1st Edition
Case Studies in Sport Communication You Make the Call
Case Studies in Sport Communication: You Make the Call goes beyond the box scores by offering readers the opportunity to evaluate popular and diverse issues in sport—including management, crisis, health, ethics, gender, race, and social media. Each chapter incorporates theory and communication principles as well as topical background information, and concludes with discussion questions and engaging assignments. This volume presents real-life, provocative sports cases that bring contemporary headlines into perspective and inspire critical thinking. Each chapter features scholarly evidence that will keep the conversation lively, thoughtful, and informative. Students are encouraged to challenge the ethical implications of what they have read and to “make the call.” This is an invaluable resource for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students of sport communication and sport management.
PART 1: FRONT OFFICE
SECTION 1: STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
1. "There’s No Media Plan for the First Gay Player in the NFL": A Case Study of the Saint
Louis Rams Drafting Michael Sam
Karen L. Hartman
2. Civic Recovery in the Aftermath of a Hockey Crisis: Analyzing a Strategic Communication
Response to the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot
Derek Moscato
3. Patching a Crisis with CSR: How the NFL Fumbled its Handling of Domestic Violence
Chelsea L. Woods
Ashli Q. Stokes
4. Explaining Sports Fans’ Recognition of Sponsors using the Elaboration Likelihood Model
Jim Pokrywczynski
5. Coming Home: The Los Angeles Rams Connect to Past to Build Future
Jean Kelso Sandlin
SECTION II: CORPORATE AND ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY
6. Should the Team Hire the Controversial, but Successful Head Coach? A Case Study of John Calipari and the Ability to Contribute to Winning
John A. Fortunato
7. To Create Our Own Legacy: Penn State Football Players’ Rhetorical Response to the NCAA Sanctions During the Sandusky Scandal
Rebecca A. Alt
8. Life After Signing: The Recruiting Process as a Resource of College Football Players’
Socialization
Gregory A. Cranmer, Richard Yeargin, & John S. W. Spinda
9. Broadcast Yourself and Multiply Your Revenue: Benfica TV Case Study
Fernando Borges
PART II: CLUBHOUSE
SECTION III: IMAGE REPAIR AND REDEMPTION
10. Roping Off the Ring: How a Series of Employee Deaths Coerced the WWE into an
Enforced Wellness Policy through the Contingency Theory of Accommodation
Jack V. Karlis
11. Does the NFL Still Own Sundays? The Rebranding of the NFL Following the Domestic
Abuse Crisis
Kelsey R. Rentner & Terry L. Rentner
12. Drafting Like a King: Daily Fantasy Sports Websites in Crisis
Cory Hillman
13. What Did Ryan Lochte Do? Bouncing Back From an International Crisis
Nicola Corbin & Anne Bialowas
SECTION IV: GENDER, RACE, AND IDENTITY
14. Challenging a Boy’s Club: Reputation Management and the Case of Women’s Pay Inequity in Professional Sport
Terry L. Rentner & David P. Burns
15. A Failure to Defend Against Cyberbullying: Examining the Organization’s Competency in Standing up for its Members
Anne Bialowas & Nicola Corbin
16. Topsy-Turvy Times: The Impact of Political and Social Issues on Super Bowl LI Ads
Lori Liggett & Terry L. Rentner
17. Gender Stereotypes in College Mascot Dyads
Esen Koc
PART III: PRESS BOX
SECTION V: SOCIAL MEDIA
18. A Grand Slam: Major League Baseball’s Social Media Evolution Through the Expectancy Violation Theory Lens
Alisa Agozzino & Brian Hofman
19. Witness? Perceptions of Lebron James’ Civic Responsibility
Amy Crawford
20. "I Was Very Intoxicated": An Examination of the Image-Repair Discourse of Ryan Lochte Following the 2016 Olympics
Kevin Hull & Kelli Boling
21. Swimming Against the Tide: Lessons in Public Image Management from Competitive Swimmers
Erin E. Gilles & Mary Beth Reese
SECTION VI: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ETHICS
22. Taking a Knee or Not Taking a Stand: A lesson in Contingency Theory of Accommodation, the National Football League and Social Justice
Jack V. Karlis
23. The Offensive Line: Journalists Use of Words Considered Disparaging
David. P. Burns & James A. Rada
24. Paradigm Repair and the Hero Myth in Sports Journalism: An Analysis of Lance Armstrong Coverage
Sada Reed
25. ‘"Don’t Say’": The Use of Identity Communication in Sport to Advance Positive Social Change
Kara Laskowski, Ashley Grimm, & Carrie Michaels
26. The Bathroom Bill and the Basketball Game: The Role of College Sports in Political Arbitration
Ryan Rogers
Biography
Terry L. Rentner, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). She teaches public relations and journalism courses at the undergraduate level, including sport PR, and pedagogy, health communication, public relations, and advertising at the graduate level. She is also co-founder of the Richard Maxwell project, created to foster student participation in sport media and communication activities and events.
David P. Burns, Ph.D., Associate Professor, teaches sports reporting and other advanced journalism courses in Salisbury University’s Communication Arts Department. Besides sport communication, his research interests focus on media-politics linkages that impact journalism and the communication industry. Burns serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Middle East Media, Central European Journal of Communication, and AEJMC’s Electronic News.
