The atmosphere at sports stadiums & arenas is important to sports business professionals. ⢠Stadiums with a vibrant and exciting atmosphere seems to.
Investigating the relationship between Sports Stadium Atmospherics, Customer Satisfaction, & Behavioral Intentions By Ricard W. Jensen, Yam B. Limbu, and Jerry Choi Department of Marketing, Montclair State University Montclair, New Jersey Presented at the 2015 Annual Conference of the International Academy of Business Disciplines, Orlando, Florida, March 26, 2015
Background • The atmosphere at sports stadiums & arenas is important to sports business professionals.
• Stadiums with a vibrant and exciting atmosphere seems to benefit the home team & make fans happy. • We’ve also seen stadiums where there are few fans & those are at the game seem bored. • The question becomes how can one measure the stadium atmosphere & its impact on fan behavior
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uqJMXdORM4
Early Research focused on traits of the stadium • Prior studies examined the “Sportscape” • How the physical traits of a stadium affected the atmosphere (Hugh Sloan, 1996)
Researchers then asked if human factors played a role in creating the atmosphere • Investigations then began to look at how people contribute to the atmosphere • Actions taken by people who are organizing & managing the event • The spontaneous acts of spectators at the arena • The influence of people on the field (coaches & players) • Roscoe Hightower & Michael Brady, 2002
Sport Stadium Atmosphere — A Big breakthrough In Germany, researchers Sebastian Uhrich & Joerg Koenigstorfer (2009) developed a construct of Sports Stadium Atmosphere (SSA) • They suggested that both stadium-related & people-related factors influenced SSA & proposed a scale to measure atmosphere • But they focused on developing a theory—not validating it
Some of the components of SSA proposed by Uhrich & Koenigstorfer include • • • •
Loud music Bright scoreboards Chants sung by the crowd Unexpected surprises in the game action • Unusual contests
Chen & Lin Tested & Validated SSA • Chen Yueh-Chen & Yi Lin (2013) were the first researchers to propose a comprehensive measure of SSA and validate it
• They surveyed spectators at professional baseball games in Taiwan • Results showed that SSA has sound psychometric properties & the scale help explain sport stadium atmosphere
They urged the SSA scale needed to be validated in other sports in other cultures
Constructs tested by Chen include • • • • • • • •
Entertainment Electronics Team traditions Team performance Spectator passion Spectator behavior Actions of professional staff Cheering groups
Purpose of our study • To examine if spectator satisfaction mediates the association between sports stadium atmospherics and spectator behavior. • To examine the conceptualization and measurement of Chen, Lin, and Chiu’s (2013) sports stadium atmospherics (SSA) measurement in American football context.
Our Proposed Research Model
Methodology • Data: Data were collected using a mall-intercept technique at MetLife Stadium during a 2014 college football game between Notre Dame University and Syracuse University • Sample description • • • • •
211 usable responses Most spectators were not fans of either team 57% men 30% had attended an NFL game at the stadium in the past year 34% percent attended college football game in the past year
• Measurement • • • •
Existing scales Sport stadium atmospherics ( Chen, Lin, and Chiu 2013) Spectator satisfaction (Yoshida and James 2010). Behavioral scales
Data analysis • Multiple quantitative data analysis techniques were used including: • Confirmatory factor analysis • Descriptive data analysis • Inferential data analysis • multilevel data analysis
• Data were analyzed using Stata 13 Fit Statistics of Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Proposed Model SRMR
Fit index
2
df
p
RMSEA
CFI
TLI
Model 1
702.45
338
< .001
.076
.936
.921
.066
2/df < 5
> .05
< .10
>.95
> .95
< .08
Cutoff criteria
Figure 1. Direct and indirect effects of sports stadium atmospherics to spectator behavior.
Results • A strong association between Sport Stadium Atmosphere and fan satisfaction • Fan satisfaction is positively related to future behaviors (attending more games, recommending the sport to friends, spreading positive word of mouth) • BUT, the association between sports stadium atmospherics and spectator behavior is fully mediated by spectator satisfaction
Implications • Sports marketers should understand that Sports Stadium Atmosphere is composed of stimuli caused by an organizer (e.g., electric device, facility, professional staff), stimuli caused by spectators (e.g., spectator passion), and stimuli caused by the game action (e.g., team competition, and team performance)
• Exciting and vibrant sport stadium atmosphere must be created that motivates the fans to become excited and engaged at the sports event • Fan satisfaction is key: The most important way to create loyal fans is to make sure fans are satisfied with the game experience. • Theoretical contribution: SSA can be operationalized as a second-order construct composed of electric device, facility, professional staff, spectator passion, team competition, and team performance.
Limitations & Future Research • Limitations • Our data are based on one sports event at one point in time • Relatively small sample size
• Future Research • It would be very useful if SSA were validated by surveying spectators in other cultures and countries & at other events (other types of sports and not just sports) • The SSA instrument needs to be revised to fit specific research needs
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