Nataliya Bredikhina
Biography
Nataliya Bredikhina, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sport management in the Department of Hospitality and Sport Business Management at the University of Delaware.
Her research interests center on sport marketing, including consumer behavior, social media analytics and brand strategy. Her work has been supported through grant funding from organizations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and published in leading sport management journals, including the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review and European Sport Management Quarterly.
Dr. Bredikhina’s research on personal brand strategy for athletes has been recognized with awards such as the 2024 Sport Marketing Association Conference Best Professional Paper Award and the 2022 North American Society for Sport Management Student Research Award. Her teaching focuses on sport business analytics, where she integrates expertise in consumer insights and digital marketing into the classroom.
Originally from Moscow, Russia, Dr. Bredikhina brings an international background, as well as the perspective of a former NCAA Division I student-athlete, having competed on the varsity tennis team at the University of Maryland.
She earned both an MBA and a master’s degree in sport business management from the University of Central Florida and received her Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in sport management from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. Before joining the University of Delaware, she served as an assistant professor at the University of Kansas from 2023 to 2025.
Education
- Ph.D. in business administration, Temple University, 2023
- Master’s in sport business management, University of Central Florida, 2019
- MBA, University of Central Florida, 2018
- B.A. in individual studies/French, University of Maryland, 2016
Select Publications
- Yoshida, M., Gordon, B., Paek, B., Bredikhina, N. (accepted July 2025). The effects of fan engagement behaviour and stadium attendance frequency on flourishing: A three-wave data analysis. European Sport Management Quarterly.
- Bredikhina, N., Kunkel, T., Taylor, E. A., Funk, D. C., & Baker, B. J. (2025). “You are the brand”: Examining the experience of person-environment fit in National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes’ name, image, and likeness monetization. Journal of Sport Management. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2024-0055
- Bredikhina, N. (2025). Collaborative competitors: How NCAA college athletes manage team dynamics amid personal brand monetization. Sport Management Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2025.2528319
- Bredikhina, N., Kunkel, T., Kennedy, H., & Fumagalli, F. (2025). Exploring the determinants of women football players’ Instagram popularity. Sport Management Review, 28(3), 523-548. https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2025.2468037
- Bredikhina, N., Kunkel, T., & Kudesia, R. S. (2024). Authenticity negotiation: How elite athletes (re)present themselves as personal brands. Journal of Sport Management, 38(1), 53-70. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2022-0089
- Bredikhina, N., Gupta, K., & Kunkel, T. (2023). Superboosting the athlete social media brand: Events as an opportunity for follower growth. European Sport Management Quarterly, 23(6), 1819-1842. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2022.2074497
- Bredikhina, N., Sveinson, K., Taylor, E. A., & Heffernan, C. (2023). The personal is professional: Exploring romantic relationship within the socioecology of an athlete’s brand. European Sport Management Quarterly, 23(6), 1688-1707. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2023.2257706
- Kennedy, H., Bredikhina, N., Athanas-Linden, G., Kunkel, T., & Funk, D. C. (2023). Managing social media through crisis: A content analysis of Instagram posts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 32(4), 284-301. https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.02
- Bredikhina, N., Sveinson, K., & Kunkel, T. (2023). Athlete Interrupted: Exploration of elite athletes’ personal brand management in times of crisis. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 31(3), 212-227. http://doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.313.0922.04
- Baker, B. J., Kunkel, T., Doyle, J. P., Su, Y., Bredikhina, N., & Biscaia, R. (2022). Remapping the sport brandscape: A structured review and future direction for sport brand research. Journal of Sport Management, 36(3), 251-264. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2021-0231
Awards Honors
- Sport Marketing Association Conference Best Professional Paper Award, 2024
- NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant, 2024
- UEFA Research Grant, 2024
- North American Society for Sport Management Student Research Competition Winner, 2022
- Dean’s Outstanding Publication Award, Fox School of Business, Temple University, 2022
- Runner-Up & People’s Choice Award, XIIth Annual Doctoral Research Competition, Fox School of Business, Temple University, 2022
- NCAA Graduate Student Research Grant, 2022
- Presidential Fellow, Temple University, 2019-2023