Student-athletes face a variety of stressors and are at risk for mental health issues, particularly with “name, image, and likeness” issues creating new pressures and distractions. This article outlines a leadership development program geared toward student-athletes and the enrichment of their mental health. The courricular content described within includes self-development material delivered by faculty in a team context. Early findings indicate that the Positive Leadership Program appears to make impactful improvements in mental health outcomes and can be introduced into sport management curricula.
Browse
Elizabeth A. Gregg, Matthew Ohlson, Ana Roman Dominguez, and Sydnie Steele
Chris Chard
Lesley Johnson is the athletic director at Provincial University where a generous donation has recently been made to the Athletic Department to create an endowment to fund scholarships—called Athletic Financial Awards—at Provincial University. Lesley is tasked with devising the best plan to utilize these funds within the risk parameters established by Provincial University’s Board of Governors. Here, different investments are contemplated; however, with the guidance of Kelly Simpson, from Capital and Revenue Consultants, financial analyses to estimate returns, pricing, and risk factors for various fixed income options are completed.
Jesse Porter, Dawn E. Trussell, Ryan Clutterbuck, and Jennifer Mooradian
In this paper, we explore the lived experiences of mother-coaches who, while coaching, navigate policy and programs aimed at promoting gender equity. Specifically, this study took place within the context of an amateur national, 10-day multisport games event in Canada. Using critical feminist narrative inquiry, 14 mother-coaches (apprentice, assistant, or head coach), representing eight different provinces, and 10 different sports, participated in this study. Three themes were constructed that call attention to the Canadian sport system broadly, as well as the 10-day multisport games event specifically: (a) performative policies and gendered assumptions, (b) programs that are band-aids for a “shitty culture,” and (c) a pathway to nowhere for mother-coaches. The findings complicate the hegemonic work–family conflict narrative, suggesting that mother-coaches’ advancement, opportunities, and quality experiences are impacted by the current heteropatriarchal culture and structure of sport that these programs and policy are rooted in.
Shannon Scovel
Using theories of framing and agenda setting, this study explores how journalists covered women athletes during the first week of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s new “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) policy. Athlete representation during this first week was critical, as it established precedent for which athletes, according to media members, held value and were worthy of publicity. The findings from this study show that journalists focused their reporting of NIL on U.S. male athletes, although women athletes such as Olivia Dunne, Haley Cavinder, and Hanna Cavinder were also frequently mentioned in relation to their large social media following, lifestyle, or appearance. Overall, reporters generally promoted a male-dominated NIL agenda, one that undervalued women athletes and minimized their potential role as sporting celebrities in the college sports space.
Christopher T. Imbrogno and Brian M. Mills
We estimate the superstar effects in Major League Baseball, focusing on a particularly unique international athlete, Shohei Ohtani, using a fixed effects panel regression with multiway clustering. Ohtani’s scarce talent as both a pitcher and a hitter provides the potential to have outsized influence on demand at home (superstar effect) and away (superstar externality) games, providing new marketing opportunities for the league. We compare Ohtani’s impact on attendance with other top pitchers, particularly after large attendance drops attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that his superstardom played a key role in bringing fans back to baseball games. Results revealed a large attendance externality, especially after the pandemic, that increased away attendance by up to 40% in 2021 specifically (and up to 20% overall). We propose that Ohtani provides an opportunity for Major League Baseball to leverage a recognizable face of baseball and leverage superstar value that was previously shown to be in decline.
Elizabeth B. Delia, Brian P. McCullough, and Keegan Dalal
Despite consumer concern over climate change, research on environmental issues and sport fandom has focused more on organizational outcomes than on fans themselves. Recognizing fandom can be representative of social movements, and social identity and collective action are utilized in an intrinsic case study of Forest Green Rovers football club supporters (who also identify with environmentalism) to understand the extent to which the club represents a social movement, and whether Forest Green Rovers’ sustainability efforts encourage pro-environment actions. Through interview research, we found supporters’ team and environmental identities cooperate synergistically. Forest Green Rovers is not just representative of environmentalism but has become a politicized identity itself—a means to act for change on environmental issues. We discuss implications concerning identity synergy, team identity as a politicized identity, perceptions of success, collective action, and cognitive alternatives to the status quo. We conclude by noting the unavoidable inseparability of environmental issues and sport consumption.
Jessica R. Braunstein-Minkove, Nicolo Russolillo, and Lorie Logan-Bennett
Due to increased industry demands for specialized experience, students and sport industry professionals alike often feel stifled during the job search process. As a result, practices have been absorbed into the curriculum to provide this link to future employability, with a distinct focus on internships. Therefore, if we seek to create a diverse workforce that more closely represents the individuals that we both see and serve, we must assess the primary practice used for professional development in sport management. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to explore both barriers and pathways that sport management students face when participating in for-credit internships. To do so, a mixed-methods, two-phased, approach was adopted. Results indicate primary barriers in the areas of lack of time and the competitive nature of the sport management internships.
