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Despite the undoubted importance of Public Relations (PR) in the sport industry and the increasing reliance on external PR agencies, the study of the PR agency – client relationship within this context remains in its infancy. In this study, we focus on the question, how can PR agencies develop and maintain strong relationships with their sport clients for the benefit to both parties? Qualitative data generated through semi-structured interviews with twenty "business elite informants" comprising senior PR agency executives reveal a new multi-layered conceptualization of the PR agency – client organization relationship. The findings uncover a "surface" layer to the relationship captured by a client satisfaction – dissatisfaction continuum, a core layer of relationship management and trust, to the deepest layer characterized by power (im)balance between the two parties. Uncovering the complex, nuanced and multi-layered dynamics of the relationship highlights effective PR outsourcing practices to be utilized for future value maximization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the extended academic literature on strategic marketing, brand management appears to be high on the agenda of scholars in the past seven decades. Despite the continuous enquiry over these years, the way in which a brand can or should be managed in a strategic manner appears to still attract academics' and practitioners' interest, with novel and often unexpected ideas and practices emerging. Among these, brand management within sport and through it remains a unique area for further enquiry, and one that is bound to yield interesting insights due to the social, political, geographical, cultural, and historical peculiarities of sport, granting it a natural 'marketing' advantage. This article explores the evolution of brand management, its manifestation in and through sport, and its potential future directions within and beyond the ever-developing sport ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the role of moral disengagement in individuals' decisions to consent to match-fixing, either alone or in concert with money, other inducements, and threats or pressure. Drawing on the moral (dis)comfort component of an individual's rational-choice cost–benefit assessment, we examine the potential of moral disengagement as an explanatory mechanism. Data were obtained through an online questionnaire. The analysis was based on an international sample of 383 current and former athletes, coaches, referees, and board members who have reported having been approached for match-fixing in the past. The empirical evaluation employed descriptive statistics and (multiple) binary logistic regression models, which were performed using SPSS 24 software. Results indicate that a higher propensity to morally disengage can be associated with increased odds of consenting to match-fixing. These results suggest that individuals approached with a match-fixing proposal tend to employ self-defensive mechanisms to rationalise their decision to engage in match-fixing. Furthermore, the use of threats or pressure was found to have a significant impact on the decision to participate in match-fixing, both alone and in concert with (monetary) inducements and moral disengagement. While a positive significant interaction effect was observed between moral disengagement and the offer of (monetary) inducements, no significant interaction effect was noted between moral disengagement and threats or pressure. This study offers novel individual-level explanations for match-fixing. Enriching the dominant rational-choice paradigm, this study emphasises the importance of detecting and counteracting moral disengagement mechanisms in match-fixing prevention initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing interest being drawn to sustainability development in sport, and UEFA’s recent sustainability strategy being introduced as a roadmap and pressure level for football organisations’ sustainability efforts to intensify, the implementation of sustainability policy is becoming key for football’s sustainable development. In this study, through the lens of institutional theory and isomorphism, we focused on the under-studied recipients of said strategy, the UEFA’s member national associations (NAs), to capture the existing sustainability efforts within them, as they are reported on their official communications, and thus the backdrop to which the strategy was introduced and is being promoted. Qualitative document analysis was conducted on all official communications (website, national strategies, press releases) of all UEFA’s NAs. Through this, five levels of sustainability in European football were identified, capturing patterns in the existence of social and environmental sustainability actions and strategies among UEFA’s NAs. The five levels of sustainability in European football presented allow for a better understanding of the full spectrum of sustainability in football to be depicted, while acknowledging potentially overlooked nuances in the existence of not only actions but also strategies to guide organisations in their sustainability efforts, and illustrating the gradual progression from no sustainability to more sophisticated social and environmental sustainability in football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the resurgence of deviant leisure cultures in football, with a focus on virtual football violence. Despite advancements in curbing violence in UK football stadiums, new challenges emerge online. By analysing social media discourse from three English Premier League matches in 2022, the study reveals the prevalence of several forms of virtual violence, including threats of physical and sexual violence, emotional violence, and discriminatory violence. The research highlights the resurgence of ‘traditional’ norms of masculinity, aggression, and misogyny facilitated by anonymity in online spaces. Paradoxically, the results show that fans engage in derogatory language while simultaneously condemning similar actions by others. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the category of discriminatory violence, where comments are frequently challenged, indicating a ‘raising of consciousness’ and a growing intolerance to certain forms of discriminatory language. However, despite some evidence of social consciousness and pushback against discriminatory language, the prevalence of virtual violence remains concerning on multiple levels. This underscores the need for continued efforts to promote respectful discourse and foster inclusive environments online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games (OG) are renowned for their prestige and socio-economic benefits; however, they have suffered criticism for their environmental practices. Unlike existing studies on the matter, which adopt top-down approaches, the purpose of this exploratory study is to conduct bottom-up research to understand Olympians’ perspectives of environmental sustainability within the OG. