Latino and Non-Latino Consumption Patterns at a Professional Baseball Game

Purpose - Professional sport organizations have recognized the Latino population as a potential market segment and have been actively marketing to this segment through recruiting, promotional activities and incentives, and usage of the Spanish language. However, Harrolle and Trail (2007) have shown that one's level of ethnic identity (e.g., level of attachment to the Latino ethnic group) does not necessarily determine or influence sport consumption behaviors. The purpose of our study was to compare Latino and Non-Latino spectators on the factors influencing attendance (family, children, friends, spouse, television advertisements, newspaper, radio, billboards, promotions, and an Hispanic Heritage promotion) and sport consumption behaviors (media consumption and past attendance).

Methods - The participants were attendees of a Major League Baseball game in Florida and were comprised of Latinos (n = 127) and Non-Latinos (n = 186). The sample consisted of 54% males and 46% females. Two separate Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) tests were conducted to compare Latino and non-Latino responses: one on the factors that influence attendance and one on sport consumption behaviors.

Analysis/Results - There were no significant differences [Wilks' Ë = .991, F(4, 324) = .725, p = .576, ç2 = .009] between Latinos and Non-Latinos on consumption behaviors (i.e., attending games, attending away games, watching games on television, and listening to games on the radio). However, a significant difference [Wilks' Ë= .892, F(10, 363) = 4.417, p < .001, ç2 = .108] existed between Latinos and Non-Latinos on the factors that influenced professional baseball game attendance. Differences existed between Latinos and Non-Latinos on the opportunity to spend time with their children (Latinos, M=6.4; Non-Latinos, M=5.2) and their family (Latinos, M=6.1; Non-Latinos, M=5.2). Latinos also indicated that various promotions (newspaper ads, TV commercials, radio ads, and promotions) had more of an influence on the decision to attend than Non-Latinos. As expected Hispanic Heritage Weekend had a greater influence on Latinos attending (M=4.3) than Non-Latinos (M=2.4).

Conclusions - From a practical stand point, marketing departments should be aware that family promotions and children promotions influenced both Latinos and Non-Latinos to attend the specific games in which we collected our data. However, previous research has shown that promotions do not influence long-term attendance. Therefore, in an effort to increase fan loyalty and increase consistent game attendance, sport managers need to make sure that fans are given BIRGing opportunities (i.e., signing autographs by players) in an effort to increase their identification for the team once they enter the stadium.