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Rights-holding broadcasters of the Olympic Games play an integral role in conveying the values of the Olympic Movement, but few studies have examined these networks' social media content. This investigation involved a comparative content analysis of rights-holding broadcasters' official Olympic Twitter accounts in the United States (@NBCOlympics) and Australia (@7Olympics) during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Results indicate significant differences between the two accounts in sport disciplines, gender representations, and national interest. Both accounts dedicated <40% of the tweets to women's sport. Whereas the American outlet NBC promoted home athletes, Australia's Seven Network emphasized athletes from other countries. Twitter accounts partially followed the televisual logics of representation patterns, but contextual factors specific to social media structured agenda diversity. Contextual elements (e.g., structure of sport schedules and nation-specific factors) are also relevant when interpreting representation patterns. Theoretical implications for agenda setting and methodological directions for cross-national Olympic social media research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn 2022, 72 teams competed in the Commonwealth Games. The continent of Africa sent more teams to the event than any other world region. However, few studies have examined the African perspective related to mega-sporting events. The current research utilized a comparative content analysis of online national newspaper articles published in African Commonwealth countries during the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Results indicated significant differences between the countries related to gender, national interest, and sport discipline. These findings extend research on the agenda-setting presence in sports media related to mega-sporting events. Theoretical implications related to agenda-setting as well as methodological suggestions for cross-national comparisons within countries in contexts in the Global South are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigated whether an association existed between the academic clustering of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college athletes and the reporting lines of athletic academic support departments at their institutions during the 2017-18 academic year. Critics have argued that college athletes cluster into a major at a higher rate when athletic academic support departments report to athletic department officials instead of university administrators not employed by their athletic department. The authors contacted athletic academic support directors at NCAA Division I FBS institutions to find out whether their departments reported to an administrator employed by or outside of the athletic department. Then, the authors used annual football media guides provided by athletic departments to determine the number of college athletes who were enrolled in each academic major. Finally, the authors used an ANOVA to calculate whether an association existed between an athletic academic support department's reporting lines and the rate that college football athletes clustered into one or more majors. The results indicated that the association between the rate that college football athletes clustered into one or more majors and the reporting lines used by athletic academic support departments at their institutions was insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inaugural season of the National Basketball Association–supported Basketball Africa League (BAL) featured 12 teams from the African continent, competing in a Champions League-style competition. This brand-new professional endeavor featured player rosters mandated to feature a certain number of players from each of the countries in which the individual teams were based, with rosters also including a small number of foreign players. Proceeding from a Framing Theory paradigm, two coders examined the broadcasts of the BAL competition, analyzing for descriptors including physicality, intelligence, nationality, and experience. Most descriptors pertained to athlete success or failure, with significant findings for most descriptors between nationalities. Ideas for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with Andrew Zimbalist, professor of Economics at the Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Topics discussed include presenting his interest in the economics of sporting megaevents; discussions on the implications for the future of megaevents including the FIFA World Cup; and the information on the economic or political benefits to the city or nation hosting the sports tournaments.

The present study examined the relationship between the background of NCAA Division I athletic academic advisors and the subdivision of their athletic department (Power Five, FCS, etc.). Previous research has focused on the educational background and occupational experiences of athletic academic advisors (Rubin, 2017). In addition, research has found that a school's NCAA subdivision is significantly associated with other factors, such as athletic academic support budget, the years of experience held by their directors of academic support and the gender of their athletic academic advisors (Judge et al., 2018; Lumpkin et al., 2014). The present study examined the relationship between membership within four NCAA Division I subdivisions, "Power Five", "Group of Five", FCS and "non-football playing", and the work conditions, educational backgrounds, gender, race and occupational backgrounds of athletic academic advisors. The researchers distributed a questionnaire through the National Association for Academic Advisors of Athletics (N4A), and 413 athletic academic advisors were included in the sample. The results indicated that some work conditions and occupational experiences were significantly associated with NCAA Division I subdivision. These findings imply that the backgrounds of athletic academic advisors provide another example of a gap in resources between NCAA Division I institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]