Mass sport participation has received considerable attention in the recent sport management literature. However, little is known about sport spectatorship as an outcome of sports mega-events (SMEs). This is the first study to use cross-cultural analysis to examine the relationship between the 2002 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup Korea/Japan and current football spectatorship in the host countries. In the context of SMEs, this study uses the psychological construct of nostalgia as a mediator to identify the relationship with spectatorship. Data from 416 and 408 respondents from South Korea and Japan, respectively, were collected through online surveys and analysed cross-culturally using Hayes’ PROCESS macro model 4. We find that the nostalgia evoked by the 2002 World Cup has positively influenced the host nations’ current football spectatorship. While this SME has a strong impact on evoking nostalgia, the effect of nostalgia on spectator behaviour is significant, yet comparatively weak.

<p>This study aimed to demonstrate empirically the influence of brand attributes regarding professional baseball teams on benefits and attitudes of residents according to customer-based brand equity (Keller, 1993). This study also examined the influence of residents' benefits and attitudes on team attachment. An internet research company was used to conduct an online survey to collect data from residents who had attended at least one home game during the 2013-2015 seasons in six cities where Pacific League teams were based. The results of the structural equation modeling showed the relations among attributes, benefits, and attitudes were different from Keller's (1993) concepts. In terms of the relations between benefits and attachment, symbolic benefit influenced attachment, although experiential benefit did not. Nor was there a significant relation between attitude and attachment. Further, the study discussed the findings and their theoretical and practical implications.</p>

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Research on women’s football is still, especially in Asia, scarce. The purpose of this research has been to investigate the underlying points of attachment of women’s football spectators and how these influence future behaviour. The points of attachment scale–drawing on social identity theory–developed previously has been modified for the research setting to detect whether they are general determinants or country-specific indicators. Research was conducted in two countries, namely Japan and Germany. Surveys were conducted at two friendlies of the national team in each country (Japan: n = 607; Germany: n = 597). Attachment with the team, coach and women’s sport were defining overall attachment best. Intention to attend matches of the national team was significantly predicted by football attachment and previously attended games, while intention to attend matches of the league was significantly predicted by attachment with the coach and attended league games in the past.

<p>It is critical for sport management researchers to comprehend the unique aspects of products provided by sport organizations. The present paper, including two studies, attempted to clarify the product attributes of professional sport clubs in consideration of competitive relations with other products. The first study employed literature reviews and conceptual approaches, whereas the second study used quantitative data to examine the attributes empirically. Using the following three perspectives; relationships with products in the same categories, industries to belong, and benefits to provide, the first study identified several product attributes of sport clubs that do not apply to common understanding in privious studies on management. The second study clarified distinctive benefits of spectating games (e.g., excitement and vicarious achievement), which were different from the benefits offered by other leisure activities. It was also found that consumers highly involved in a product (i.e., spectating a game) were likely to obtain various benefits.</p>

<p>In sport management, there are few studies that have paid its attention to sport involvement among spectators. Thus, examining sport involvement to understand the sport consumption behavior of spectators is important. The purposes of this study are (1) to provide evidence of the reliability, construct validity, and hierarchical structure of the proposed spectator involvement scale and (2) to examine the relationships of spectator involvement with several outcome variables. We analyzed a sample of 892 spectators at professional soccer and baseball games in Japan. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated the reliability and validity of the spectator involvement scale which consisted of five factors. The findings of structural equation modeling supported the relationship between spectator involvement and the outcome variables.</p>

Objective: Using a fitness club is one of the forms of leisure activity. The benefits individuals seek in using their free time are related to their choices of activities during leisure time. For the purpose of obtaining data which are useful for the promotion of the utilization of fitness clubs, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the benefit factors sought in leisure time and the fitness club experiences of individuals. <BR>Methods: Data from a &ldquo;survey for the purpose of ensuring that the value of fitness clubs is correctly communicated to consumers&rdquo; was utilized. The subjects of the analysis comprised 1,023 people, among whom 506 had no experience using fitness clubs, and 517 had experience using fitness clubs. Benefits sought during leisure time were measured using a leisure-time-benefit scale. A logistic regression analysis was conducted with the presence or absence of fitness club membership experience as the object variable and items measuring awareness regarding leisure-related benefits as the explanatory variables.<BR>Results: Among those who responded to a question that enquired about &ldquo;engaging in activities for the sake of one&rsquo; s health&rdquo; and the benefits of leisure time, the multivariable adjusted odds ratio regarding whether people who had fitness club experience for those who answered &ldquo;this applies to me,&rdquo; taking the people who answered either &ldquo;this does not apply to me&rdquo; or &ldquo;this neither particularly applies nor particularly does not apply to me&rdquo; as a reference, was 2.13. Additionally, the adjusted odds ratio in relation to a question about &ldquo;engaging in activities along with other people&rdquo; was 1.37.<BR>Conclusion: There is a higher tendency for people who have used a fitness club to seek &ldquo;engaging in activities to maintain one&rsquo; s health&rdquo; and &ldquo;engaging in activities with people&rdquo; as a benefit of their leisure time, compared with people who have not used a fitness club.

