FiT Publishing

The purpose of this study was to examine customers of an emerging spectator sport, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Whereas conventional sport spectator motivation research has typically examined motivations of spectators attending established team sports, this study is distinctive in that it applies motivation research to an individual sport rather than a team sport and to an emerging sport rather than a more established sport. The following ten motives were identified based on a review of the current literature: drama/eustress, escape, aesthetics, vicarious achievement, socializing, sport...Read more

Despite the growing popularity of sport video games (SVGs), particularly as it relates to their growth as a marketing tool, there has been relatively little research on the psychology and behavior of the sport video gamer. The current study examined the psychological and consumptive behavior of sport video gamers across different levels of game play. Data from 239 gamers was collected from four popular online video game sites. This study provides evidence that sport video gamers are sport fans that engage in a variety of sport consumptive behaviors. The findings also suggest that sport...Read more

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of service quality, satisfaction, and future intentions of attendees at a large-scale action sports event. More specifically, effects of core service quality and peripheral service quality on satisfaction and future intention were examined in an action sports event setting. Structural equation modeling was utilized to investigate the effects of the two service components on satisfaction and future intentions. Respondents (N = 2,297) were satisfied with the event and reported positive responses toward services provided by event...Read more

This paper reports on a four-stage study that investigated the motivations and future intentions of recently lapsed members (season-ticket holders) of professional sports organizations, and the marketing responses of those organizations to the issue of customer retention. Survey responses from over 1,000 recently lapsed members across five large sporting clubs were collected. A further study on one club was then conducted to compare attitudes and demographics of lapsed members to those who renewed. The responses suggests that although these lapsed members report that they joined to...Read more

This study examines the relationship of locational factors on the viability of minor league hockey franchises and examines two market factors not generally found in the literature. The data suggest that minor league hockey, specifically the ECHL, has a higher probability to succeed in moderately sized markets (populations up to 500,000), with few NCAA Division I institutions, and where there is a presence of youth interest in the sport. There appears to be no significant relationship between the per capita income in a market and an ECHL franchise’s success.Read more

This research has focused on the evaluation of the consumer satisfaction process in a sport event. A popular athletic cross urban race, periodically organized by a City Council, has served as the framework for the study of cognitive and affective elements that drives satisfaction judgment and the moderator effect of sport motivations. A causal model is tested and the results show that satisfaction is primarily driven by an affective factor (arousal), and the effect of pleasure is not significant. The cognitive element is also important for determining satisfaction and future behavior...Read more

This study aimed to refine and further develop existing motivation scales (i.e., MSSC by Trail and James, 2001; SII by Funk, Mahony, Nakazawa, & Hirakawa, 2001) in a cross-national context, and to examine differences of descriptive variables (e.g., demographics, attendance frequency) and spectator motives between South Korean and Japanese professional soccer spectators. We confirmed that the refined motivation scales we developed were valid and that they reliably measured Korean and Japanese soccer spectators’ motives. We also found that there were several differences in demographics,...Read more

Synchro Canada is the non-profit national governing body for synchronized swimming in Canada. It is one of 54 national sport organizations (NSO) supported by Sport Canada, the federal government agency responsible for amateur sport in Canada, and one of 39 NSOs that compete at the Olympic level. At the time of the study, Synchro Canada was run by a professional staff of nine individuals located in the national office in Gloucester, Ontario, and the National Coach and Team Manager located at the National High Performance Training Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario. The organization was guided by...Read more

This study explores the effects of expectations and industry standards on customer satisfaction in the student ticketing process in intercollegiate athletics. Data were collected from 378 students attending three NCAA Division I institutions, and an experimental design was used to determine which type of expectations best predicted customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and how information about industry standards affected satisfaction levels. Findings suggest sport customers make satisfaction judgments based on what they think should be in a policy rather than what they think will be in a...Read more

The spectator audience for the Olympic Winter Games has been increasing around the world. This phenomenon is highlighted in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa (termed “non-traditional” markets) that rarely participate in the Winter Games, yet choose to watch them. To explore this phenomenon we interviewed key figures involved with the Olympic Movement. Our intention was to identify key themes from the text of the interviews and put these themes together to form a framework that would explain the growing interest in the Olympic Winter Games. The results showed that the...Read more