1. VALUE CO-CREATION FROM SOCIAL MEDIA USE DURING LIVE
SPORTING EVENTS AND ITS EFFECT ON BRAND AWARENESS
By
KEVIN M FOUNTAIN
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Business Administration
ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY
May 2015
Submitted Approval
Date: Date:
_______________________ ________________________
Student Name/Signature Supervisor’s Name/Signature

2. VALUE CO-CREATION FROM SOCIAL MEDIA USE DURING LIVE
SPORTING EVENTS AND ITS EFFECT ON BRAND AWARENESS
Abstract
By
KEVIN M FOUNTAIN
Over the last decade, the use of social media by both consumers and
businesses alike has increased and is becoming a vital part of e-marketing strategies
for companies around the globe. Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and Snapchat, have changed the way in which consumers interact and how
companies market their products towards their targeted consumer base (Miloch,
Wallace & Wilson 2011). Through the use of these social media platforms, college
athletic departments are finding new ways to interact with their fan bases, increasing
their department’s brand awareness on a global scale.
Sports fans now have the ability to use a wide range of available media to
keep up with their favorite sports teams, players and brands and share their opinions
with other fans around the nation from the convenience of their own homes (Phua,
2010). Just as social media has allowed sports fans to discuss their thoughts and
opinions about a team’s performance on a daily basis, athletic departments are
utilizing these platforms to promote brand awareness through the use of in-game

3. social media marketing, targeting consumers based on the assumption that sports fans
will have a feeling of identification and feel the need to contribute to the brand’s
value. This research further elaborates on the concept that is based on the theory of
co-creation, college athletic departments can increase their brand awareness through
the use of social media during live sporting events.

4. ii
Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to the Sports Information Directors (SID) across the
nation that have passed away after dedicating their lives to promoting student-athletes
in a way that has become an inspiration to myself and many others across collegiate
athletics. The industry of athletic communications within collegiate athletics is often
times overlooked, but the men and women of the College Sports Information
Directors of America (CoSIDA) continue to work hard in order to find ways to share
the stories of college student-athletes both on and off the playing surfaces. I hope that
one day I will be able to represent CoSIDA as an elite SID as those who have gone
before me have done.

5. iii
Acknowledgements
I would first like to acknowledge my thesis supervisor, Dr. Ryall Carroll,
whose consistent positive support and guidance has truly allowed me the opportunity
to complete this project and has provided me with the resources necessary to continue
to succeed. After nearly a month of searching for an advisor for my thesis, Dr. Carroll
sacrificed his time and energy to take me under his wing and serve as my thesis
supervisor. The amount of knowledge, understanding and dedication that Dr. Carroll
has shown me has been truly inspiring and his continual interest in not only the topic,
but my success as both a student and a professional, has challenged me to continue to
push forward and work hard.
I would also like to thank the Athletic Communications office at St. John’s
University for the amount of support they have given me over the past two years both
in the office and in my everyday life. As I battled the challenges of school, work and
this thesis, the members of the Athletic Communications staff continued to lend out a
hand to help out whenever possible which has been a steady source of strength and
support throughout this project.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their continual love
and support throughout my two years of graduate school. As hard as it was to take
time away from working full-time to go back to school, my friends and family have
continued to find ways to push me to be the best man I can possibly be and always
encourage me to keep a positive outlook on life. I would not be the man I am today if
it was not for their persistent dedication, love and support.

6. iv
Table of Contents
DEDICATION......................................................................................................................................¡¡
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................................¡¡¡
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 1: THEORY OF CO-CREATION.............................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING THE SPORTS FAN............................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 3: EXPLANATION OF SURVEY ........................................................................................... 16
CHATPER 4: SURVEY RESULTS.......................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION........................................................................................ 21
CHAPTER 6: LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH......................................................................... 25
APPENDIX A: TWITTER USER PROFILE STUDY .................................................................................. 27
APPENDIX B: DALLAS MAVERICKS CROWDSOURCED UNIFORM...................................................... 28
APPENDIX C: OREGON SOCIAL COMMAND CENTER ........................................................................ 29
APPENDIX D: SURVEY RESULTS........................................................................................................ 30
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................... 35

7. - 1 -
Introduction
Over the past decade, the use of social media has significantly grown and has
become a pivotal tool for both consumers and businesses to market their brand. In the
college athletics industry, social media has become a tool to reach a global fan base
with the ease of a simple keystroke. Not only do social media platforms allow college
athletic departments to build and maintain a strong brand presence with a mass reach,
it helps create cultivating relationships with its fan bases (Miloch, Wallace & Wilson,
2011).
The incorporation of traditional media with social media creates an interaction
with consumers that can be used as a promotional tool to generate awareness, create
interest and activate consumption of the brand (Bayne & Cianfrone, 2013). Not only
do fans have the ability to discover up-to-date information about their favorite teams
and athletes through social media, those same teams, athletic departments and athletes
have the ability to assess the needs, wants and ideas that fans have in order to better
develop and market their brands.
Before the use of social media, in-game promotion by athletic departments
was limited to communication with only those who attended the live sporting events
or through commercials to those watching on TV. Now, thanks to the use of various
types of social media, athletic departments have the ability to connect with millions of
sports fans who are all watching and discussing the same event from the convenience
of their own homes (Beck & Bosshart, 2003; Phua, 2010).

