International Journal of Sport Management

Marketing Areas of Oversight and Organizational Elements: A Qualitative Examination of the Marketing of a Sport within Intercollegiate Athletics

Jonathan J. Benedek, Tyler Ratts, Braden Norris, Paul M. Pedersen

Abstract: Intercollegiate athletics is a multi-billion-dollar segment of the sport industry. Within college sports, football generates the most revenue and media attention while also providing benefits to universities through school spirit, pride in the institution, and support from donors. Previous work has evaluated the relationship between sport marketing and intercollegiate athletics through evaluations of the consumer perspective, but limited attention has been given to the perspectives of the sport organizations or practitioners responsible for the marketing exchange. Therefore, this study utilizes the sport marketing management process model to examine the marketing efforts of professionals (i.e., football sport marketing directors [N=14]) tasked with promoting college football within a particular conference (i.e., Big Ten Conference). In doing so, the research fills a gap in the literature by further evaluating the marketing processes relied upon by intercollegiate athletic departments and the organizational factors impacting these decisions. Using a phenomenological approach, data were collected using semi-structured interviews with each football marketing director. The emerging themes involved marketing areas of oversight (i.e., increasing ticket sales and attendance, game day event marketing, and program branding) and organizational elements (i.e., structure, culture, and collaboration).

Keywords: intercollegiate athletics, marketing, marketing directors, football

Citation: Benedek, J. J., Ratts, T., Norris, B., & Pedersen, P. M. (2022). Marketing areas of oversight and organizational elements: A qualitative examination of the marketing of a sport within intercollegiate athletics. International Journal of Sport Management, 23(2), 111-138.

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