Season Ticket Holders Research Articles

Sport events and the environment: Assessing the carbon footprint of spectators’ modal choices at professional football games in Austria

As a response to the increasing threat to sport events from climate change and expectations around climate change mitigation, sport event managers increasingly engage in environmentally-related initiatives that aim to reduce GHG emissions. One of the major contributors to GHG emissions at large sport events is spectators' travel and, thus, their associated modal choices. Building on the Sport Logistics Framework (SLF) and using the case study of Rapid Vienna, the largest football club in Austria, this study investigates spectators’ modal choice to systematically assess the total GHGs emitted by spectators at a professional football home game. Data was obtained from two sources: a) an extensive data set collected on Rapid Vienna season ticket holders, and b) three surveys at home games which, together, constituted 3317 valid responses. The calculation of the GHG emissions resulted in 99,548 kg GHG emissions per home game or 6.0 kg GHG emissions per spectator. It was also found that 42.4 per cent spectators arriving by car emit 71.6 per cent of GHG emissions, while in contrast, 52.8 per cent of spectators using public transport emit 27.1 per cent of GHG emissions. The results also indicate that the possession of an annual public transport ticket seems to determine travel behavior, i.e. the majority of spectators with an annual ticket are using it, while spectators without a ticket are using a car. As such, this paper not only provides an opportunity for academics and managers to benchmark the data in order to identify initiatives to reduce the impact of GHG emissions, but also allows for the systematic measuring of the environmental impact of fan and spectator travel.

The dynamic nature of brand authenticity for a new brand: Creating and maintaining perceptions through iconic, indexical, and existential cues

AbstractAlthough brand authenticity has been studied across multiple domains, the development and maintenance of brand authenticity in new brands has never been explored. This study provides the first evidence of the evolving nature of brand authenticity (i.e., the creation and maintenance phases) through the interplay of iconic (impression‐based brand characteristics), indexical (evidence‐based brand characteristics), and existential (self‐referential brand characteristics) cues for a new brand. Sixteen season ticket holders for a new sports team brand were interviewed two times each (during and after the team's inaugural season). The analysis shows the interplay of authenticity cues in the development and maintenance of authenticity perceptions, such that indexical and existential cues replace iconic cues as the consumer‐brand relationship evolves. The results reveal the critical roles of existential cues in creating a self‐relevant relationship with consumers as well as the underlying dimensions (i.e., virtuousness, proximity, and transparency) and outcomes (e.g., brand attitude and emotional brand attachment) of authenticity for a new brand. This study provides evidence that new brands can benefit from authenticity perceptions and offers insights into the underlying process in terms of antecedents and outcomes, contributing to authenticity and branding literature.

Season Ticket Holders Satisfaction Scale: Turkish Validity and Reliability Study

Spor organizasyonları, devasa boyutlara ulaşan bir endüstri ve ekonomik faaliyet alanı olarak göze çarpmaktadır. Spor ürünlerini tüketen insanlar da bu endüstrinin en önemli paydaşı konumundadır. Sezonluk bilet sahibi taraftarların en sadık müşteriler olduğu ve kulüp gelirlerinin önemli bir kısmını sağladığı düşünüldüğünde spor organizasyonları açısından hayati öneme sahiptirler. Bu noktadan hareketle çalışmada, profesyonel spor kulüpleri için sezonluk bilet paketi bileşenlerini taraftarların memnuniyetlerine göre belirleyen bir ölçme aracı olarak McDonald vd. (2013) tarafından geliştirilen, Sezonluk (Kombine) Bilet Sahipleri Memnuniyet (Season Ticket Holder Satisfaction) Ölçeği (SBSMÖ) Türkçe formunun geçerlik ve güvenirliğinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmaya 298 sezonluk (kombine) bilet sahibi taraftar katılmıştır. Hizmet, saha performansı, kişisel katılım, kulüp yönetimi, ev sahibi alt boyutlarından oluşan ölçek, 17 madde ve 5’li Likert tipi değerlendirmeye sahiptir. Ölçeğin yapı geçerliğini belirlemek için yapılan Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA); benzeşim ve birleşim geçerlikleri için Ortalama Açıklanan Varyans (AVE), Bileşik Güvenirlik (CR); ayrışım geçerliği için Maksimum Paylaşılan Varyansın Karesi (MSV) ve Paylaşılan Varyansın Karesinin Ortalaması (ASV) değerleri hesaplanmıştır. Ölçeğin güvenirliğini sınamak için Cronbach’s Alpha ve Spearman Brown analizleri yapılmıştır. Analizler sonucunda “Sezonluk (Kombine) Bilet Sahipleri Memnuniyet” ölçeğinin geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı olduğu görülmüştür.

