An examination of NHL fans' reactions to the cancelled 2004-2005 season

AN EXAMINATION OF NHL FANS' REACTIONS TO THE CANCELLED 2004- 2005 SEASON Chad Asselstine Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University Gary Bettman, the Commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL) stepped in front of the worldwide media on February 16, 2005 to announce that there would be no NHL games played during the 2004-2005 season. Two sides were prominent during the labour dispute; the NHL owners and the NHLP A, however a third side that became the forgotten party was the fans (NHLF A, 2005). The fans are the consumers of the NHL and all the brands associated with its franchises, they are the people who provide the revenues that allow owners to pay the players' salaries. The present study is situated within the sport marketing framework, particularly within the fan loyalty literature to provide an understanding of the impact of the 2004- 2005 lockout on the forgotten party, NHL fans. This study examines 16 fans' experiences in four stages: becoming a fan of the NHL, being a fan prior to the lockout, being a fan during the lockout including their anticipated reaction to the return of the NHL, and their actual reaction to the return of the NHL. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews with each ofthe participants, resulting in 16 fans' stories of how the lockout impacted them specifically. Through analysis of the data themes began to emerge including the fans' understanding that there was a need to restructure game play, the business operations of the NHL, a desire for service recovery strategies which would exceed fans' expectations, 4 and the desire for alternative forms of consumption including alternative hockey leagues as well as the growing popularity of poker playing. The study summarizes the effects that the NHL lockout had on the relationship between 16 individual fan~ and their favourite teams, and concludes with Suggestions for Future Research and Implications for Sport Marketers that emerged from this unique case in the history of North American professional sport.

A Study of Nonfans and Fans of the National Lacrosse League's Edmonton Rush

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is floundering. In an attempt to understand why NLL fans attend games and other sport fans do not, the NLL’s Edmonton Rush were studied. To best address the NLL’s attendance woes, two primary research questions were developed: 1) Why do fans of the Oilers and Oil Kings choose not to attend Edmonton Rush games? 2) Why do fans of the Edmonton Rush attend games? To answer these questions an online focus group along with a document analysis of Rush media, and a telephone interview were used to collect data. The data collection methods mentioned above assisted in answering the primary and secondary research questions, which allowed three major themes along with sub-themes to inductively emerge. The nonfans of the Rush do not attend Rush games because of the connection they have with hockey and the disconnection they have with lacrosse, some are simply not interested or were not entertained, as well as the lack of exposure the Rush receive. The Rush fan participants attend Rush games because of Edmonton community pride, the entertainment value they get out of attending a game, it is a great alternative new sport experience and it either is a substitute or a compliment to hockey. Both the nonfan and fan participants of this study believe that different marketing approaches can be utilized in order to attract nonfans to attend games.

A Study of Female Sport Fans with Respect to Fantasy Sport Participation

Female sport fans make up ~40% of all North American big league sport fans. However, female sport fans make up only 20% of all fantasy sport participants. This study asked: why is there an under-representation of female participation in fantasy sports? In order to answer this question, 35 female sport fans who do not participate in fantasy sports were separated into five focus groups to provide the data necessary for this study. Seven themes emerged to explain why there is an under-representation of female participation in fantasy sports: lack of time, their friends do not play, negative associations, control versus escape, sport statistics, team versus player allegiances, and males acting as gatekeepers. Finally, four recommendations were made for those marketing fantasy sports to female sport fans: increase the overall awareness of fantasy sports, promote the social aspects of fantasy sports, streamline fantasy sports, and promote the ease of use.