<p>The purpose of this study was to compare the Pacific League baseball teams in terms of the brand associations that consumers have with team attributes, benefits, and attitudes. This paper assessed the brand attributes using qualitative data with free associations, and benefits and attitudes using quantitative data. An internet survey of local residents living in each of the six teams' hometowns was conducted. A total of 1,967 free associations were obtained from 915 valid samples, and then categorized into 15 groups. Consumer benefits consisted of "Symbolic benefits" and "Experiential benefits." Consumer attitudes were assessed by "Like and Dislike." The One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that the "Symbolic benefits" (F (5, 909) = 20.15, p <.001), "Experiential benefits" (F (5, 909) = 9.12, p <.001), and "Attitudes" (F (5, 909) = 7.09, p <.001) were significantly different across teams. The comparison of associations among teams is discussed.</p>

<p>Understanding spectators' perspectives towards a sports competition is one of the major marketing issues in professional sport management. The purposes of this study are (1) to develop a scale to measure spectators' involvement in athletic elements of figure skating which can be deemed as the core product, (2) to examine the relationships of such involvement with antecedent variables and consequent variables, and (3) to examine involvement in athletic elements by the difference in gender of a player supporting. We analyzed a sample of 478 spectators at the 2013 NHK Trophy Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The results of confirmatory factor analyses revealed that athletic elements consisted of technical and aesthetic dimensions. Furthermore, the findings indicated that spectators' involvement had significant relationships with their knowledge regarding figure skating as well as consequent variables such as their intention to support a specific athlete and spectating behavior. This observation could significantly contribute to the development of marketing strategies for figure skating events.</p>

The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of community-based management (CBM) and to elucidate the influential factors formulating the strategies for developing the fan base of professional baseball teams. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among staff members of four Pacific League teams on having regional team names and adopting &ldquo;community-based management&rdquo; or &ldquo;regional outreach activities&rdquo; in their team philosophy. Influenced by the reorganization of the Nippon Professional Baseball organization, the Pacific League teams have focused on a specific community or region, rather than the entire nation, for better management. Teams are concentrating on garnering customer loyalty from avid fan club members and repeat customers, and then trying to retain and attract customers while expanding the customer target area in their community. The community-based approach implies developing a bond between local residents and teams. Through this study, CBM is defined as &ldquo;developing consumers' attachment to and building their bond with a team through various local promotional or outreach activities within their specific area.&rdquo; There are two significant factors emerged that influence formulating the strategies for developing the fan base: (1) agreements between teams and stadium proprietors, and (2) relationships with local promotional vehicles such as local media companies and a railway company.<br>

The field of sport management has expanded rapidly, and now includes various aspects of sport industry. Researchers as well as practitioners in the sport business have provided various interpretations of the concept of sport management. However, the question &ldquo;what should be researched and taught in sport management&rdquo; remains unanswered. The present paper attempted to reexamine the concept of sport management in order to explain the significance of its existence as a science. In order to clarify what aspects of &ldquo;sport&rdquo; could be the target in the field of sport management, the author reviewed the structure of the sport industry and concluded that producing sport itself(i.e., sport activities) is the center of the sport industry. The uniqueness of sport product was also examined bacause it would clarify peculiar features of sport management. As discussed in the paper, sport management can be defined as &ldquo;the management of business related to the production and provision of participant sport and/or spectator sport.&rdquo;

Consumer motives and level of identification with professional baseball teams in the United States and Japan were measured and compared. Significant differences were found on nine of the ten motives measured. Entertainment and motives associated with the core product (game aesthetics, players' skills, and the drama of games) were rated the highest by consumers in the United States. Entertainment and the opportunity to enjoy games with family and friends were rated highest by Japanese consumers. A significant difference was found relative to team identification; the highest percentage of Japanese baseball consumers had low team identification, while the largest percentage of United States baseball consumers reported high levels of team identification. Sport organisations seeking to reach a global audience are advised to better understand the motives influencing consumption of a sport product across cultures, and the degree to which a consumer may identify with a particular product. Copyright © 2009, Inderscience Publishers.

The purpose of this study is to indicate career patterns and career orientations of youth players in J-league clubs. Questionnaires were distributed to 122 players over different four J-league clubs resulting in 100 (81.9%) usable data. In order to identify the usable participants, we used longitudinal method for the players' career patterns and comparison analysis of player's motives and career orientations for J-league youth clubs. The main results of our study were as follows: ●In the J-league youth clubs, 55.6% of players came from J-league junior youth clubs, whereas 31.3% of players came from other clubs, and 13.1% of players came from junior high school team. ●The comparison analysis of motives for J-league youth clubs showed no significant findings among three groups from junior high school, except for those that "used be a fan of the team." ●84.0% of the players of J-league youth clubs would like to play for a top team in the J-league in near the future and approximately 70% of players want to find a job related to soccer (e.g., coach, team staff, and so on).