8. - 2 -
In 2013, over 36 million people sent around 990 million tweets about U.S.
television alone, according to Nielsen SocialGuide, and since then nearly every
primetime show, news program or sporting event has its own hashtag (Moritz, 2014).
With social media continuing to grow, live events are driving a new type of
interactive experience through the use of these hashtags, creating a global buzz
through one single word that links an event to like-minded fans around the world
(Moritz, 2014).
Just as sports marketers in the past have utilized traditional media, the use of
social media in sport can be a promotional tool to generate awareness, create interest
or activate consumption (Newman, Peck, Harris & Wilhide, 2013). However, it is
important to understand the relationship between social media, live sports and the
sports fan as well as the reason in which a sports fan feels the need to interact with
college athletic departments via social media.
Organizations can use social media to engage with fans in order to create a
relationship with those fans. As the relationship begins to develop with those fans
over time, a sense of trust and loyalty is established. This relationship allows the
opportunity for more users to generate content on social media platforms that they
feel is valued. This content then allows the sports organization an avenue for
increased brand awareness as content is exposed to other consumers by that fan’s
engagement on social media.

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This research takes a closer look at the relationship between social media use
during live sporting events, focusing specifically on the theory of co-creation of value
and the positive effect it ultimately has on brand awareness.

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Chapter 1
Theory of Co-Creation
Understanding what makes a sports fan engage on social media with their
favorite athletic department can allow sports marketers an opportunity to directly
target the psychological triggers that may lead to stronger brand recognition, loyalty
and awareness for the future. The theory of co-creation taps into one of the
psychological reasons why sports fans interact with these sports brands as new media,
such as social media, facilitates both social marketers and customers to co-create
value with a brand (Desai, 2009).
If a sports fan has a heightened level of value co-creation, they will likely
engage with the brand through their own content creation, increasing the brand’s
awareness to anyone that follows that person on social media. As this continues to
happen, it creates a snowball effect from one fan to the next, creating more and more
user-generated content based on value co-creation that all started with an initial fan’s
engagement on social media with the organization.
One of the best ways that this works is through the use of “Retweets” and
“Favoriting” on Twitter. An example of how Twitter can make a brand that was
virtually unknown to start into a world-wide trend is the story of Jack Taylor, a
college basketball player at Grinnell College, and his two 100-point games in 2013
(Prisbell, 2013). With the help of an impressive in-game performance and the power
of hundreds of thousands of fans on Twitter, an unfamiliar Division III school and its

11. - 5 -
college basketball player became known worldwide simply because the amount of
videos, tweets and retweets that were circulating around Twitter.
However, it is not only small brands that utilize the power of Twitter to
enhance brand awareness. One of the reasons why social media is such a powerful
medium is because consumers on these platforms tend to have this sense of value co-
creation, a realization that they (as a consumer) are necessary and must play a part in
order to produce value (Turri, Smith & Kemp, 2013). For example, the concept of
“March Madness” has been a national trend in the United States since 1908
(Bowman, 2015) but with today’s use of social media and hashtags such as
#MarchMadness, fans are able to share their opinions about all 64 teams in the
NCAA Tournament field while following the live action of all four games at the same
time via a single Twitter feed. According to a study done by DB5 (Moy, 2014), 49%
of people “say they feel as close to the action following games on Twitter as they do
watching them on TV” (Appendix A).
While fans are using hashtags to engage with different brands on social media,
it is important that these brands take time to interact with those fans in return as well.
Athletic departments can use the opportunity of fan social interactions to help develop
their organizations (Hajli & Hajli, 2013). One way to do this is to host virtual
communities in order to learn from their consumers and co-create value with them
through online discussions (Hajli & Hajli, 2013). An example of this would be the use
of social media platforms, such as Facebook, to earn feedback and advice from fans
on different promotional items in order to understand the target consumer needs.

12. - 6 -
With the ability to share their opinions through the convenience of their
smartphones via social media, sports fans are “no longer passive information users,
but are active content generators” (Hajli & Hajli, 2013). These advancements have
given consumers the ability and power to co-create in online communities based on
their knowledge (Hajli & Hajli, 2013). Thanks to the use of social media applications,
sports fans can now add picture or video to enhance the richness of the content that
can be extracted from user communities (Piller, Vossen & Ihl, 2012).
The ability to interact with fans on social media creates a sense of social
support and social capital for organizations as athletic departments are able to co-
create value with fans rather than strictly co-creating value for fans, thus further
enhancing their service quality (Hajli & Hajli, 2013). Customer co-creation not only
allows for a company to get a better understanding of their target market through the
visitor’s social network profiles, but also allows for customers to gain a clearer
impression of the organization’s activities and products via these social media
platforms (Piller, Vossen & Ihl, 2012).
The ability to grab instant feedback and gratification from fans through this
social media co-creation is a pivotal tool for athletic departments to establish
relationships with their fans, allowing organizations the ability to increase brand
awareness and recognition through fan-generated content.
In order to allow a fan to engage in co-creation of value through social media
at live sporting events, it is important that the athletic departments create a
relationship based on reciprocity, interdependence, trust and commitment with those

