FiT Publishing

Ticket pricing in professional sports is transitioning from a cost-based to demand-based approach. It has been argued that consumer perceptions of fairness regarding demand-based ticket pricing could influence purchase decisions. Perceptions of unfair pricing practices can lead to dissatisfaction and negatively affect purchase behavior. However, familiarity with demand-based pricing strategies could mitigate perceptions that real-time price fluctuations are unfair to the consumer. Guided by transaction utility theory, the current study examined the relationship between various ticket...Read more

Despite the growing body of literature on consumer loyalty, little attention has been given to identifying attitudinal variables useful in predicting allegiance to athletic teams. The changing nature of sport marketing has made it imperative to develop new segmentation variables to augment behavioral information on consumers. The present study examined the predictive validity of eight attitude properties in explaining allegiance to a professional sports team. A composite loyalty measure (commitment and behavior) was utilized to segment the sample (N=379) into high-, moderate-, and low-...Read more

Dynamic ticket pricing (DTP), a new revenue management (RM) strategy in sport, has grown in popularity in response to the demand-based ticket resale market. Previous research has examined the relationship between the primary and secondary ticket market and determinants of price in a DTP environment. However, research has not focused on consumer perceptions of DTP or resale prices. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer perceptions of demand-based pricing over time, to assess the influence of attitudes on perceived value and purchase intentions. Results indicated that time, team...Read more

The Seattle Sounders FC took Major League Soccer by storm in its inaugural season of 2009. The club led the league in attendance, won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophy, and clinched a playoff berth. The team’s success was attributed in part to its rabid fan base, which routinely sold out its 30,000-seat venue and nearly doubled the league attendance average. How was it that an expansion franchise was able to garner such immediate, fervent support, while original franchises with well-established fan bases struggled? This case study sought to supplement the limited current literature...Read more

This research explores the impact of four individual psychological motivations (i.e., team identification, eustress, group affiliation, and self-esteem enhancement) on college student's reported verbal recommendations and patronage behaviors toward a sporting event.Read more

Description: Competition for the sport consumer dollar has increased tremendously in recent years. A better understanding of why sport spectators and fans consume media and merchandise would benefit sport marketers and managers greatly. To date, no empirically tested model has proposed explanatory and predictive relationships among fan/spectator motives and behavior variables. In addition, no psychometrically sound scales exist to measure these cognitive, affective, and behavioral constructs. The results of this study indicate that a model including such factors as motives, identification...Read more