Examining the Relationships Among Sport-Themed TV Entertainment Programs, Sport Involvement, and Team Identification: Focusing on ‘A Clean Sweep’

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the structural relationships among sport-themed TV entertainment programs, sport involvement, and team identification. Research design, data, and methodology: Due to the lack of scales to measure characteristics of sport-themed TV entertainment programs, this study developed a scale to represent these characteristics. The sport-themed TV entertainment programs consisted of seven sub-factors: nostalgia for legends; players’ growth stories and viewers’ empathy; reality related to the game; reality related to players; diversity of media channels and content; excellent ability in program directing; and extension of experience. To investigate the relationships among sport-themed TV entertainment programs, sport involvement, and team identification, structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized with a total of 321 viewers of a sport-themed TV entertainment program (A Clean Sweep). Results: As a result, the study found that sport-themed TV entertainment programs had a positive effect on sport involvement, and sport involvement had a positive effect on team identification. The study also showed that sport-themed TV entertainment programs did not have any effect on team identification, while sport involvement fully mediated the relationship between sport-themed TV entertainment programs and team identification. Conclusions: The findings provide sport marketers and broadcast producers with insights on how to develop sport-themed TV entertainment programs that enhance sport involvement and team identification. Further implications were discussed.