Season ticket holder no-show behavior in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT Rationale In professional sports, no-shows increasingly pose a significant challenge to the management. Even though previous research has already established that such spectator no-show behavior (NSB) is more widespread among season ticket holders (STHs), the related literature has produced conflicting findings on the antecedents of such potentially defective behavior, which requires additional analysis in alternative environments. Approach Accordingly, in this manuscript, we contribute to the slowly emerging literature explaining STH NSB by analyzing a previously unexplored football environment, i.e. the Czech Republic. Findings Interestingly, our findings suggest that most effects are likely robust across the different sporting environments and markets, despite a few noticeable differences. Practical implications While our results might inform more efficient STH recruitment (e.g. younger spectators, citizens of the town), they also underline that reducing no-show rates may be hard to obtain if seat supply exceeds demand. Research contribution Although future research on alternative sports and markets might be valuable, our results suggest that the marginal benefit of additional studies tends to decrease, perhaps naturally. In contrast, also reflecting on our apparent limitations, we believe that future research approaches might benefit tremendously from mixed methods approaches, ideally in cooperation with more than only one sporting association or club.

Determinants of Subscription Renewal Behavior in Sport Spectatorship Services: A CHAID Decision Tree Modeling Approach

Abstract: Attempts were made to identify the prioritized determinants of season ticket holders’ (STHs) renewal behavior. Also, grounded in the lens of luxury fever, we explored how the determinants are differently weighed and processed across two types of STHs, including regular (R-STHs) vs. premium seat holders (P-STHs). Through a partnership with a Big Ten athletic department, the attendance data were obtained and analyzed. This study adapted a decision tree modeling approach to predict renewal/churning behavior by setting learning decision rules in the CHAID algorithm, a supervised learning algorithm family. Results of this study indicate that discounted tickets, affordability, and entertainment were important determinants for R-STHs. By contrast, tenure as a ticket holder, game outcomes, and business use were significantly weighed for P-STHs. Recent attendance and exclusive benefits were important branches for both decision trees. This research expands the understanding of the subscription-based services industry by applying a fresh data mining approach.

Disaggregated Attendance Demand: Comparing Daily Ticket Purchasers and Season Ticket Holders in K-League 1

This study investigates differences in the preferences of daily ticket purchasers and season ticket holders, focusing on outcome uncertainty. Using unique game-level attendance data of both daily ticket purchasers and season ticket holders for every team in the Korean top-tier professional soccer league, we find heterogeneity in demand between daily ticket purchasers and season ticket holders with respect to outcome uncertainty, preference for home team success, team performance, geographical distance between competing teams, and weekend games. Our results suggest that season ticket holders do not care as much about their team's performance and outcome uncertainty as daily ticket purchasers do.

“We do revolve our lives around it” – The meaning and significance of being a collegiate women’s basketball fan among older women

When individuals engage in social contexts such as attending a college basketball game, opportunities to enrich and broaden social connections with others often transpire. The University of Notre Dame Women’s Basketball (NDWB) program has a comparably larger and more loyal fan base than most universities in the country, of which older women comprise a big portion of season ticket holders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the motivations and meanings of being a NDWB season ticket holder among older women. Nineteen participants ages 55–85 years old completed individual interviews. The findings indicated that being season ticket holders fostered a strong sense of identification with the team, allowing them to have a sense of pride of being part of the program. Additionally, being season ticket holders enabled the older women to enhance their social contacts and friendships with other women that fostered a sense of community.

