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1. Introduction
One of the dominant dimensions of sport is that it is a heterogeneous and temporary experience well reflected in the passions and loyalty of fans (Smith and Stewart, 2010). This is also one of the main reasons for professional sports organizations’ (e.g. Beech and Chadwick, 2013) long tradition of integrating historical events and stories of their successes and setbacks into their community (Davis, 2012; Hill and Vincent, 2006). One illustrative example is what has become known as the “Miracle on Ice,” referring to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, when the US ice-hockey team unexpectedly defeated the defending gold medalists, the Soviet Union (Seifried, 2010). As this integration takes place, stories contribute to the associations of sports organizations and become integrated within their marketing efforts.
Reflecting the long history of integrating stories within the sports sector, the general development within the field of marketing has increasingly devoted its attention to the concept of storytelling (Pulizzi, 2012; Woodside, 2010; Woodside et al., 2008). Within this developing literature, storytelling has been seen as a way for senders to successfully break through the noise associated with the contemporary communication landscape. It has been argued that one of the main reasons for this is that storytelling has a uniting effect and, therefore, constitutes a defining component of communities. This is why storytelling is seen as particularly relevant for branding and marketing (Fog et al., 2010; Gensler et al., 2013; Kotler et al., 2008).
Developments within the communication landscape, however, have a significant effect on the conditions under which many marketing expressions evolve (Laurell, 2014; Laurell and Sandström, 2014; Pihl, 2013; Pihl and Sandström, 2013). One reason for this is closely related to the advent of information and communication technologies and, more recently, the rise of social media which has dramatically increased the number of senders in the media landscape. Taken together, this implies that storytelling is being subjected to increased dynamics much like other marketing avenues.
With regard to the conceptual understanding of storytelling and its relation to the contemporary media landscape, few attempts have been made to investigate the effects of these developments. As the utilization of storytelling amongst professional sports organizations is widespread, it is therefore essential to identify the...