La construcción de la relación mediática entre ídolos deportivos y fans; estudio de caso: www.ivankaviedes.com

A lo largo de esta investigación de maestría, que se presenta como un aporte académico para el análisis de los nuevos fenómenos de la comunicación, se realiza una aproximación a las prácticas ejecutadas en el ciberespacio por parte de un segmento específico de usuarios. Trabajamos con los fanáticos al fútbol, pero delimitamos su extensión a los fans de un jugador en específico, el ecuatoriano Jaime Iván Kaviedes, quien se erige, hasta el momento de esta publicación, como el único deportista nacional que mantiene una página web donde se exhibe la relación mediática entre ídolo y fanáticos. Para la consecución de este propósito, el estudio se divide en dos aspectos ordenadamente visibles, el primero se ocupa de la “estrella”, ese personaje idolátrico que en nuestra coyuntura se construye siguiendo principios similares al del mercadeo político, que presenta al mercado un candidato destinado a cautivar al mayor número cuantificable de electores, todo esto con un manejo deliberado de imagen y la edificación de un protagonista que goce de los “dones” que prefiere la masa de electores para inclinar su voto. Con la misma lógica, descomponemos la estructura de formación de ídolos, reconociendo que su presentación dentro del campo sistemático de ofertas y demandas, se sujeta a parámetros idénticos a los del mercadeo de personas, en intento de adquirir un elevado margen de seguidores. El segundo aspecto, orientado a involucrar al fanático en esta mutua dependencia que consolida la existencia de ambos (sin ídolo no hay fanático y viceversa), realizamos la evaluación de su comportamiento en la red, mediante un meticuloso examen de todas las prácticas que ellos cumplen en ese “lugar”, convencionalmente llamado “sitio web”, y los objetivos que persiguen. Con este mecanismo traducimos algunas de las actitudes que aparentemente se presentan como “naturales”, pero que están enmarcadas en un escenario de agresivas imposiciones globales, que estereotipan un “arquetipo dominante”, a quien le son atribuidas dotes tales como carismas, esfuerzos de superación en la omnipresente adversidad, altruismos y demás valores que habitualmente son comunes en la generalidad de los ídolos-tipo. Como todo estudio ideológico, este no puede ser ajeno a los rituales y trascribimos algunos aspectos recreativos, aquí llamados “miméticos”, que sustentan las hipótesis preliminares acerca de que al ídolo se le atribuyen características tan sobresalientes que se vuelven dignas y necesarias de imitar por parte de sus feligreses, en un campo de representaciones simbólicas que se renuevan repetidamente para conservarse vigentes.

Ídolos deportivos y fans en internet

Con el desarrollo de las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación, somos testigos de innovadoras formas de comportamiento en las sociedades contemporáneas que transforman la cotidianidad de los sujetos, vigente hasta hace aproximadamente tres lustros, cuando la masificación de los sistemas multimedia apenas era un ligero bosquejo de lo que hoy experimentamos. Estos cambios de comportamiento se dan a toda escala y nuestro estudio se ha dirigido a la transformación de la relación entre «ídolos deportivos y fanáticos», hoy en apariencia «más cercanos» tras las conexiones que el internet facilita. El fanático abre un nuevo espectro de relación mediática con su ídolo. Para el recuerdo quedó aquel fan cuya relación con la estrella se limitaba a coleccionar artículos, pegar posters en sus paredes y ocasionalmente poder observarlo en un escenario masivo, sea un estadio, un coliseo o una plaza pública, pero siempre a varios de metros de distancia. Otrora, la relación cara a cara, que determinaba la única forma de interacción entre el ídolo y el fan, era una odisea de verdaderos aventureros que debían atravesar fuertes circuitos de seguridad y operativos de custodia para poder conversar, o por lo menos tocar, al ídolo que tanto admiraban. Si bien en Ecuador y América Latina, en relación a Norteamérica y Europa específicamente, no existe una proliferación masificada de acceso a internet, y por ende el estudio del uso que le prestan los fanáticos a la gran red mundial apenas se ha iniciado, la fuente de donde recolectamos nuestra información es la página ‹www.ivankaviedes.com›, sitio web perteneciente al futbolista ecuatoriano Jaime Iván Kaviedes Llorentti, cuya personalidad y apariencia física han hecho de él un personaje mediático.