13. - 7 -
fans (Desai, 2009). Research has shown that virtual communities, including social
media platforms, have a way to make individuals feel “part of the family” (Hajli &
Hajli, 2013). For athletic departments, this trusting relationship that is built through
social media gives sports fans a sense of belonging and identification with the athletic
department that can enhance the co-creation of value. Studies have shown that the
likelihood of a consumer to actively participate in co-creation of value is increased
when their relationships with the marketer, and those within the related social
networks, are important (Desai, 2009). Because of this, it is important that
engagement with fans via social media platforms assists in the creation, development
and maintenance of these relationships with fans.
The trusting relationship does not only have an effect on the fans, however, as
employees of the athletic department are effected as well. Studies have shown that co-
creation of value also leads to a more attractive brand image for employees as direct
value creation for a company has the ability to trigger identification, creating a more
trusting relationship between the brand and employee that can potentially attract
future talent and continue to improve the department (Roser, Samson, Humphreys &
Cruz-Valdivieso, 2009).
According to Piller et. al. (2012), “today, co-creation with customers is
booming. The number of firms and even governments implementing co-creation is
steadily growing” (Piller, Vossen & Ihl, 2012). For online communities, such as
social media platforms, it is paramount that value co-creation exists in the form of
member content generation (Turri, Smith & Kemp, 2013).

14. - 8 -
It is important that athletic marketers understand what it is exactly that gets
their fans to respond and what social media platforms have the best interaction with
their select target consumers. By targeting these fans and offering them the ability to
co-create value with the athletic department via social media, an athletic department
should be able to increase its brand awareness and recognition.
The next chapter of this research looks more closely at the sports fan as a
whole, giving a better understanding of their behavior during live sporting events.
Later in this research, the survey conducted takes a deeper look at what makes a
population sample of avid sports fans that utilize social media want to interact with
athletic departments on their own social media platforms during live sporting events.
By understanding how fans interact with athletic departments on social media,
organizations can have a better understanding on how to target these fans, thus
increasing the amount of content they will produce due to a heightened sense of value
co-creation with the brand. With more user-generated content out there, the brand will
gain a larger reach with their brand, ultimately increasing the brand awareness of the
product.

15. - 9 -
Chapter 2
Understanding The Sports Fan
When looking into the effect of social media use during live sporting events, it
is important to understand the role that it plays within the sports industry as a whole.
In order to do that, one must take a look at those who are involved in the consumption
of sport, in particular the sports fan.
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), “it is
important to distinguish between sports fans and sports spectators. Sports spectators
are people who attend sporting events (or watch events on television) for a reason
other than an attachment to the team. Sports fans, however, have a connection to the
team” (NCAA, 2014).
In the book, The Secret Lives of Sports Fans: The Science of Sports
Obsession, (Simmons, 2014) the author discusses the biology and psychology of
sports fandom, stating that there is compelling evidence that the relationship between
the sports fan and the sports team is essentially a real relationship within the brain.
This relationship causes the fan to feel whatever success the sports team experiences
as a personal success and whatever failure as a personal failure (Gambino, 2013).
This sense of fan identification leads to fans psychologically becoming part of the
sports team they support, causing them to share in the glory of winning as well as
suffering in the agony of defeat (Phua, 2010), more commonly known as basking-in-
reflected-glory (BIRG), a self-serving cognition that reflects individuals’ desire to
increase their association with successful others (Wann & Branscombe, 1990).

16. - 10 -
With this relationship between sports fan and the team they associate with in
mind, it is important to facilitate self-esteem responses to these fans, finding ways to
share successes with the team they follow in order to maintain a high level of
conative loyalty (Anderson, Fink & Trail, 2005). Through this concept of basking in
reflected glory, college athletic departments can find ways to directly enhance the
self-esteem of their fans by giving them a sense of control through engagement and
co-creation via social media.
As stated by Anderson et. al., (2005), “customers desire more than
functionality. They are emotional beings who also want intangible values such as a
sense of control, fun, aesthetic pleasure and enhanced self-esteem.” The ability for
these fans, experiencing a sense of BIRGing, to generate content on social media
about their team, gives them that feeling of control. Through this engagement with
the organization, via social media, the level of value co-creation felt by these fans will
likely increase, ultimately leading to more content generation. The more content these
fans generate, the more the brand awareness will increase as the content is shared
across social media platforms (i.e. retweet).
It is also important to understand how people are accessing their social media
platforms for content production and engagement during live sporting events. Based
on a study done by Sporting News Media in February 2013, over a third of sports fans
use smartphones to access sport content and of those fans, 36 percent access sports
content via their mobile devices at least once a day (Sporting News, 2013). With the
increased sales of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, as well as the

