From novelty to normality: institutional work and virtual reality marketing in major sports leagues

Purpose Virtual reality (VR) has been broadly adopted in many realms given its ability to stimulate a fictional environment that mirrors the realistic environment with limited restrictions on physical space, conditions and abilities. The purpose of this paper was to explore the institutional work process of major sport leagues in their adoption of VR. Design/methodology/approach Adopting institutional work as the theoretical framework, the authors employed a qualitative approach to identify VR adoption rationales among professional sports leagues in their marketing practices. A quantitative content analysis (QCA) was conducted to code and identify the common themes presented on the YouTube channels of those sports leagues. Additionally, an ethnographic content analysis was employed to illustrate the institutional work process in the adoption of VR and the switch of VR platform from YouTube to Xtadium. Findings Our QCA indicated that VR videos produced by professional sports leagues can be categorized into three primary themes: athlete branding, event marketing and team promotion. This categorization suggested common themes among these leagues in their creation of VR content. Our ethnographic content analysis suggested the creating, maintaining and disrupting process of institutional work among sports leagues in their use of VR. Originality/value Using institutional work as the theoretical framework, this study serves as pioneering research that explored how professional sports leagues incorporate VR into their institutional change. Our findings offered valuable insights for other organizations seeking to achieve competitiveness and legitimacy in VR marketing within the sports industry.