Theses and Dissertations

Kelsey Slater

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Zimmerman, Matthew H.

Committee Member

Twietmeyer, Gregg

Committee Member

Lee, Younghan

Date of Degree

5-4-2018

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Kinesiology (Sport Studies)

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Kinesiology

Abstract

Collegiate athletic departments are experiencing large financial growth in part to their relationships with sport apparel brands. The big three apparel companies of Nike, adidas, and Under Armour control all athletic department apparel contracts within the Power 5 conferences. This study examined what benefits apparel companies receive from their connection to collegiate basketball teams by analyzing the frequency and use of the brand name and brand hashtag on Twitter by fans of fifteen collegiate sport organizations. Through the lens of the social capital theory, the researcher found a limited connection between the sport apparel brands and the individual basketball teams. The finding suggested that sport apparel brands need to develop a new social media strategy in order to better connection with the collegiate basketball fans in an online environment.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17552

Comments

social media||sport apparel||branding||Twitter||collegiate athletics

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