17. - 11 -
exponential growth of social media over the last two years, college athletic
departments essentially have a direct line of access to countless fans around the globe,
allowing for an opportunity to engage with these fans via 140 characters or less.
While understanding the sports fan is important, it is also very important to
understand the brand personality of college athletics as well. While research on brand
personality in sport is still in the early stages, suggestions have been made to athletic
departments to understand and actively develop their brand personality in order to
effectively market and position their brands (Braunstein & Ross, 2010). A
combination of group experience, history and tradition, venue and ritual establishes a
social identification with the team, ultimately leading to increased brand equity for
that team (Watkins, 2013).
As found in research by Robert Madrigal (2000), once an organization is able
to successfully tap into a consumer’s psychological connectedness, they create
something more meaningful to the individual than just a mere product. Finding a way
to connect the sport brand with the relationship that has been established within the
sports fan will help create loyalty and identification that will promote the brand
moving forward.
Social Media and Live Sports
As social media has continued to grow and develop, athletic departments
have utilized these platforms as a marketing tool and are continuing to find new ways
to connect with their fans in a more efficient manner. Just as athletic departments
have done with traditional media, it is important that marketers use social media as a

18. - 12 -
strategic brand platform to illustrate brand attributes (Miloch, Wallace & Wilson,
2011).
With more and more social media platforms becoming available, broadcasters,
governing bodies and athletic departments are all competing to engage with fans
during live sporting events (Hargrave, 2010). As a result, athletic departments must
find a way to differentiate themselves in order to maintain a strong brand identity. An
example of a way in which this was done in the professional side of sports was how
the Dallas Mavericks utilized fans to create the first-ever crowd sourced uniform
(Appendix B). When the team’s owner, Mark Cuban, decided it was time for a new
alternate uniform he turned to the fans, receiving more than 1,000 entries before
narrowing it down to 10 finalists that the fans would be able to vote on (Gaio, 2014).
In order to get to this point, where the fans help make decisions for the
organization, a relationship between the consumer and the organization must be
established. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Four Square and
LinkedIn are channels of social media that focus on relationships, shared interest and
fan identification (Turri, Smith & Kemp, 2013). With the need for these relationships
in mind, many entertainment professionals have begun utilizing these social media
platforms as ways to create and develop emotional ties between consumers and the
brand (Turri, Smith & Kemp 2013).
For example, after an unexpected win that leaves fans feeling the personal
success of their team, athletic departments should continue to promote the crowd’s
BIRGing through the use of post-game interaction and events (Anderson, Fink &

19. - 13 -
Trail, 2005). Social media provides an easy way for athletic marketing departments to
do this with fans both in the live venue and at home. One example of this is through
the use of the Oregon Social Command Center (Appendix C), where a group of
marketing employees continually monitor and engage with those sports fans who are
BIRGing on social media, helping to create a feeling of fan identification with their
fans.
Social media hubs like the one Oregon has also allows for athletic
departments, both collegiate and professional, the opportunity to find out exactly
what it is that fans want during live sporting events. As said by Brad Boron, the
Chicago Blackhawks’ assistant for new media and publications, “if fans didn’t tell us
what they like, or what the team needs to do more of, we wouldn’t be using [social
media],” (Martinez, 2010).
It is also important to understand that there are many platforms available to
communicate with fans during live sporting events now. While some organizations
are able to utilize television as a means of communication during live events, not all
sports bodies are fortunate enough to enjoy such mass followings, especially those
with much smaller markets. Social media now allows those smaller market athletic
departments the opportunity to deliver live coverage of sporting events directly to
their fans (Hargrave, 2010).
Not only is the use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook on
the rise, applications in which fans can use during these live sporting events are
growing as well. In 2012, Kwarter, a mobile application factory, announced the

20. - 14 -
launch of FanCake, “an app that turns live televised sporting events into interactive
and social games, connecting millions of sports fans, teams, broadcasters, brands and
athletes to enhance the game watching experience” (FanCake, 2012).
As athletic departments are looking for ways to connect with their fans, it is
also important to understand that fans are no longer viewing live sports through only
one medium, but rather through multiple screens and mobile platforms, thus showing
that initiatives that can reach fans on a large scale and across platforms will ultimately
prove the most attractive to brands (Pardee, 2012). The use of the second screen
allows the fans to engage with the brand as “the most natural conversation happens on
game days, the most emotionally charged time of the week, when fans increasingly
supplement their viewing experience with a second screen” (Shpigel, 2014).
While second-screen use is important in understanding how to increase brand
personality, a study of event brand personality between social media users and non-
social media users found that brand personality items were higher for fans that
followed an event’s Facebook page, suggesting that social media during live sporting
events may be a contributing factor in influencing an event’s brand personality
(Walsh, Clavio, Lovell & Blaszka, 2013).
As a result of the co-creation these fans are producing, the use of social media
during live sporting events creates a form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), or
as Bret Feddern of www.IowaHawkeyes.com calls it, “word of mouth on steroids”
(Steinbach, 2009). Even the athletes on the court understand the importance of social
media during their live sporting events. Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How

