The use of sport celebrities for product endorsements in marketing communications vehicles is not new but there is limited literature on the increasing use by contemporary corporations of athletes with questionable or "negative" reputations. This paper raises questions about a seemingly cyclical trend and suggests marketers may continue this activity despite consumer and journalistic criticism. An explanation of the behavioral response to a 'controversial' endorsers' image (relative to the perceptions held by a particular demographic segment) and the opportunity for that relationship to translate favorably for the associated brand, is also discussed.

AbstractWhile discussion and media coverage of esports (i.e., organized competitive video gaming) has dramatically increased since 2016, the use of esports by established consumer brands has not been emphasized in the sport marketing and sponsorship literature. Though appearing in limited sport management research, esports is a non-traditional sport form that generated just under $1.2 billion in revenue as an industry in 2019. However, many non-endemic traditional consumer brands have resisted capitalizing on esports brand-building opportunities. This paper provides a literature review of the past and current esports and sport marketing literature, resulting in the creation of a figure depicting the esports endemic and non-endemic company evolution of esports brand utilization. The evolution of the competitive video game market details how endemic companies are more apt to establish themselves in the esports space before non-endemic companies because of the way that the industry moves and has acceptance by gamers and non-gamers. Marketers and brand managers that have historically employed traditional sports may glean ideas on how to best enhance and extend their brand through the burgeoning esports industry. Moreover, ideas regarding when companies should enter the esports ecosystem is provided.

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By 2013, fantasy sports leagues (and games) were entered into and played by more than an estimated 32-million people (Dwyer, 2013) across American and Canada, and produced a projected economic impact of $3.1-billion dollars annually (Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 2012). This work seeks to explain both the historical growth and cultural transitions of in-home sport gaming in the United States as well as the technological evolution that drove the appeal of modern 'fantasy sports' and continued enhancement of professional league avidity by developing stronger brand allegiances for leagues such as Major League Baseball (MLB) or the National Football League (NFL). From a historical standpoint, the term 'Fantasy League' didn't garner popularity until the 1980s, but the concept of fantasy sports gaming can be traced back to the mid-1860s with a simple wooden tabletop contraption that simulated outcome elements of a baseball game (Cooper, 1995). Over the next 150 years, technological and social developments in the areas of in-home recreation and networked gaming have caused fantasy sports to reshape sports media coverage, sports marketing (particularly of sports data), fan avidity, technology engagement and general sport discussion. The impact of these fan-based developments might prove significant and increasingly leagues like the NFL have been forced to ask whether the at-home experience of following professional football (including the owning and managing of fantasy football league teams) is reaching a point where it could replace attending NFL games in person. A sea-change such as that (decreases in NFL game attendance, failure to sell out NFL games, etc.) would potentially threaten lucrative team and league sponsorships, stadium merchandise and concessions (food, beverage, parking, etc.) and possibly even TV network broadcast contracts (by way of diminished ratings and advertising demand).

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