What is the sports product and who buys it? The marketing of professional sports leagues

While originally relying solely on gate revenues to maintain financial viability, professional sports leagues now generate income from television and other media revenues (Bellamy, 1988; Chandler, 1991; Harris, 1986; Horowitz, 1978; Rowe, 1995), from the sale of league-related merchandise and apparel (Burton, 1996; Gorman and Calhoun, 1994; Steinbreder, 1992), from corporate sponsorships (Cousens and Slack, 1996; Grimm, 1993; Hofmann and Greenberg, 1989; Schaaf, 1995), and, in some countries, notably the USA, from lucrative stadium arrangements with host communities (Baim, 1994; Euchner, 1993; Ozanian et al., 1995; Shropshire, 1995). As this industry has grown and developed over the past few decades,...