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with eight Olympians are used in this study to uncover an initial indication of their valuable yet previously undisclosed perspectives. Through the data, the Olympians’ awareness of the symbiotic relationship between sport and the environment is shown, alongside the factors that influence it. Uncovering Olympians’ perspectives allows for their call for change and collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be highlighted, while indicating that existing obstacles might be limiting the athletes and the Olympics in their efforts, progress and internalisation of environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the field of cryptocurrency in sports being primarily discussed from the material and financial standpoint of industry producers, in our study, we conduct a qualitative exploration into the consumption of Fan Tokens within the realm of football fandom in order to elucidate the experiences and motivations of football fans in their consumption of Fan Tokens. Data collected through 10 focus groups with 60 fan token consumers were used for this study, revealing a nuanced landscape in which Fan Tokens serve a multifaceted role in the construction of fan identity and engagement within the context of football’s serious leisure markets. As such, we uncovered the concept of Fan Tokens as ‘tokens of identity’, where fans employ Fan Tokens as symbolic expressions of their unwavering allegiance to football clubs. We also identified a subset of participants who approached Fan Tokens as ‘investment tokens’, and thus viewed them as a simple rational investment opportunity. Our research unveiled the intricate ways in which the consumption of Fan Tokens intersects with fan identity, engagement, and financial motivations in the world of football fandom, while indicating that Fan Tokens themselves represent a potential form of serious leisure within the broader context of football fandom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a conceptual model for service quality of eSports events was proposed including four dimensions: competition quality refers to the perceived quality of the actual game itself; physical environment quality dimension stands for the physical surroundings where the service is produced and delivered; event execution quality measures the intangible items in the peripheral service, which can be directly designed or managed by the event organizer; and interaction quality measures the interaction among spectators, such as crowd experience or social factor. The validity of each dimension in other service industries and its suitability in the eSports context are both taken into consideration. At the current stage, the model is conceptualized from existing literature, thus demanding further qualitative and quantitative study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by the increase in social and political challenges faced by local governments in their efforts to host mega-sport events, this study attempts to shed light on the under-researched relationship quality between a local government and its residents. Enhancing the relationship quality and mutual understanding through two-way communication between the government and its residents has become more important than ever, with the host community considered a key stakeholder in the policy decision-making process, due to the development of online communication technologies. This research aims to identify the major determinants of residents' support, using government public relationships and social exchange theory. Data collected through a survey of Tokyo residents (N = 406), where the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were hosted, are analysed using structural equation modelling. Results show that satisfaction with the government can considerably influence the perceived impacts of a mega-sport event and trust, while trust in the government is shown to be a robust predictor of residents' support and a mediator to social exchange theory. Also, the importance of a mega-sport event's perceived impacts on residents' support is shown, further supporting social exchange theory. Through the findings and the integration of the two theories, this study illustrates the need for the government to focus on producing policies aiming to increase its public satisfaction and thus their trust in government using balanced symmetric communication, which in turn can raise residents' support for a mega-sport event and help establish a mutually beneficial relationship between the government and its public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While involvement in CSR activities is common practice in today's sporting world, there is a need to go beyond the activities themselves to explore how fans' perceptions of CSR can affect customer-based brand equity and what role online community and team identification can play in this relationship, which this study aims to explore. Data collected through an online survey of South Korean Samsung Lions baseball club fans (N = 331), analysed through structural equation modelling, support the positive influence of perceived CSR on dual identification (team and online community), and the impact of team identification on brand equity. Interestingly, CSR perception is shown to be an insignificant predictor of brand equity, influenced fully by team identification. This study suggests that promoting a sport team's socially responsible image is important in terms of building both team and online community identification while developing team identification can be vital in increasing the value of the sport brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary offers a short analysis of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the relationship between football, and in particular the English Premier League, and the media. The commentary focuses on the symbiotic yet antagonistic relationship between the two over the years, and the potential shift in the power balance that can be expected due to the banning of live audiences from stadia because of COVID-19. As it is discussed, COVID-19 and the banning of matchday audiences could have possibly solidified media's power in football, making it the only means through which live football can reach its fans. This commentary raises attention on the evolvement of the relationship between media and football, while inviting further discussion on what the future holds once fans are allowed back in stadia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the influence and power that the media hold and the importance placed on the role that they can assume regarding corruption, little is known about the part the media can play in corruption in sport and any challenges they might face in reporting on it. This study aims to shed light on this unexplored area, by using insights from members of the media based in three Balkan countries, to help uncover the challenges and obstacles faced by sport media. The findings of this study allow for the multifold role of the media in sport corruption to be examined, while uncovering the internally and externally driven obstacles they face, ranging from personal greed to market-based pressures and media's ostracism by the wider anti-corruption system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]