An Exploratory Examination of Attributes Influencing Students' Decisions to Attend College Sport Events

Abstract: Factors which influence students’ attendance at games is important for understanding consumption decisions. Previously, studies in this area have only measured the choice of attending or not attending a game. This article goes more in depth to study the individual factors surrounding a sports fans’ decision to attend a certain sporting event over another. A sample of 152 college students was questioned about their preferences, and through regression and discriminant analysis consumers’ preferences for different sports events were revealed. The two biggest influences were the type of sport being played and the gender of the players. At the end of the article marketing suggestions for the different preferences were given.

PROMINENT SPORTS EVENT ASPECTS GIVEN BY STAGE I
1.  Quantity of physical contact
2.  Quantity of violence in the sport
3.  Quantity of speed exhibited
4.  Quantity of action
5.  Length of the event
6.  Popularity of the sport
7.  Strategy involved in the sport
8.  Athleticism involved
9.  Level of skill displayed
10.  Participants’ physical attractiveness
11.  Participants’ popularity
12.  Quality of the team
13.  Quality of opponents
14.  Team’s reputation
15.  Opponent’s reputation
16.  Pre-game activities
17.  Tailgating
18.  Cheerleaders
19.  Band
20.  Music
21.  Crowd size
22.  Loudness of the crowd
23.  Concessions
24.  Prizes offered
25.  Free T-shirts offered
26.  Free tickets offered
27.  Quantity of advertising
28.  Support of charities/socially responsible programs
29.  Concessions promotions
30.  Game on TV
31.  Age of facility
32.  Quality of facility
33.  Parking
34.  Convenience
35.  Student section
36.  Sight lines
37.  Convenience of schedule
38.  Price
39.  Packages
40.  Rivalry
41.  Game Pace

Conclusion: Studying college students’ preferences is a complex topic. This is just the initial research to be done. Many other studies can be done to study individuals’ choices, such as: examining sporting events other than those in this particular study, using random samples to increase external validity, and even studying the psychology underlying choice.