21. - 15 -
social media transforms the way we live and do business, used to play basketball at
Michigan State and explained how “if someone is tweeting about the game while in
the stadium, it’s alerting people that something great is going on that they could be
missing” (Steinbach, 2009).
A clear example of how this quickly creates a buz about a college athletic
department’s brand is the 138-point performance by Jack Taylor of Grinnell College
in 2012 as mentioned earlier on. The Division III college basketball player set a
NCAA record with 138 points in a single game, instantly creating what the New York
Post refered to as “a social media sensation” (Raimondi, 2012).
While the virality of social media is a major reason in which college athletics
should be utilizing this tool as a marketing foundation, it is even more important to
understand what it is about these sports fans that makes them want to be a part of the
athletic deparment’s brand, and ultimately help co-create value with the brand via
social media.

22. - 16 -
Chapter 3
Explanation of Survey
Objective
The objective of this survey was to investigate the actions and behaviors of
avid sports consumers who utilize social media in order to determine what would
positively influence co-creation of value via social media platforms during live
sporting events. The survey not only measured the extent in which social media
platforms were used but also the measured the respondents’ live sporting event
consumption habits, social media interaction and social media tendencies when
looking for specific items.
Participants
Participants of the survey were selected using a convenience sample with a
link to the online survey being distributed via e-mail, Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook. Not only was the link e-mailed throughout the entire St. John’s Athletics
department, it was also shared on five separate Sports Information Director Facebook
group pages, guaranteeing response from avid sports fans who utilize social media.
As those social media users began to share the link via retweets and favorites, the
survey became available exposed to the followers and users of more people via a
snowball sampling method.
However, it was clearly explained to participants that if they do not meet the
criteria of avid sports fans and social media users that the survey should not be filled

23. - 17 -
out. Those who use social media strictly for the purpose of work, such as Sports
Information Directors (SID) who only use Twitter or Facebook accounts for their
respective sports, were also asked not to participate in the study.
Procedure
The survey was created online using Qualtrics, an online survey software and
insight platform, and was comprised of 20 different questions made up of varying
structures. The final three questions were created for demographic purposes to
understand the variety of respondents.
The first 17 questions were broken down to determine information based on
the following topics: overall social media use, live sport consumption, social media
use during live sporting events and social media interaction habits.
Once distributed, the survey was left available for respondents for one full
month from Nov. 1, 2014 until Dec. 1, 2014 before results were collected. In the span
of the one month, 211 responses were collected, 182 of which were fully completed.
The full results, including questions and a broken down analysis of each
respective answer, are available in Appendix D and will be discussed and evaluated in
the following sections.

24. - 18 -
Chapter 4
Survey Results
The results of the survey issued were collected during a one-month span from
Nov. 1, 2014 until Dec. 1, 2014 and included 182 fully completed responses.
Demographic Breakdown
Among the 182 full responders were 110 males (60%) and 72 females (40%).
The majority (75%) of responders were between the ages of 18 and 34 years old
while ages of responders varied from 18 to 64 years old. More than three-quarters of
the respondents have finished college with 44% of the sample graduating with a four-
year college degree and 35% earning a Master’s degree.
Social Media Use
Based on 211 responses, the most used social media platforms were Facebook
(98%), Twitter (83%), Instagram (72%) and YouTube (70%) while Snapchat (50%)
also was used. When asked to rate the social media platforms in order of preference
based on use in a one-week period, Facebook (36.88%) and Twitter (30.26%) made
up for over two-thirds of the social media usage.
The majority of users access social media using their smartphone (95%) or
computer (93%) while just over half of the respondents (51%) use a tablet to access
the social media platforms.

25. - 19 -
Live Sport Consumption
Based on the results, respondents, over the past year, have watched live
sporting events using a variety of different means: at home on TV (99%), in-person
(95%), in a public place (94%), via a live stream on a mobile device (74%) or on the
radio (66%). With nearly all of the respondents having watched live sporting events at
home on their television at least once over the past year, the sample also responded
that it watches live sporting events at home on their televisions nearly half (46.45%)
of the time it consumes live sports.
Social Media Use During Live Sporting Events
When asked which social media platforms the respondents have used during a
live sporting event in the past year, the majority of the sample chose Twitter (80%)
and Facebook (70%). The top two reasons for using social media during a live
sporting event were to seek additional information about the event (24.75%) and to
voice a personal opinion and thought about the team (20.32%).
The majority of topics discussed on social media during live sporting events
were in regards to team information (61%) and recent news about the team (60%)
while just over four-fifths (81%) of the sample has turned on a live sporting event
solely because of something they saw on social media. When asked how often this
has happened, a combined 99% said it occurred at least once while 38 respondents
(26%) admitted to this happening more than 10 times over the last year. The survey

26. - 20 -
also found that 41% of the sample turned to social media as a primary source for
information about a live sporting event that they could not watch live.
Social Media Interaction
The survey did not give a clear answer as to where respondents get their
hashtags (#) on social media: made it up (30%), used the official hashtag of the
team/event (28%), do not use hashtags at all (21%) or saw it used by someone else
(20%).
In regards to social media interaction, the survey found that 68% of
respondents were either unlikely (33%) or very unlikely (35%) to respond if an
official social media account posted a question looking for fan feedback. Of those that
would respond, the reason behind the response is either to interact with other fans
(38%), have an impact on the brand (33%) or seek recognition from the brand (25%).
However, the survey found that if a brand’s social media account recognizes
the fan on social media (i.e. retweet, favorite, etc…), 68% of those respondents would
be likely (44%) or very likely (24%) to continue to engage with the brand in the
future.