All part of the hetero-normative? Women football fans` voices on players` sexual (mis)conduct

From interviews conducted in Victoria with women fans of Australian Rules Football, this paper examines their perceptions and rationalisations of alleged sexual misconduct by players. The paper is situated in the seeming contradiction of women avidly supporting male dominated sports despite players being implicated in misconduct against their gender. Women fans' voices about the reported misconduct are explored. These fall into two main categories that are referred to as the 'predatory female' and the 'rogue male' narratives. The former suggests that the sexual assertiveness of some women - the 'groupies' - unlocks men's primal sexuality. The latter points to footballers being immersed in a hyper-masculine sub-culture that predisposes them to treat women in an arbitrary, demeaning manner. The fans' voices, while condemning players' misconduct, suggest that predatory females, by actively seeking out footballers, become victims
because they trigger testosterone driven male responses. Rogue male behaviour is deprecated, but understood as stemming from masculine ways, accentuated by team bonding, that leads some individuals into misconduct, possibly as a means of emphasising their masculinity within their group. Explaining player misconduct in these ways enables fans to distance themselves from it and continue their passionate support of
football.

A victory for the fans? Melbourne's new football club in recent historical perspective

A new Association football team, Melbourne Victory, was created in Melbourne in 2005 as a founding member of the Australian A-League. Within little more than a year it was drawing peak crowds of 50,000 to matches and averaged over 30,000. It was forced to move from an 18,000 capacity stadium to one holding 55,000. Previous new club foundations in the 1990s had not been successful, despite being associated with popular Australian Rules football teams, Collingwood and Carlton. The Victory, however, seems to have attracted a different and wider demographic to the game. For the first time the growth of the code in Australia in based on the domestic population, not waves of inward migration as was the case in the 1880s, 1920s and the post-Second World War period. Preliminary studies of the fan base suggest that the future for the Victory is likely to be different from the recent past.

Football's world cup and its fans - reflections on national styles : a photo essay on Germany 2006

The football World Cup is the greatest multicultural sporting extravaganza of modern times. The notion of post-fandom tries to capture the ways in which fans now participate in and engage in self-aware and reflexive strategies to obtain their desired outcomes from attendance at or viewing such major events. This illustrated photo-essay on the World Cup looks at the experiences and behaviour of fans in three countries, Scotland, Germany and Australia, during the tournament with a view to extending our understanding of the relationships between fans and others temporarily interested in the World Cup and the promoters of such mega-events. It argues that the participants brought a wide range of expectations to the tournament and engaged in highly flexible and innovative approaches to ensure that they gained the maximum benefit, individually and collectively, from the experience.

Industries, artists, friends and fans : marketing young adult fictions online

The Internet has facilitated the coming together of formerly more separated youth taste cultures, such that literary, screen and graphic fandoms now more readily overlap. Media industries have invested in online strategies which create an ongoing relationship between producers and consumers of entertainment media texts. Using the Internet marketing campaign for Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga as a case study, the paper examines the role of the publishing industry in marketing popular teen literary fiction through online channels in ways that often disguise promotional intent.

Women as consumers of a male domain : Australian Rules Football and its female fans

Looked at from a global perspective, sports are mostly male preserves. Those played by women seldom attract a large spectatorship and the numerous at-ground viewers of men’s play mostly are men. An exception is Australian Rules Football (AFL), a male sport that since the 19th century has drawn a considerable female following, with women accounting for about half of the ‘live’ crowds. From single-person and focus group interviews conducted with female AFL fans, we examine how women voice their support for a sport characterised by hyper-masculinity in players’ on-field and off-field behaviours, in the organisation and control of the sport, and in the ‘natural’ authority credited to men’s voices in commentary and interpretation of it. Given their marginalisation in AFL and in sports generally, what do women fans gain from their avid support of AFL and how does this influence the construction of their identities as women? We examine these issues from a perspective supporting the idea of multiple, fragmented identities.