TY - JOUR
T1 - Establishing a professional Rugby Union Football League in the USA
T2 - Managing institutional pluralism in sport entrepreneurship
AU - Nite, Calvin
AU - McLeod, Christopher M.
AU - Beldon, Zachary
AU - Nauright, John
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Given the growth of sport leagues globally, we sought to understand how sport entrepreneurs addressed institutional plurality as they worked to establish a new professional sport league in the USA. Drawing on institutional pluralism, we critically examine two efforts to establish professional rugby union football leagues in the USA. Pluralism resulted in tensions among rugby stakeholders. While both leagues sought to reconcile tensions through institutional infrastructure work, one of the leagues garnered more stakeholder support as it was attentive to more institutional contexts. The other league's infrastructure work was limited and resulted in the alienation of many important rugby stakeholders. Our research demonstrates the theoretical and practical importance of institutional infrastructure work within sport entrepreneurship, especially when navigating institutional pluralism.
AB - Given the growth of sport leagues globally, we sought to understand how sport entrepreneurs addressed institutional plurality as they worked to establish a new professional sport league in the USA. Drawing on institutional pluralism, we critically examine two efforts to establish professional rugby union football leagues in the USA. Pluralism resulted in tensions among rugby stakeholders. While both leagues sought to reconcile tensions through institutional infrastructure work, one of the leagues garnered more stakeholder support as it was attentive to more institutional contexts. The other league's infrastructure work was limited and resulted in the alienation of many important rugby stakeholders. Our research demonstrates the theoretical and practical importance of institutional infrastructure work within sport entrepreneurship, especially when navigating institutional pluralism.
KW - Entrepreneurship
KW - Institutional infrastructure
KW - Institutional pluralism
KW - Institutional work
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086741215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.smr.2020.02.004
DO - 10.1016/j.smr.2020.02.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85086741215
VL - 23
SP - 883
EP - 897
JO - Sport Management Review
JF - Sport Management Review
SN - 1441-3523
IS - 5
ER -