International Journal of Sport Management

An Exploration of International Language Offerings of Professional Sport Websites in the United States

Chia-Chen Yu, John Bae

Abstract: The Internet has played a critical role in the globalization of sport. The provision of multilingual content exists as one way professional sport organizations have attempted to strengthen their appeal among ethnic or international sport con¬sumers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore international language offerings on the websites of professional sport leagues and teams in the United States. The researchers used the cultural dimensions theory and the key compo¬nents of effective communication for websites as the theoretical foundation to analyze 167 U.S. professional sport websites. The results showed only approximately 30% of sport league or team websites provided multi-language options on their sites. Fisher’s exact test indicated significant differences in three cultural dimensions and two attributes between English- and Chinese- or Korean-language pages. The results of this study suggest sport organizations offer multilingual options on sport websites with complete information and integrate this initiative into the organizations’ global marketing strategies.

Keywords: Multilingual, cross-cultural, websites, international fans

Citation: Yu, C. C., & Bae, J. (2018). An exploration of international language offerings of professional sport websites in the United States. International Journal of Sport Management, 19(2), 207-234.

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