Following the increase of interests in participating and spectating sports and the enlargementof the sport industry, education programs with respect to sport have been expandingamong Japanese universities and colleges. Especially, undergraduate programs regardingsport management and sport business have been rapidly growing in the last few years. In2007, there were 43 universities and colleges containing sport management or sport businessprograms. Not only colleges of physical education and sport, but also colleges and departmentswith regard to business, economy, and management have been building such programs. Whilethis new academic field will continue developing, there are several critical problems in educationprograms. It is necessary to establish a standardized sport management curricula and tofacilitate the increase of expertise in sport management education. Limited employmentopportunities in the sport industry also makes sport management education programs difficultto succeed.

The scale of international sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and FIFA WorldCup, has been expanded year after year. In order to host an international mega sportingevent, the host city has to be a developed one. In addition, a large quantity of managerialresources including human resources, material resources, and financial resources arenecessary for the great success of the events. The present paper examines issues ofprocurement of managerial resources of international sporting events. Among diverseresources, the author focused on sport volunteers as human resources, sport facility asmaterial resources, and sponsorship as the way of fund raising. Regarding volunteers, eventmanagers need to effectively recruit and train them. Potentially volunteers'contributions areworth enormous sums of money. Therefore, the effective use of volunteers enables managersto cut down expenses. To host international sporting events, host cities have to havesupersized sport facilities. The problems, however, occur after the events. Host cities need toconsider the operations and finances of such facilities post-event. Sponsorship is one of themajor ways of fund raising of international sporting events equal to broadcasting right salesand ticket sales. To make sponsorship contracts, event managers need to propose diversebenefits to sponsor corporations in sporting events. Since these issues are associated withmanagement, diverse event management encompassing broad aspects leads to effectiveprocurement of managerial resources in international sporting events.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in characteristics between former Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes fans and former ORIX Blue Wave fans. The survey was conducted at a game of the professional baseball team, ORIX Buffaloes, at Osaka Dome on August 20, 2005. Questionnaires were distributed to the spectators who support ORIX Buffaloes. Before the game starts, 539 questionnaires were collected, of which 505 (93.7%) were valid responses. Results of comparative analysis showed that values indicating the loyalty to player and community loyalty of former Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes fans were significantly higher than those of former ORIX Blue Wave fans. On the other hand, values indicating the loyalty to team of former ORIX Blue Wave fans were significantly higher than those of former Osaka Kintetsu fuffaloes fans.

The purpose of this study was to identify basic data to conduct area marketing for professional baseballs by comparing the differences between spectators of ORIX Buffaloes games at Skymark Stadium and at Osaka Dome. The survey was conducted at games of the professional baseball team, the ORIX Buffaloes, at Skymark Stadium on August 13, 2005, and at Osaka Dome on August 20, 2005. Comparative analysis of spectators at these two stadiums was conducted ; valid responses were 505 (93.7%) and 486 (99.0%), respectively. The results revealed different characteristics for spectators in each area. This report shows a way to apply the area marketing method, and discusses the implications of the survey to enhance sport marketers understanding of the different characteristics of spectators in each area.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors that hinder participation in sports and the characteristics of women that have children of six years old and under and who do not participate in sports. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 330 mothers with children in kindergartens in Osaka Prefecture. 237 usable responses were obtained, for a response rate of 71.8 percent. We divided respondents into sports participants and non-participants and drew the following conclusions from the results and our analysis of them. (1) In comparison with the average non-participation in sports rate of 36.9% for adult women, the rate for mothers with children aged 6 and under was much higher at 61.6%. In addition, about half of the respondents were mothers whose youngest child was no older than 3 years old and about 80% were dedicated homemakers in nuclear family households. More than 70% of the mothers expressed a desire to participate in sports in the future. These results indicate the importance of clarifying the factors that hinder their participation in sports and the need to develop measures to facilitate their participation. (2) We divided the factors that hinder participation in sports into two categories, "facility and service factors" and "support and social psychology factors," and conducted our analysis focused on mothers with children no older than 6 years old. As a result, in the category of facility and service factors, we found "facilities for children's play lacking," "insufficient child daycare facilities," and "insufficient support services for participation with children" to be clear problem factors. Among support and social psychology factors, "lack of a person to entrust children with in order to participate" is a problem that, combined with "alleviation of housework and childcare," a precondition for sports participation, makes clear the need for reform in family cooperation systems. In summary, the importance of developing measures to meet the needs of mothers with young children was made clear. Furthermore, the "facility and service factors" and "support and social psychology factors" that contribute to hindering the participation of mothers with preschool-age children cannot be addressed independently to achieve a true solution, but will require various reform tactics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors affecting the sports spectator behavior of mothers with twelve years old children and under. Surveys were conducted at a professional baseball game at the Green Stadium Kobe on August 26^<th>, 2001, and at a J-league game at the Tokyo Stadium on November llth, 2001. The number of effective responses from mothers with twelve years old children and under were 168 and 107, respectively. Respondents were divided into three segments according to the age of their youngest child : a 0-3 year old segment (n=65), a 4-6 year old segment (n=84), and a 7-12 year old segment (n=136). The obstruction factors affecting mothers' sports spectator behavior were compared among the three segments. The results were as follows. 1) The obstruction factors related to stadium facilities and services were different among the three segments. Mothers with 0-3 year old children, in particular, noted some factors, such as "there is no diaper changing place," "there is no place for breastfeeding," and "movement in the stadium is inconvenient." 2) The obstruction factors related to the socio-psychological aspects of the mothers were different among the three segments. Mothers with 0-3 year old children felt "guilty leaving my child with someone" and noted "it is difficult to leave a child with someone to attend a game at the stadium." On the other hand, mothers with 4-6 year old children recognized "problems with going to the stadium with children," such as "causing trouble for other spectators" and "not being able to enjoy the game personally."

