Rate My Professor Brian Gordon

Brian S. Gordon, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kansas, specializing in the area of sport management. He has served as faculty at the University of Kansas since 2015 within the School of Education and Human Sciences. Prior to this appointment, Gordon was an Assistant Professor in the undergraduate sport management program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for five years, where he created and directed the online Sport Administration Master’s Program, served as Faculty Athletic Representative for UW-L Athletics, sat on the Board of Directors for the L-Club fundraising organization, and was a member of the UW-L Online Advisory Board. Gordon earned his Ph.D. in Sport Management from Florida State University in 2010, M.S. in Sport Management from Southern Illinois University in 2006, and B.A. in History/Pre-Law from Eastern Illinois University in 2003. His research examines sport marketing, consumer behavior and psychology in sport, retro marketing, brand management of sport organizations, strategic sport marketing management, fan engagement, nostalgia, and sport consumer-based brand equity. He has secured funded grants, including a $2,000 Knight Commission grant for student perceptions of institutional support for athletics in NCAA Division I and multiple online course development grants from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Gordon has published extensively in premier peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and Sport Marketing Quarterly. Key publications include Yoshida et al. (2024) on fan engagement behavior in the Journal of Sport Management; Kumai et al. (2024) on a multidimensional scale for sport fan well-being in Managing Sport and Leisure; Scola, Dwyer, and Gordon (2023) on nostalgia in retro sport merchandise purchases in Sport, Business, and Management; and Gordon et al. (2021) on pride feelings in team and fan community identification in Corporate Reputation Review. Other notable works cover military members’ perceptions of NFL campaigns, athlete marketing practices, sport sponsorships post-COVID-19, and retro branding in sport. He teaches courses such as Athlete and Personal Branding (HSES 492), Sport Marketing (HSES 486/842), Sport Sponsorship (HSES 885), and doctoral seminars in Sport Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Special Topics (HSES 990). His scholarship applies theories including social identity theory, engagement theory, nostalgia, and brand equity, contributing to understanding fan behaviors and organizational strategies in sport.