Athletic Success and Donation Intentions: Does Sense of Community Mediate?

As Division I FBS expenditures continue to increase at a rate that outpaces revenues,
universities, as well as their respective athletic departments, are facing more pressure to justify these spending patterns. Two popular arguments in favor of athletic
spending and subsidization are the football team’s ability to unite students through a
stronger campus sense of community, as well as athletic success leading to increased
levels of institutional giving. However, no study has unpacked how these three items
(athletic success, sense of community, and donation intentions) operate cumulatively.
Accordingly, this study surveyed 253 FBS students on the impact of football success
on their intentions to donate to both their institution’s athletic department and their
annual fund, with the mediating role of sense of community. The results indicated a
partial mediated effect between these three variables, as well as a significant relationship between team identification and sense of community. The findings provide both
theoretical and practical contributions to the sport management field. Specifically,
this study supplies both justifications and rebuttals for the increased spending patterns on the FBS landscape.