The impact of special events and fan–player bonding on identified fan consumption – a study of professional soccer in the USA

PurposeThe primary purpose of this study is to examine how fan attendance at team special events and player appearances impact fan consumption (as measured by merchandise sales). Insights obtained could shed light on opportunities for professional soccer teams to expand revenues through enhanced fan consumption of goods and services.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 499 season ticket holders were used to assess fan consumption by measuring merchandise sales. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were run for merchandise sales as the dependent variable of fan consumption. The control variables were age, gender (male = 1, 0 otherwise), and whether an individual has children.FindingsThe key independent variables of attending special events and fan–player bonding were both found to have a statistically significant impact on merchandise sales. Results show that each additional special event attended generates up to $33.71 in merchandise sales for the club. Similarly, each fan–player bonding experience attended also has a direct impact, increasing merchandise consumption by $23.00.Social implicationsThe results of this study provide insights that can help fan consumption grow within the professional United States soccer industry and better allow team managers to make decisions about the possible benefits of holding more special events and fan–player bonding experiences. The findings also confirm the impact personal relationships with fans can have on the bottom line of sport franchises.Originality/valueThough this study adds to the body of literature by expanding previous work on fan consumption, there are limited studies on the social aspects of consumption which are examined and analyzed within this study, particularly of note is the study of merchandise sales as proxy for fan consumption.

Segmentation of Ticket Holders in Minor League North American Professional Sport

Minor professional sport in North America includes the many leagues that are not part of the “Big Five.” For these leagues, ticket sales, especially season ticket sales, are one of the major sources of club revenue. Segmenting customers into homogenous groups is well established as an effective means to render efficient marketing. In addition, market segmentation has been well researched in a variety of contexts; however, further research in the area of minor professional sport in North America will advance our knowledge and offer practical value to practitioners. Therefore, this research, in collaboration with a minor league professional sport club, provides a framework for season ticket holder segmentation application by minor professional sport leagues and clubs, and offers practical recommendations to reach niche markets.

What influences season ticket holders’ satisfaction and renewal intention? the role of season ticket service quality

ABSTRACT Purpose: The current study investigated the influence of service quality factors on season ticket holder (STH) satisfaction and intention to renew their season tickets. The current study was particularly interested in exploring the unique contribution of the season ticket-specific service quality on STHs’ satisfaction and retention in the context of professional sports. Design/Method: Data were collected from 646 STHs from a Major League Baseball (MLB) team using an online survey. The findings from the hierarchical multiple regression models confirm the influence of the STHs’ team identification, three gameday service quality dimensions (game, facility, and interaction qualities factor), and the season ticket service quality (STSQ) on their level of satisfaction and intention to renew their season tickets. Findings: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that all groups of predictors contribute to predicting STH satisfaction and intention to renew, together explaining 42.4% and 34.7% of the variances in satisfaction and renewal intention, respectively. Results showed the importance of the season ticket service quality in satisfying and retaining STHs, even after controlling their team identification and gameday service quality. Originality/Value: The findings of this study provide helpful tips for sport managers to ensure important service qualities and train their service employees accordingly.

The Influence of Non-Transactional Fan Engagement on Merchandise Consumption

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of fan engagement on merchandise purchase intentions. We draw on existing fan engagement literature and focus on non-transactional fan engagement and its effects on merchandise purchasing as a single transactional fan engagement dimension. Data were collected from 206 season ticket holders (Study 1) and 520 fans of professional sports teams (Study 2) and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings show non-transactional fan engagement dimensions explain 51% (Study 1) and 60% (Study 2) of merchandise purchase intentions and consumption is driven by fan engagement dimensions related to the individual fan, rather than those dimensions that are influenced by others. This article contributes to the sports marketing literature by providing specific insights on the relationship between non-transactional fan engagement dimensions and merchandise consumption intentions. Thus, the findings have important implications for sport marketers as merchandise represents a crucial revenue stream of sport organizations.

Should I stay (at home) or should I go (to the stadium)? Why will some football supporters not return to the stadium after the COVID-19 pandemic in German Bundesliga?

