Reflections on Communication and Sport

Abstract

In this essay, Paul M. Pedersen provides a personal reflection on communication and sport and examines the area of strategic communication and management. His assessment begins with an overview of the growth and significance of the sport industry and communication’s ubiquitous and influential roles within it. In tracing his scholarly journey, Pedersen comes to see communication as an essential element in the sport industry, whether viewed from individualistic, organizational, or sport-specific perspectives. The focus section in this essay examines research on the Strategic Sport Communication Model (SSCM) and its usefulness in categorizing and operationalizing the field from a strategic management perspective. Using the SSCM as the guide, this reflection provides examples of sport communication research focused on each of the model’s three components. The reflection concludes with an analysis of future research opportunities, particularly opportunities to explore strategic decisions and effectiveness in the sport industry’s use of new/social media. Pedersen concludes that a key to developing best communication practices will be a research agenda that more fully contextualizes strategic communication and management in the sport marketplace.

Memorable Messages of Social Support That Former High School Athletes Received From Their Head Coaches

“…To date, the interpersonal aspect of athlete-coach relationships is often overlooked by practitioners and communication scholars (Pedersen, 2013) who have instead focused on coaches as instructors and managers (e.g., Cranmer, 2016;Turman, 2006Turman, , 2008). Yet, this aspect of emotional support is important for high school coaches to integrate into their coaching philosophies for two reasons.…”

The Perceived Value of Marketing Techniques Utilized by NBA Marketing Directors

“…The most significant relates to the advances in the use of social, digital, and mobile media, which was practically non-existent during the previous studies. Over the past decade, there has been a dearth of research investigating the way professional sports organizations utilize social media to engage with fans to build relevant relationships with them (Blaszka, Burch, Frederick, Clavio, & Walsh, 2012;Gibbs, O'Reilly, & Brunette, 2014;Pedersen, 2012;Waters, Burke, Jackson, & Buning, 2011;Yuan & Shuhua, 2015). In addition, the literature shows that other techniques being utilized by professional teams ranging from the traditional method of television (Mongeon & Winfree, 2012) to electronic methods including podcast marketing (Alonso & O'Shea, 2012) to digital and mobile technologies such as virtual reality and interactive experiences (da Silva & Las Casas, 2017;Ronkartz, 2019).…”

At the Buzzer: Parting Shots on Communication and Sport

“…On a related front having to do with enlarging the communication and sport tent, it is clear the study of communication and sport has attracted many scholars concerned with what might be called "sport communication as a profession" (Wenner, 2021) and the doing of "strategic sport communication" (Pedersen, 2013). In order to enable a sufficiently "big tent" to have viability, the study of communication and sport, in pragmatic ways, had to be "agnostic," going beyond the strictly "socio-cultural" concerns that drive, for example, the sociology of sport.…”