Background/Purpose Due to significant impact of team identification on sport consumption behaviors, identifying variables enhancing spectators' team identification would be beneficial to practitioners working in the interscholastic sector, where limited funding sources are available (Clark, 2009). However, few researchers have empirically investigated to identify determinants of team identification (Fink, Trail, & Anderson, 2002). Researchers have asserted that utilitarian motives such as tangible attributes of event quality were found to enhance spectators' psychology tendencies (e.g., team identification). Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine to what extent event quality variables explain team identification for spectators of high school football games.
Method Research participants were adult spectators (N = 409) from three high school football games. To measure event quality, the Event Quality Scale in High School Football was utilized, which consisted of six factors, Game Attractiveness, Event Setting, Economic Consideration, Social Opportunity, Exciting Atmosphere, and Enjoyment Experience (Byon, Ziemnik, Lam, & Zhang, 2010). Team identification was measured using the Team Identification Index (Trail & James, 2001).
Analysis/Results The results of a structural equation modeling indicated that the model fit the data well (χ2/df = 2.28; RMSEA = .056, SRMR = .057; CFI = .92), and 56% of the variance was explained in team identification by four event quality factors (Social Opportunity, Exciting Atmosphere, Enjoyment Experience, and Game Attractiveness).
Conclusions The current study revealed event quality variables could significantly enhance team identification. Therefore, marketers of high school athletic department should incorporate event quality variables into the marketing plans to ultimately generate more revenues.