Paying to Be at the Bridge Table: An Exploration of the Bridge Playing-Sponsor Experience in Mindsport

Ian McIntosh, Samantha Punch and Cerys Tandy
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Ian McIntosh: University of Stirling, UK
Samantha Punch: University of Stirling, UK
Cerys Tandy: University of Stirling, UK

Sociological Research Online, 2025, vol. 30, issue 3, 691-710

Abstract: Recently the card game bridge has become a focus of sociological study including the professionalisation of the game at elite tournament level. This article, based on 11 in-depth interviews with elite bridge sponsors, focuses on playing-sponsors; amateur players who sponsor and also play alongside professional elite players. The playing-sponsor is important for the financing of elite bridge but occupies an, often awkward, role as both a sponsor/employer and a player. The bridge playing-sponsor thus has to negotiate a complex mix of identities as both employer and ‘partner’, being a relatively powerful financial benefactor while simultaneously being widely regarded as the weaker player in the bridge partnership. Such a position involves a degree of ambivalence and a complex power dynamic and status(es) which have to be navigated. This is unusual within mindsport and sport more widely. These issues are explored via a close look at the lived experience of the bridge playing-sponsor. As such it should be of great interest to sociologists of sport, work, leisure, and formalised micro-interaction more generally.

Keywords: bridge; dyadic leisure; employers; interactions; mindsport; partnership; power; sponsors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:3:p:691-710

DOI: 10.1177/13607804241287607

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