosumer networks is vital in exploiting prosumer capital, creating value in the virtual space, which is imperative in negotiating through times of uncertainty, like COVID-19. Practical Implications: The practical implications encourage the industry to think of value in the virtual space differently, embedding this into future management strategies. Research Contribution: This research provides a theoretical contribution of prosumer value, blending prosumption and economic sociology theories. Empirically, it demonstrates how actors in the football world used prosumer networks to create value during the COVID-19 pandemic

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant

Altered tumor formation and evolutionary selection of genetic variants in the human MDM4 oncogene

A large body of evidence strongly suggests that the p53 tumor suppressor pathway is central in reducing cancer frequency in vertebrates. The protein product of the haploinsufficient mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) oncogene binds to and inhibits the p53 protein. Recent studies of human genetic variants in p53 and MDM2 have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can affect p53 signaling, confer cancer risk, and suggest that the pathway is under evolutionary selective pressure (1–4). In this report, we analyze the haplotype structure of MDM4, a structural homolog of MDM2, in several different human populations. Unusual patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the haplotype distribution of MDM4 indicate the presence of candidate SNPs that may also modify the efficacy of the p53 pathway. Association studies in 5 different patient populations reveal that these SNPs in MDM4 confer an increased risk for, or early onset of, human breast and ovarian cancers in Ashkenazi Jewish and European cohorts, respectively. This report not only implicates MDM4 as a key regulator of tumorigenesis in the human breast and ovary, but also exploits for the first time evolutionary driven linkage disequilibrium as a means to select SNPs of p53 pathway genes that might be clinically relevant