27. - 21 -
Chapter 5
Conclusion and Discussion
As seen in the survey’s results, more than three-quarters (80%) of the
respondents have used Twitter during a live sporting event over the past year with the
majority of people citing “seeking additional information about the event” and “voice
personal opinions and thoughts about the team” as the top two reasons for this use.
These results have a direct correlation with the results from the study done by
Kim (2013) on the uses and gratifications of sports media audiences that found
audiences use Twitter during live sporting events for four main reasons: 1) social
desire satisfaction 2) gather game-related information 3) fan affiliation and 4)
diversion and maximization of entertainment (Kim, 2013). The results are also
equivalent to a study done by Pronschinske (2012) which states that “real-time
information is one of the most attractive features of social network sites”
(Pronschinske, Groza & Walker, 2012).
One thing that was learned over the past year is that sports fans on social
media have tuned into live sporting events solely because of something that they may
have seen on Twitter or Facebook. The results from this survey proved this as 81%
(n=147) of the respondents admitted to having done that at least once over the past
year, with 26% (n=38) of those people having done it more than 10 times in the past
year. What this entails is that a simple tweet or post on social media can instantly turn
a sports fan towards an athletic department’s brand. Even more importantly, if this
tweet or post on social media comes from one of the fans directly, an example of

28. - 22 -
user-generated content, the reach of that post now spreads to all of those that follow
the fan’s social media, further increasing the brand’s reach and more importantly, the
brand’s awareness thanks to that fan’s co-creation.
Just as teams and fans are turning towards social media to get information out
to the public, the media is becoming heavily reliant on sports for content and
audience engagement, giving athletic department’s a greater opportunity to promote
their brand not only through fans but the media as well (Rowe, 2014).
With this opportunity present, athletic departments must have an
understanding of how to interact with their followers in order to create engagement.
What the results of the survey showed is that when asked for fan feedback by an
official account, respondents are not likely to respond (68%) but once engaged by the
brand (via a retweet, favorite, etc…), they become more likely (68%) to engage with
the brand in the future. By increasing the fans engagement, the organization will
create more trusting relationships, ultimately increasing the sense of value co-creation
which will lead to more fan-generated content which spreads the awareness of the
organization’s brand.
Research has found that as fans become more actively involved in the co-
creation process of the brand, they may also exhibit more loyal behavioral intentions
and overall advocacy for the brand as well (Turri, Smith & Kemp, 2013). Based on
the survey results, combined with the knowledge that live sporting events attracts and
returns large audiences because of the ethos of competition and uncertain outcomes
(Rowe, 2014), it can be concluded that athletic marketers must engage with fans

29. - 23 -
before, during and after live sporting events to continue to gain a relationship with
those fans in order to continue to build a stronger relationship throughout their fan
base. With the relationship in place, fans will be able to generate content about the
brand as well as favorite, retweet and share the content that is already on these social
media platforms about the brand, increasing the brand’s overall awareness.
The results of the survey also proved the growing use of second-screen
viewing during live sporting events and the impact that social media has on fans
during those events. As stated in research that dates back two decades, “besides just
watching sports broadcasts, fans are likely to share the game experience with family,
friends and other fans who are following the same team” (Gantz & Wenner, 1995).
What this means, along with the concept of co-creation discussed above, is that fans
have the ability to generate content with the brand during live sporting events via a
second screen (i.e. smartphone), which gives the organization the opportunity to
engage with the fans in order to boost the likelihood of brand exposure and ultimately
brand awareness via social media.
As social media continues to expand, so do the opportunities for athletic
departments to share their brand to the millions of users. As explained by
Pronschinske (2012), “advertising the official Facebook pages or Twitter accounts
during in-game promotions is a great way to display that there are official pages
formed and the team would like to engage with fans” (Pronschinske, Groza &
Walker, 2012). With a simple retweet on Twitter or share on Facebook by their fans,
an athletic department is able to exponentially grow the audience in which their brand

30. - 24 -
is reaching, providing an opportunity for marketers that has never been available
before. Geoff Gower (2014) says it best when he describes the benefit of co-creation:
“Co-Creation makes for a happy, involved audience and a brand that trusts that
audience enough to put it at the heart of its messaging – it’s a win-win situation all
around” (Gower, 2014).
With the ability to create and share content at the luxury of their fingertips,
fans have the ability to co-create value with these athletic departments in real-time at
live sporting events, giving those fans a feeling of appreciation, loyalty and
engagement with the brand they support while allowing athletic departments to
continually expand on their brand engagement strategies. The idea of marketing via
social media during live sporting events is becoming more and more prevalent both at
the college and professional level and it is important that athletic marketers are able to
engage with fans to let them produce value for the brand.
While technology will continue to develop, it is important that athletic
departments are able to continuously adapt alongside of the technological
advancements and mold their marketing strategies to fully utilize all of the
opportunities that become present. As stated by David Rowe (2014), “the media
world is in a moment of pronounced transition precipitated in particular by the rise of
the Internet, which has happened so quickly and comprehensively as to have made it
difficult to imagine life without it” (Rowe, 2014).

