Remapping the Sport Brandscape: A Structured Review and Future Direction for Sport Brand Research

Despite consistent interest in sport brands and the multitude of brands in the sport ecosystem, extant knowledge remains fragmented and unstructured. The purpose of this study is to integrate and synthesize extant sport brand research, appraise the current state of knowledge, and suggest future research directions. Following structured literature review guidelines, we coded 179 peer-reviewed articles published in four leading sport management journals between 2000 and 2020. Results reveal increased publications in sport brand research within the four examined journals, as well as opportunities to increase theoretical and methodological rigor. Based on the mapping and critical review of extant literature, we introduce the Sport Brand Ecosystem and Environment and discuss two distinct and complementary areas related to theory and research designs and topical domains to address existent concerns and guide future research directions.

Automated summary

This study aims to integrate and synthesize existing research on sport brands, assess the current state of knowledge, and propose future research directions. Through a literature review, it was found that there is an increase in publications on sport brand research, with opportunities to enhance theoretical and methodological rigor.