ABSTRACT Caused by COVID-19 pandemic the last matches of the 2019/2020 season and almost all of the matches of the 2020/2021 season had to be played behind closed doors in the German Bundesliga. I ask which factors prevent football supporters from returning to the stadium after the COVID-19 pandemic? These questions are answered with the help of a quantitative survey among the supporters of a major Bundesliga club. This club has launched this survey among its club members, season ticket holders and fan club members from 26 March 2021to 11 April 2021. In total, 28,111 people completed the questionnaire. The analysis shows that the two factors of ‘feeling at home before’ and ‘feeling at home during the COVID-19 pandemic’ made fans want to return to the stadium. Fear of COVID-19 in general and a negative assessment of developments in football in general made supporters reluctant to come to the stadium.

The roles of team identification and psychological ownership in fans’ intentions to purchase team-licensed and a sponsor’s products: the case of FC Barcelona members

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between points of attachment and participative decision-making, on the one hand, and team identification and psychological ownership, on the other. It also analyses how team identification and psychological ownership explain intentions to purchase team-licensed sports merchandise and the main sponsor’s sports-apparel products. Data were collected from members of FC Barcelona, who are also season-ticket holders, by means of an online survey (n = 1180). Partial least squares is used to test and validate the proposed theoretical model. The results indicate that players, fans and nation-attachment explain team identification and psychological ownership, whereas soccer only affects team identification. Participative decision-making strongly influences psychological ownership, which is in turn positively affected by team identification. Findings also reveal that the intentions to purchase team-licensed sports merchandise and the main sponsor’s sports-apparel products are better explained by members’ psychological ownership than by team identification. Managerial implications, such as the need to improve feelings of psychological ownership in the club’s promotional activities and to continue to strengthen the other professional sports sections are discussed.

Predicting individual event attendance with machine learning: a ‘step-forward’ approach

ABSTRACT Accurately predicting attendance at live events has important operational and financial implications for the arts, entertainment and sport industries. Advances in machine learning offer the potential to improve these processes. Using 10 rounds of attendance data from 5,946 season ticket holders of one professional football team (i.e. 59,460 decisions), we assess the ability of four machine learning approaches to predict attendance. Our results indicate that two machine learning algorithms, XGBoost and Support Vector Machine (SVM), outperform the most commonly employed methodology for modelling individual sport attendance (i.e. logistic regression), in terms of accuracy, recall, F-score and area under the curve (AUC). Random forest and boosted aggregation (bagging) approaches are also compared. Our results suggest that adopting machine learning methodologies, and in particular, XGBoost and SVM, offers providers of live events an improved ability to understand and predict individual attendance, and insight into which consumers are most receptive to changing attendance decisions.

Predicting season ticket holder no-show behaviour: more nuanced evidence from Switzerland

ABSTRACT In this article, we contribute to the emerging literature on the potential determinants of football spectator no-show behaviour by analysing disaggregated data capturing season ticket holder (STH) behaviour outside the German market for the first time. Intriguingly, our empirical analysis of a unique panel dataset – containing distinct admission decisions made by 8,734 STHs of an established Swiss Super League club on 72 consecutive matchdays between 2013 and 2016 – suggests that the antecedents of such no-show behaviour might be contextual, despite some notable similarities across markets. For instance, although we observe a robust role of both a STH’s emerging no-show habits and his/her geographical distance to the stadium in predicting spectator no-show behaviour that is in line with previous research, we also note a more nuanced, i.e. non-linear, relationship between a STH’s age and the tendency to omit attendance on matchday. Here, using three-dimensional contour plots to represent potential interactions with age graphically, we also observe that STHs in the age cohort around 35 to 65 are more affected by barriers in the form of distance to the place of residence or temperature compared to people of retirement age, for whom there is a very robust pattern of habit.

