AbstractTourist retention and boosted tourist loyalty are fundamental factors for sport event marketing. Using multiple linear and ordered logistic regression methods, this study examined factors that affected loyalty among active sport event tourists. The results revealed: (a) satisfaction had the greatest impacts on loyalty, with its effect on word‐of‐mouth recommendations outweighing re‐participation; (b) service quality and relationship investment quality directly affected loyalty, especially word‐of‐mouth recommendations, while social network quality did not; (c) pull factors and some socio‐demographic and behavioral characteristics also influenced loyalty. Findings in this study are important references for the sustainable development of sport event tourism, offering useful guidelines.