The concept of fandom has been revolutionized over the past 20 years because of various technological, cultural, and communicative advancements.Evolution of the Modern Sports Fan: Communicative Approaches explores the elements of the sports fan that have markedly changed since the turn of the century. Inherent within these investigations is the role of communication in a multitude of forms (mediated, relational, etc.) as the prototypical sports fan has most heavily shifted within this domain. From the advent of social media to the rise of fantasy sport to the increased media platforms in which to consume sport, the sports fan has never had more options for consumptionand for the rendering of his/her opinions. This edited volume offers an opportunity to advance what we now know about American sports fandom as well as the ability to debunk what scholarsthought they knew about sports fandom that has now shifted.

Andrew C. Billings is Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting and director of the University of Alabama Program in Sports Communication.

Kenon A. Brown is assistant professor of public relations at The University of Alabama.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Far From Monolithic: The Enigma of the Modern Sports Fan
Andrew C. Billings and Kenon A. Brown

Unit I.Anatomy of the Modern Sports Fan

Chapter 2:Highly-Identified Sports Fans and Personality Traits
Michael B. Devlin

Chapter 3:Antecedents and Consequences of Team Identification: What Elements Reinforce NFL Fans Identification and How Does This Identification Work on Behavioral Intentions?
Eunyoung Kim and Karla K. Gower

Chapter 4:Beyond BIRGing and CORFing: Longitudinal Historical Performance Measures and the Impact on Fan Expectations
Stan Diel

Chapter 5:Of Sport and Schadenfreude: Fandom, Rival Successes and Failures, and the Introduction of Glory Out of Reflected Failure (GORF) Measurements
Andrew C. Billings, Fei Qiao, Kenon A. Brown, and Michael Devlin

Unit II.Applications for the Modern Sports Fan

Chapter 6:Athletes as the New Investment Vehicle: Advancing the Meaning of Brand Personas in Sports Media
Brandon K. Chicotsky and Fei Qiao

Chapter 7:Assessing National Identification in Sports Fan Contexts: Toward a More Cohesive and Robust Measurement
Kenon A. Brown and Andrew C. Billings

Chapter 8:Team Identification in Traditional and Fantasy Football Fandom: Contradictory or Complementary Concepts?
Yiyi Yang, Andrew C. Billings, and Brody J. Ruihley

Chapter 9:Feeding a Nationalized Fan Base: U.S. and South African News Coverage of the South African Rugby Team within the 2015 Rugby World Cup
Yiyi Yang

Unit III. Fallout of Modern Sports Fandom

Chapter 10:On-Field Perceptions of Off-Field Deviance: Exploring Social and Economic Capital within Sport-Related Transgressions
Coral Rae, Andrew C. Billings, and Kenon A. Brown

Chapter 11:The Modern Sports Fan Navigating Crises Online: An Examination of Fan-Enacted Crisis Communication
Natalie Brown Devlin

Chapter 12:Role Models or Criminals? The Effects of Race and Severity of Criminal Activity on Audience Perceptions of Professional Athlete
Amy H. Jones, Joshua B. Dickhaus, and Mark Davis

Unit IV.The Future of the Modern Sports Fan

Chapter 13:Uses and Gratifications of Streaming Sport Services Consumers
Melvin Lewis, Lindsey Conlin, and Kenon A. Brown

Chapter 14:Fanatical Sports Fans Versus Zombie Zealots: Considering Second Screen Involvement for Leveling the Playing Field
Kimberly R. Baker and Andrew C. Billings

Chapter 15:The Wide World of Sports Gets Even Wider: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Implications for the Modern Sports Landscape
Melvin Lewis

About the Editors and Contributors