Season ticket holder segmentation in professional sports: an application of the sports relationship marketing model

PurposeThe segmentation of customers into homogeneous groups is well researched, reflecting its importance to marketers. Specific to professional sports, published research on customer segmentation first occurred in the early 2000s, but no studies exist based on internal data from season ticket holders, an attractive and loyal customer group which is the most important customer for professional sports teams. Thus, the purpose of this research was to fill this gap in the literature through a sequential study of season ticket holders of a professional sports club.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 employed six focus groups (n = 56) to determine the constructs, understand the issues, and sequentially inform the survey instrument for the second study. Study 2 used an online survey (n = 1,007) to collect data on factors including socio-demographics, consumption, media engagement, fan satisfaction, future intentions and sports fan motivation.FindingsThe results identified the engagement factors and selection variables which drive season ticket holder purchase and allowed for the segmentation analysis, which identified fourteen unique fan segments for a professional sports club, generalizable to other clubs.Originality/valueThe identification of 14 segments of season ticket holders based on a sequential study framed by the sports relationship marketing model is a needed contribution for practice (i.e. a specific direction on how to efficiently allocate resources when marketing to season ticket holders) and advances our conceptual knowledge by applying the model to the context of the most loyal customers in professional sports season ticket holders.

Pro-Environmental Sustainability and Political Affiliation: An Examination of USA College Sport Sustainability Efforts.

Political ideology is one of the most powerful predictors of perceptions about environmental sustainability and related behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how sport fans’ sustainability-specific values, perceptions, and norms related to awareness, engagement, and influence of USA collegiate sport sustainability efforts based on political affiliation, accounting for age and gender. Data were collected using an online survey distributed to season ticket holders after the 2019 college football season that featured three sponsored sustainability initiatives at each home game. Multivariate analysis of variance and chi-square difference tests found that self-identified Democrats reported significantly higher pro-environmental values and norms, but sustainability program engagement, sponsored initiatives awareness, and influence of initiatives on behavior were politically neutral. Path analysis found that ascription of responsibility was a significant predictor of sustainability-related engagement and behaviors for both Independents and Republicans. The results and discussion sections highlight how academics and practitioners can account for political affiliation when creating campaign messaging for environmental initiatives.

Understanding Season Ticket Holder Attendance Decisions

Predicting attendance at events is important for efficient facility management and marketing to maximize crowds. Most work to date is conducted at the aggregate level; however, the large crowd size being predicted often means important individual decisions are masked. In many markets, increased nonattendance by season ticket holders (STHs) is being reported, which is troubling given they have prepaid and are expected to be highly loyal. To understand who attends, rather than just how many, the authors analyze the “no-show” behavior of over 5,900 individual STH of one professional team over a season. Results show that in addition to game viewing and quality conditions, age, tenure, expenditure, and prior game attendance are predictors of individual attendance decisions, with differences in how individuals are influenced by winning and uncertainty of outcome. The paper expands understanding of drivers of STH attendance decisions and provides guidance toward managerial strategies for STH management.

Predicting Season Ticket Holder Retention Using Rich Behavioral Data

Season ticket holders are a vital source of revenue for professional teams, but retention remains a perennial issue. Prior research has focused on broad variables, such as relationship tenure, game attendance frequency, and renewal intention, and has generally been limited to survey data with its attenuate problems. To advance this important research agenda, the present study analyzes team-supplied behavioral data to investigate and predict retention as a loyalty outcome for a single professional team over a 3-year period. Specifically, the authors embrace a broad range of loyalty measures and team performance to predict retention and employ novel data mining techniques to improve predictive accuracy.

Examining corporate social responsibility awareness: An unaided recall measure

AbstractAs professional sports teams commonly partner with multiple charity organizations to achieve corporate social responsibility objectives, the purpose of this research was to measure charity brand awareness among sports fans via unaided recall. Further, this study proposed antecedents to awareness, including; level of fandom, overall season‐ticket holder (STH) satisfaction, perceptions of on‐field performance, live game viewership frequency, televised game viewership frequency, and digital channel interaction frequency. A survey was used to collect data from STHs across three professional sports teams (n = 8,414). Fan recall of charity partners was low with 1.3% recalling three, 3.5% recalling two, and 9.6% able to recall at least one charity partner. Of the antecedents, overall STH satisfaction and frequency of live game viewership were the most influential while, perceptions of on‐field performance returned a significant and negative result. It is advocated sports teams reduce the number of charity partners and charity managers focus communication efforts on more contented STHs who attend live games regularly.