Relationship marketing during COVID-19: strategies and processes of communication in German and Austrian sports clubs

Thomas Horky, Christof Seeger, Jörg-Uwe Nieland, Daniel Nölleke, Christiana Schallhorn and Philip Sinner

Chapter 13 in Research Handbook on Sport and COVID-19, 2022, pp 154-165 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The focus of this chapter is the digitalization of sports associations since COVID-19. Drawing on general characteristics and functions of sports clubs, specific challenges will be shown and discussed on the theoretical background of relationship marketing in sports, particularly for social media. The results of two quantitative surveys conducted among 732 German and Austrian sports clubs reveal that, overall, the clubs' members were regarded the most important reference group. The favored communication channels differed according to the clubs' size. With members and athletes, media representatives, as well as politics and the public three different levels can be structured in a pyramid of public communication. Communication with sponsors and supporters was regarded important, however, the clubs' own communication channels were not used for this notion. The pandemic posed particular challenges to Austrian clubs, as they faced existential problems due to the withdrawal of sponsors.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Law - Academic; Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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