In addition to education and research, presently colleges and universities are required tocontribute to the local community. Biwako Seikei Sport College is also expected to supportsport promotion in Shiga-town as well as Shiga-prefecture. The college started a sport projectfor the local community in July of 2003. In the academic year of 2003, in excess of 200 peopleliving in the local community used the college sport facilities. The present research reportintroduces the survey results of college sport facility users. The survey was conducted on144 facility users. The recovery ratio was 56.9%. The survey research contains the state ofsport participation, needs in relation to the sport facility, and needs for Biwako Seikei SportCollege to contribute sport promotion in their local community.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a new professional sport team on community by conducting a time series survey which focused on changes in community. Data was collected from spectators of home games played by the new team and people living in and around it's' hometown. It was revealed that due to the new team entry, people's interests in sports were enhanced ; people's psychological commitment to the community became higher ; and people highly evaluated the team's contribution to the community activation.

本研究の目的は、地域スポーツクラブやプロスポーツチームなどの地域密着型スポーツ組織による地域づくり活動の現状を把握し、それらの活動が地域住民であるクラブ会員やチームの観戦者およびファンのクラブやチームに対するコミットメントと地域アイデンティティの形成にどのような効果を与えているのかを探ることであった。
本年度は、プロスポーツの観戦者を対象に調査を実施し、クラブが地域および地域の人々に与える影響について分析した。1つの事例ではあるが、Jリーグと四国アイランドリーグの各1クラブを対象にデータを収集し、それぞれの観戦者は、チームに対するコミットメントも地域に対するアイデンティティも比較的高いレベルで持ち合わせていることが確認された。しかし、プロスポーツクラブが地域のシンボルとなり、また地域の活性化に役立っているかどうかについては、Jクラブの観戦者ではそのように考えている者が多くはなかった。一方で四国アイランドリーグの観戦者においては、そのように思っているものが比較的多かった。また、Jクラブの観戦者の41.4%が、クラブが地域貢献事業を実施していることを知らないという現状が明らかになった。ただし、73.7%の観戦者は今後実施したほうがよいと考えている。
ドイツのプロスポーツクラブ、および地域スポーツクラブでのインタビューなどからも確認できたように、日本においてもスポーツ組織がまちの象徴となり、地域づくりに役立つ可能性は十分にあるため、地域貢献活動などの取り組みの方法と認知度の向上が今後の課題であると考えられる。

　国内外の文献をレビューし、スポーツマネジメントの概念がどのように捉えられているのかについて理解を深め、概念の再検討を行い、「スポーツマネジメントの概念の再検討」という題目の論文にまとめた。要旨は次のとおりである。　スポーツマネジメントと呼ばれる領域は急速に拡大したため、あまりにも多様なスポーツ産業にかかわる事象を取り込んできた。その結果、この学問領域の概念は研究者およびスポーツビジネス実践者によって多様に解釈されるようになった。「何がスポーツマネジメントで研究され、教えられるのか」ということに対する答えが必要である。本稿は、この領域の科学としての存在意義を明確にするために、スポーツマネジメントの概念の再検討を試みた。まず、マネジメントの対象の「スポーツ」が何を意味しているのかを明確にするために、スポーツ産業の構造について検討した。次に、スポーツプロダクトの特異性について確認した。本稿での議論から、スポーツマネジメントを「するスポーツと見るスポーツの生産と提供に関わるビジネスのマネジメント」と定義することができる。