Esport sponsorship: Practitioners’ perspectives on emerging trends

Author's Biography

David J. Finch Professor Finch has a PhD in management and is an active educator, scholar and practitioner. He currently serves as Professor at Mount Royal University’s Bissett School of Business in Calgary, as Visiting Fellow at the Henley Business School at the University of Reading (UK) and as an Adjunct at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph. Dr Finch is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Mount Royal. He has authored over 50 scholarly articles and published in journals such as the Academy of Management Learning & Education, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Sport Management and the Corporate Reputation Review. His most recent book, Implications and Impacts of eSports on Business and Society: Emerging Research and Opportunities (Finch, O’Reilly, Abeza, Clark & Legg), explored emerging themes in Esports. Prior to joining academia, Dr Finch held progressively senior roles in areas of corporate strategy in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom with Bell Canada Enterprises, Rogers Communications and Harris Corporation and was a founding partner of T1 Agency.

Gashaw Abeza Doctor Abeza has a PhD from the University of Ottawa (Canada) and has held positions at Southern Methodist University, University of New South Wales, Australia and Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His research interest is in marketing communication, with specific areas of expertise in digital media related to sponsorship, ambush marketing, branding, relationship marketing and research methods in sport. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes in the area. His most recent book, Implications and Impacts of eSports on Business and Society: Emerging Research and Opportunities (Finch, O’Reilly, Abeza, Clark & Legg), explored emerging themes in Esports. Before returning to academia, Dr Abeza had a successful seven-year career in sport industry, which is highlighted by his work in more than 15 countries and his role as an organiser of global sporting events.

Norm O’Reilly is recognised as one of the leading scholars in the business of sports. He is Professor and e founding Director of the International Institute for Sport Business & Leadership at the University of Guelph, a think tank devoted to improving the sport business globally. He was previously the Richard P. and Joan S. Fox Professor of Business and Chair of the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University’s College of Business. He has authored or co-authored ten books and more than 125 peer-reviewed journal articles. Doctor O’Reilly is the lead researcher on the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study, currently in its fourteenth edition. In 2015, Doctor O’Reilly was awarded the Career Achievement Award by the American Marketing Association’s Sport Marketing Special Interest Group. For more than a decade, he has been minority owner and partner consultant, Toronto-based agency, T1, where he has worked for clients such as Nike, UFC, Nissan and Canadian Olympic Committee. Doctor O’Reilly was ‘Assistant Chef de Mission’ for the Canadian Paralympic Team at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Brazil. His research is often covered on television and in the print and digital media. He currently holds visiting/adjunct appointments in Canada, the United States and Australia and also holds the CGA/CPA Accounting Designation.

Anthony Mikkelson is a research assistant at the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Mount Royal University. Anthony is an alumnus of the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) of Mount Royal University, where his thesis examined the sponsorship strategy the National Basketball Association (NBA) adopted with the launch of the NBA2K league. Anthony previously worked in a sales and marketing role for Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, owners of the Calgary Flames (National Hockey League), Calgary Stampeders (Canadian Football League), Calgary Roughnecks (National Lacrosse League) and Calgary Hitmen (Western Hockey League). He also operates a football-related influencer account — Lineman Football — that focuses on advertising for sport manufacturers, football-related instruction and community engagement strategies.