28 USING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS IN SPORT COMMUNICATION RESEARCH Marion Hambrick The sport industry generates over US$234 billion in revenue annually (Horine, 2011), and comprises organizations such as sports teams, sporting goods manufacturers and retailers, and governing bodies. These entities work extensively with supporting organizations such as hotels and restaurants, advertisers and marketers, and corporate sponsors outside of the industry (Chelladurai, 2009).Within the industry, sport communication represents another important segment, with its public relations organizations, newspaper and magazine outlets, broadcast and network television operators, and social networking sites creating and dissemi- nating sports content to fans and other industry members (Pedersen, Miloch, and Laucella, 2007). Researchers have attempted to quantify the sport industry’s numerous activities and interactions but have noted the challenges. Over 49,000 sport organizations, 227 million spectators, and 118 million participants exist, and multiple connections tie them to one another and related entities (Humphreys and Ruseski, 2009). One analytical approach – social network analysis – may help researchers gain a greater knowledge of the industry with its numerous organizations and individuals plus their myriad of connections and interactions. Organizations, groups, and individuals with the shared relationships among them collectively form social networks, and social network analysis can help researchers understand the networks more fully (Wasserman and Faust, 1994).The sport industry and sport communication segment can be viewed as social networks (Chelladurai, 2009;Thibault and Harvey, 1997), and researchers can use social network analysis to examine the sport industry or individual segments in greater detail. The analytical approach allows researchers to observe which organizations, groups, and individuals exist as network members within a chosen social network, to identify what relationships connect network members together, and to explore how network members use their relationships and the network’s structure to share information and other resources. Social network analysis also can help researchers to determine which members assume key roles within the network, plus the consequences of adding members to or subtracting them from the network (Wasserman and Faust, 1994). This chapter addresses the various possibilities of using social network analysis in sport communication research. The first section provides an overview of sport communication 4088 T&F Routledge Hndbk Sport Comm:Layout 2 20/11/12 1:44 pm Page 279