31. - 25 -
Chapter 6
Limitations and Future Research
Because technology is constantly growing and marketers are adapting their
strategies to fit the world around them, it is important that the research on these topics
also be updated as technological advancements occur. For example, if a new social
networking platform becomes an integral part of our digital society, the current
research about an older platform may not be as relevant as new research will be.
While the concepts will likely remain the same, it is important that not only the
consumers learn how to use new platforms but that the athletic departments that will
be targeting those consumers understand how they are used as well.
Moving forward, further research should be conducted on the psychology of
the sports fan during live sporting events, specifically targeting the similarities and
difference between their actions in their physical personalities (i.e. physically present
at the game) and their digital personalities (i.e. how they act on social media). In
doing this, research can be found to help marketers determine the amount of
difference needed when marketing to the digital consumer and the physical in-game
consumer.
Future research could also be done on the connection between official
hashtags of an athletic department/team during in-game promotions and contests and
the amount of results/responses that are acquired with and without the hashtag. This
information will help athletic department marketers to understand the extended reach
and potential increase in the response rate of their fans when trying to promote a

32. - 26 -
brand during a live sporting event. This research can also include whether it is more
helpful to have the fans help in the decision of what an official hashtag is, utilizing
the concept of value co-creation with the brand to help in the establishment of such a
hashtag.

33. - 27 -
Appendix A: Twitter User Profile Study
(Infographic courtesy of DB5)
Figure I – Results from a study on Twitter User Profiles by DB5

34. - 28 -
Appendix C: Dallas Mavericks Crowdsourced Uniform
(Photo courtesy of Dallas Mavericks)
Figure IV - Winning jersey design in Mark Cuban’s fan contest for the 2015-
16 season created by Geoff Case.

35. - 29 -
Appendix B: Oregon Social Command Center
(Photos courtesy of Oregon Athletics)
Figure II – The Oregon University “Quack Cave” serves as the Social Media
Command Center for Oregon Athletics
Figure III – An inside look at the Quack Cave hashtag dashboard

36. - 30 -
Appendix D: Survey Results
1. Do you consider yourself an avid sports fan?
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 188 89%
2 No 23 11%
Total 211 100%
2. Do you use of social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram,
YouTube, etc...)?
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 210 100%
2 No 1 0%
Total 211 100%
3. Which of the following social media platforms do you use? (Check all that apply)
# Answer Response %
1 Twitter 176 83%
2 Facebook 206 98%
3 YouTube 148 70%
4 Snapchat 105 50%
5 Instagram 151 72%
6 None 0 0%
4. Using a 100-point scale, please rate the following social media platforms in order
of preference of use for a one-week time period:
# Answer Min Value Max Value Average Value Standard Deviation
1 Twitter 0.00 100.00 30.26 24.61
2 Facebook 0.00 100.00 36.88 26.20
3 YouTube 0.00 90.00 10.15 13.65
4 Instagram 0.00 80.00 15.92 16.70
5 Snapchat 0.00 100.00 6.44 10.54
5. Which of the following platforms do you use to access your social media? (Check
all that apply)
# Answer Response %
1 Smartphone 200 95%
2
Tablet (i.e. iPad, Surface, Kindle,
etc...)
107 51%
3 Computer 196 93%
4
Gaming Device (i.e. Xbox,
PlayStation, etc...)
7 3%
5 Smart TV 2 1%
6 DVD/Blue-Ray Player 2 1%

37. - 31 -
6. Over the last year, which of the following ways have you watched a live sporting
event? (Check all that apply)
# Answer Response %
1 In-person 176 95%
2 At home on TV 184 99%
3 In a public place (i.e. bar, restaurant,etc..) 174 94%
4
Via a live stream on your mobile device (i.e.
WatchESPN, FOX Sports Go, etc...)
138 74%
5 On the radio 122 66%
6 Have not watched a live sporting event 2 1%
7. Using a 100-point scale, please show the estimated percentages of how you
consumed live sporting events over the past year:
# Answer
Min
Value
Max
Value
Average
Value
Standard
Deviation
1 In-Person 0.00 95.00 29.82 24.82
2 At home on TV 0.00 100.00 46.45 24.40
3
In a public place (i.e. bar,
restaurant, etc...)
0.00 90.00 11.97 13.39
4
Via a live stream on your mobile
device (i.e. WatchESPN, FOX
Sports Go, etc...)
0.00 40.00 6.72 8.04
5 On the radio 0.00 100.00 4.53 10.86
8. While watching a live sporting event over the past year, which of the following
social media platforms have you used? (Check all that apply)
# Answer Response %
1 Twitter 140 80%
2 Facebook 123 70%
3 YouTube 19 11%
4 Snapchat 51 29%
5 Instagram 67 38%
9. Using a 100-point scale, rate the reasoning for why you engage in social media use
during a live sporting event:
# Answer
Min
Value
Max
Value
Average
Value
Standard
Deviation
1 Discussions with other fans 0.00 100.00 15.17 21.77
2
Seeking additional information
about the event
0.00 100.00 24.75 28.39
3
Voice personal opinions and
thoughts about the team
0.00 100.00 20.32 24.25
4 Share pictures that display the 0.00 100.00 15.34 20.34

