B. David Tyler
Honors Program Director, Associate Professor
B. David Tyler, PhD, researches how fans consume sport, particularly around rivalry and fan communities. As co-founder of the Know Rivalry Project (KnowRivalry.com), Tyler helped pioneer the field’s most comprehensive approach to understanding why rivalries form, how they endure, and what they mean for fan behavior. His research has appeared in leading academic journals (Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Business Research), as well as industry and mainstream outlets (SportsBusiness Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC, ESPN). Tyler is a NASSM Research Fellow, a two-time co-recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Paper of the Year in Sport Marketing, and featured prominently in the Emmy-winning documentary RIVALS. Before becoming an Isenberg triple alum (MBA, MS in sport management, PhD in management), Tyler earned his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame (government & Spanish). His professional experiences include Accenture, MassMutual, and Western Carolina University. Tyler teaches data analytics and works extensively with graph databases, Python, and MS Excel.
Education
Academic Appointments
Recent Honors / Awards
Research Interests
Teaching Interests
- Sport data analytics
- Sport data analytics
- Sport finance
- Research methods
Selected Working Papers/Current Research
Katz, M. J., Mansfield, A., Tyler, B. D., & Melton, E. N. Consuming sport alone or together: Comparing IsoFans, DuoFans, and Social Fans.
Cobbs, J., Tyler, B. D., Star, S., & Krebs, J. Are multiple rivals good for society? Rivalry dispersion theory analyzed across sports and continents.
Media, Industry, and Public Impact
Frequent mentions and interviews related to KnowRivalry.com
Stories about the research in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox Sports Online, SportsBusiness Journal, BBC radio, NPRaffiliatestations, and elsewhere
Emmy-winning documentary film featured rivalry research, extensive interviews
Professional Links
Personal webpage: https://knowrivalry.com
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rEDzzB0AAAAJ
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2331243
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbdt
Selected Publications
Tyler, B. D., Cobbs, J., Nichols, B. S., & Dalakas, V. (2021). Schadenfreude, rivalry antecedents, and the role of perceived sincerity in sponsorship of sport rivalries. Journal of Business Research, 134, 708-719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.029
Tyler, B. D. & Cobbs, J. B. (2017). All rivals are not equal: Clarifying misrepresentations and discerning three core properties of rivalry. Journal of Sport Management, 31(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2015-0371
Tyler, B. D. & Cobbs, J. B. (2015). Rival conceptions of rivalry: Why some competitions mean more than others. European Sport Management Quarterly, 15(2), 227-248. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2015.1010558