Factors Affecting Collegiate Sports Season Ticket Holders' Satisfaction and Renewal Intention

Purpose

This study examines the satisfaction on perceived service quality and motives for attending basketball games from season-ticket and non-season-ticket holders. In addition, we investigate the season ticket holders' intention for renewing their season-ticket package.

Methods

The participants included 94 season-ticket holders and 148 non-season-ticket holding audience (including 115 students), who attended three home games of an Ohio Valley Conference affiliated-institution in early February in 2008. The survey questionnaire was modified from three other instruments based on the studies of Beccarini and Ferrand (2006), McDonald and Shaw (2005), and Pan and Baker (2005). The 60-item survey covered five major sections: (1) demographic information, (2) motives for attending athletic events, (3) reasons for renewing season-tickets, (4) satisfaction toward the existing services and programs, and (5) overall satisfaction and renewal interest.

Analysis/Results

According to the results, three major motives were identified as the influential factors for fans attending the games. They are (1) social and psychological motivation (SPM), (2) characteristics and performance of the team (TEAM), and (3) amotivation (i.e., I got nothing to do). In terms of willingness to renew the season tickets, fans focused on four major factors: (1) administration and tangible services (ATS), (2) team performance (TP), (3) social-related concerns (SRC), and (4) love for sports (LOVE). Three categories of service are recognized to classify the fans' satisfaction on the perceived service quality. They are (1) management of event and facility (MEF), (2) ticketing related business (TRB), and (3) food and entertainment (FET). In general, the participants' perception on the management of event and facility (MEF) is the best predictor for their overall satisfaction. Season-ticket holders' willingness to renew could be best predicted by their perceived ratings on ATS and TP. Participants who tended to value ATS highly, would more likely to have a higher level of overall satisfaction and better satisfactory rating in MEF. Participants' satisfaction and willingness for the season-ticket renewal also varied significantly based on different demographic classifications.

Conclusions

This study reaffirms the concept that the athletic departments could still remain optimistic about its ticket sales by aggressively campaigning their augmented services and special incentives despite the mediocre performance of the teams as long as the offered season-ticket packages and improved service quality were valued by all spectators. In conclusion, the unique cultural aspects of regional Division-I basketball institutions, the practical strategies for adjusting the existing services, along with limitations and concerns related to this study will be discussed.