38. - 32 -
team/event
5
Interaction with the specific
athletes/team
0.00 99.00 3.23 10.00
6
Personal/Non-event related
reasons
0.00 100.00 13.80 24.73
7
See your tweet/picture on the
videoboard in the arena or on
TV
0.00 100.00 1.31 7.75
8
Checking in/Letting others
know you are at the event
0.00 100.00 6.23 13.37
10. When talking about a live sporting event on social media, what other topics do
you tend to discuss as well:
# Answer Response %
1
Team information (i.e. roster, coaching staff,
etc...)
112 61%
2
Recent news involving the teams (i.e. recent
trades, community service, etc...)
110 60%
3 Information about the league 59 32%
4
Brand-related items (i.e. jerseys,
memorabilia, etc...)
46 25%
5
I only talk about what is happening in the
game
56 31%
11. Over the past year, have you turned on a live sporting event because of
something you have seen on social media?
# Answer Response %
1 Yes 147 81%
2 No 35 19%
Total 182 100%
12. If yes, how many times has this happened over the last year?
# Answer Response %
1 Only one time 2 1%
2 1-3 times 42 29%
3 3-5 times 33 23%
4 5-10 times 31 21%
5 More than 10 times 38 26%
Total 146 100%
13. When looking for information about a live sporting event that you cannot not
watch, where is the first place you look?
# Answer Response %

39. - 33 -
1
Social Media (i.e. Official Team
Twitter)
74 41%
2 TV (i.e. SportsCenter) 11 6%
3
Online (i.e. Official Team Website,
ESPN.com, etc...)
67 37%
4 Mobile App (i.e. ScoreCenter) 29 16%
5 Other 1 1%
Total 182 100%
14. When using a hashtag ("#") on social media, where do you primarily find the
hashtag you want to use?
# Answer Response %
1
Official hashtag of the
team/event
51 28%
2 Made it up 55 30%
3 Saw it used by someone else 37 20%
4 Do not use hashtags 38 21%
Total 181 100%
15. When an official social media account (i.e. @NBA) posts a question looking for
fan feedback, how likely are you to respond?
# Answer Response %
1 Very Unlikely 64 35%
2 Unlikely 60 33%
3 Undecided 34 19%
4 Likely 22 12%
5 Very Likely 3 2%
Total 183 100%
16. If you do respond to an official social media account's question (as asked in the
previous question), what is your primary reason?
# Answer Response %
1
Hoping to have an impact on the brand (i.e.
The brand uses your suggestion)
8 33%
2
Seeking recognition from the brand (i.e.
Retweet, Favorite, etc...)
6 25%
3 Expecting to interact with other fans 9 38%
4 I was bored 1 4%
Total 24 100%
17. If recognized by a brand's social media account (i.e. Retweeted, Favorited,
displayed during the event, etc...), what is the likelihood that you would continue to
engage with their brand in the future?

40. - 34 -
# Answer Response %
1 Very Unlikely 9 5%
2 Unlikely 10 6%
3 Undecided 39 22%
4 Likely 79 44%
5 Very Likely 43 24%
Total 180 100%
18. What is your gender?
# Answer Response %
1 Male 110 60%
2 Female 72 40%
Total 182 100%
19. What is your age? (U.S. Census 7 Categories)
# Answer Response %
1 18-24 years 51 28%
2 25 to 34 years 85 47%
3 35 to 44 years 27 15%
4 45 to 54 years 10 5%
5 55 to 64 years 9 5%
6 65 years and over 0 0%
Total 182 100%
20. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
# Answer Response %
1 Less than High School 0 0%
2 High School / GED 3 2%
3 Some College 28 15%
4 2-year College Degree 3 2%
5 4-year College Degree 80 44%
6 Masters Degree 64 35%
7 Doctoral Degree 3 2%
8
Professional Degree (JD,
MD)
1 1%
Total 182 100%

41. - 35 -
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44. VITA
Name Kevin M. Fountain
Date of Birth August 16, 1989
Elementary School St. John the Apostle
Clark, NJ
Date Graduated June 2003
High School Roselle Catholic
Roselle, NJ
Date Graduated June 2007
Baccalaureate Degree Bachelor of Science
Sports Management
Seton Hall University
South Orange, NJ
Date Graduated May 2011
Masters Degree Master in Business Administration
Marketing Management
St. John’s University
Queens, N.Y.