M.A., International Affairs, University of California, San Diego
B.A., Political Science & Geography, University of Connecticut
Courses Taught
SLM 212 Introduction to Sport Management
SLM 248 Global Sport Perspectives
SLM 275 Principles of Sport Analytics
SLM 314 Coding for Sport Analytics
SLM 418 Applied Sport Analytics
SLM 638 Sport Performance Analytics
Scholarly Interests
I currently research:
Satellite sport fandom
Sport technology
Digital consumption of sport
Select Publications
Chen, R., Wang, J., Pu, H., & Shi, C. (in press). Social media branding with sportainment: a case study of Burnley FC’s creative player announcement videos on X. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 1-21.
Li, B., Zhang, Y., Chen, R., & Scott, O. (in press). Setting Public Agenda on Social Media: Exploring How Nationalism Shape Trending Topics on Chinese Weibo During the 2024 Paris Olympics. Communication & Sport.
Chen, R., & Newman, J. I. (in press). Politics of Mediation, Social Relations, and Meaning-Making in Chinese Satellite Football Fandom. Journal of Global Sport Management, 1-22.
Chen, R., Dai, S., Gulavani, S. S., & Su, Y. (2026). Digitalisation of the playing field: a conceptual study of Chinese women’s soccer players’ live streaming e-commerce (daihuo) on social media. Soccer & Society, 27(2-3), 741-759.
Chen, R., Xu, Y., Du, J., & Newman, J. I. (2025). A double-edged sword: understanding the influence of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) on viewer experience in the English Premier League from a team identification perspective. Soccer & Society, 26(6), 1016-1034.
