The purpose of this study was to analyze marketing on the Internet in the sport industry. The rational for the study was based upon the industry's need to understand this technology as an effective marketing tool. Seven hundred and fifty sport organizations in the performance segment of the industry were randomly selected and surveyed. Three hundred and twenty-eight usable surveys were returned for a 44% response rate.
The online marketing communications objective of most organizations was to provide information about the organization to the visitor or to generate awareness of the organization. Very little emphasis was placed on interactive marketing. In the opinion of the author, most sport marketers need to emphasize the online consumer/seller relationship to continue developing this medium as an effective marketing tool. Without this focus, business will be lost to organizations effectively implementing their interactive marketing plans.
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