The online social network Twitter has grown exponentially since 2008. The current study examined Twitter use among professional athletes who use Twitter to communicate with fans and other players. The study used content analysis to place 1,962 tweets by professional athletes into one of six categories: interactivity, diversion, information sharing, content, promotional, and fanship. Many of the tweets fell into the interactivity category (34%). Athletes used Twitter to converse directly with their followers. Those with the most followers had more interactivity tweets. A large percentage of tweets (28%) fell into the diversion category, because many of the tweets involved non-sports-related topics, and relatively few of the tweets (15%) involved players discussing their own teams or sports. In addition, only 5% of the tweets were promotional in nature, indicating that professional athletes may not be taking advantage of the promotional opportunities Twitter may provide.

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This study compared the motives and media consumption behaviours of American and South Korean spectators of Mixed Martial Arts. Significant cross-national differences were noted in sport interest, vicarious achievement, aesthetics, national pride and violence. Backward regression analyses indicated that sport interest, fighter interest and drama predicted media consumption at the American event, while sport interest, drama and adoration were significant predictors at the Korean event.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the attributes most influential in consumers’ online ticket buying experiences. Using conjoint analysis, eight scenario profiles were created in order to gauge fan preferences when purchasing sport event tickets online. Attributes included (a) timing of ticket purchase, (b) seating availability, (c) price fluctuations, (d) associated fees, (e) number of pricepoints, (f) fraud risk, and (g) price valuation assessment. Data were collected from 469 attendees at a major sport event and part worths for each attribute were calculated to determine which factors held greater importance when all seven were considered concurrently. For the sample overall, results indicated the risk of buying fraudulent tickets was far and away the most influential aspect consumers consider when purchasing sport event tickets online. Comparisons were also made based on whether tickets were purchased from the primary or secondary market, the price paid for the tickets, and the timing of ticket purchase. Results indicated consumer segmentation by these criteria result in distinct buyer profiles.

Curiosity has been regarded as a key intrinsic motivational drive for facilitating human exploratory behaviors in many domains, such as psychology, education, and sport. However, no attempt has been made to measure curiosity in a sport context. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective and efficient sport fan exploratory curiosity scale (SFECS). A total of 657 participants were recruited and completed surveys. Various statistical analyses were used to examine the reliability and validity of the scale. The analyses resulted in a reliable and valid scale with three factors (Excitement, New Sport Events, Sport Facility) and a total of 10-items. The SFECS was useful in predicting various sport fan behaviors. Future research should be done in an effort to further refine the scale and to examine the role of curiosity in various practical areas in a sport context.