From H-Town to Mo-Town: Fans?Expectations and Perception of Value of Super Bowl Entertainment

Artemisia Apostolopoulou
John Clark
James M. Gladden

Following Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was held in Houston in 2004, criticism and controversy arose concerning the selection of talent as well as the execution of the event’s halftime show. Given the increasing emphasis and investment on the entertainment aspect of sporting events, this study set out to explore Super Bowl viewers?perceptions on a number of ancillary entertainment elements of the event, as well as those elements?relative importance to viewers?enjoyment of the broadcast. A computer-based survey was developed and administered to two different groups: a purchased list of Super Bowl viewers (N=892) and a random sample of NFL database subscribers (N=209). Results from analysis on the whole group of respondents (N=1,101) showed that the competitiveness of the game and the teams competing were the two most important elements affecting viewers?enjoyment of the Super Bowl broadcast. The third highest rated item was the commercials. The halftime show, which rated sixth in its perceived contribution to the enjoyment of the broadcast, received marginally positive ratings relating to its overall importance for the entertainment value of the Super Bowl. Respondents were then grouped into two categories based on their self-reported level of fan avidity. Analysis of variance results indicated statistically