Two new publications by ZeMKI member Philip Sinner in the field of sports communication

ZeMKI member Dr Philip Sinner has published two articles in the anthology “COVID-19 und die Sportkommunikation. Der Einfluss der Corona-Pandemie auf Sport, Medien und Journalismus”. The anthology, edited by Prof Dr Thomas Horky and Dr Jörg-Uwe Nieland, has been published by Springer Nature: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43461-8

The anthology provides an up-to-date overview on the topic of sports in times of the pandemic and combines research findings with practical experience. One focus of the contributions is on the consequences of the pandemic and an outlook on the future of media(tized) sports.

The first article, together with Adrian Kaczmarek, deals with the “Organisationskommunikation von niederklassigen Fußballvereinen in Österreich” and takes a look at the “Online-Kommunikation von Amateurfußballvereinen in Zeiten der Covid-19 Pandemie”: The study examines the communication strategies of amateur football clubs in the Austrian regional leagues. In order to develop a database for their organisational communication, two quantitative web screenings of the clubs’ own online media were carried out as a full survey (2020 & 2022). The results show a sustainable expansion of the media repertoires and an orientation towards national and international professional leagues. The qualitative expert interviews with the clubs’ media managers reveal the clubs’ strategies and goals regarding their media use, including maximising reach, promoting young talents and monetisation. A focus was placed on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43461-8_12

The second article is by the team of authors Christof Seeger, Philip Sinner, Jörg-Uwe Nieland, Thomas Horky, Daniel Nölleke and Christiana Schallhorn: “Kommunikationsstrategien und -prozesse während der COVID-19-Pandemie. Relationship Marketing von deutschen und österreichischen Sportvereinen”: The pandemic has presented sports clubs with major challenges, especially in terms of communication. While digitization efforts were very limited before the pandemic, a surge in digitization has been evident since spring 2020. The article describes the situation of German and Austrian sports clubs based on an empirical data collection from 2020. Against the background of the relationship ship marketing approach, it becomes clear that the communication strategies of the clubs must take into account various stakeholders, such as active athletes, the media or the public. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-43461-8_10