report on college student attendance at collegiate …...2018/08/03 · report on college student...

Report on College Student Attendance at Collegiate Athletic Events

Prepared for:

National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators

By:

Cody T. Havard, Ph.D., The University of Memphis

Timothy D. Ryan, Ph.D., The University of Memphis

Micah S. McGee, Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder

This report was prepared by the

Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce at

The University of Memphis

For questions about this report, please contact Cody T. Havard at [email protected].

2

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Recommendations 3

Participating Schools 4

Demographics 5

Team Identification and Consumption 6

Student Attendance (FB, MBB, WBB) 8

- Football 9

- Men’s Basketball 12

- Women’s Basketball 15

Student Attendance (MBB, WBB) 18



Impact of Rivalry 25

Comparison of 2016 and 2015 Attendance Data

- Football 27



3

Executive Summary

A total of 11,681 participants from 81 schools provided responses. Overall, students were highly

identified with their school’s athletic teams (M = 5.24, SD = 1.59). Students viewed school athletic events

as both sporting and social events, increasing the level of importance athletic departments place on

entertainment and networking options at games.

Regarding the presence of rival teams, students were (1) not likely to support their rival against another

team (M = 2.89, SD = 1.56), rated the academic prestige at their school as slightly positive (M = 3.19, SD

= 1.69), believe rival fans behave somewhat appropriately at games (M = 3.82, SD 1.64), and experience

high levels of satisfaction when victorious against their rival (M = 5.28, SD = 1.41). Further, students

were more likely to attend a game when their school team plays a rival than a non-rival team, and were

somewhat likely to experience joy or excitement (i.e., Glory Out of Reflected Failure GORFing) when

their rival loses to a third, neutral team.

Recommendations

1. Promote home games as social events. Setting up opportunities for students to meet each other

before and after games could benefit home game attendance.

2. “Studying” was consistently a main constraint to students attending home games. One possible

way to confront this is to reach out to student groups and encourage members to meet before a

game to discuss school work and challenges.

3. Individual athletic departments should decide which sport(s) most students consume and dedicate

resources to assist promoting home games in those sports. It is important to promote all sports,

but it is also an efficient use of resources to prioritize sports commonly referred to as “non-

revenue sports”.

4. Structure department promotions and communications to a student population with ever-growing

alternatives (e.g., phones, Internet, social media). Communications and promotions have to be

concise and immediately give students pertinent facts about home games or departments risk

losing student attention.

5. In order to track trends of characteristics influencing student home game attendance, we

recommend collecting similar (if not replicating) data for the next two years. A record of four to

five years of longitudinal data would provide a robust analysis of trends within college sport.

6. In an attempt to increase student participation and retention in future studies, we recommend that

individual surveys are created for conferences (or divisions) within the membership. This may

help to decrease the number of students that stop taking the survey before completion. For

example, almost 15,000 students answered the first question, and only 11,681 answered the second

question.

7. Take measures to promote games against rival teams as this increases student likelihood of

attending home games, especially for non-revenue sports. On this note, developing a “rivalry

series” that lasts the academic year and awards points for competition outcomes between teams

can help increase interest and engage student consumption at both revenue and non-revenue

sports. A note of caution: it is very important to responsibly promote rivalries in an attempt to

control against deviant fan behavior. One way to do this is promote good participant and fan

behavior surrounding rivalry games. Additionally, joint community service projects such as blood

or food drives can help promote positive participant and fan interaction.

4

Participating Schools = 81 – Total of 11,681 Responses

School N School N

University of Nebraska 911 University of Vermont 52

University of South Carolina 762 The University of Tulsa 46

University of Florida 653 Bradley University 44

Mississippi State University 556 Eastern Michigan University 43

West Virginia University 544 Virginia Tech 43

Stephen F. Austin University 453 University of Cincinnati 42

University of Houston 435 San Jose State University 38

Baylor University 431 Central Washington University 34

University of Wyoming 412 Pacific University 34

University of Notre Dame 346 Illinois State University 33

James Madison University 343 Lewis University 33

University of Iowa 327 Saint Francis University 33

University of Pittsburgh 324 Cal State Monterey Bay 25

Western Kentucky University 321 Emory & Henry College 24

University of Southern California 308 Merrimack College 24

Kansas State University 296 Colorado College 21

California Polytechnic State University 265 University of North Carolina at Charlotte 21

University of Tennessee 254 Winona State University 21

Niagara University 251 Southern Methodist University 20

Boston College 229 Arizona State University 19

University of Maryland 224 Bryant University 16

Binghamton University 202 MSU Denver 16

Xavier University 190 Wake Forest University 16

University of Pennsylvania 176 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University 15

University of Mississippi 175 Sacred Heart University 13

University of Colorado, Boulder 162 Georgia Tech 11

Wagner College 136 Davidson College 10

East Carolina University 130 Upper Iowa University 10

Old Dominion University 123 Ball State University 8

Robert Morris University 120 University of Hartford 7

Missouri Western State University 110 University of Alabama-Birmingham 4

Auburn University 108 Stanford University 2

Colorado State University 108 University of California 2

University of Buffalo 82 Montana State University 1

University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign

80 New Mexico State University 1

Florida Gulf Coast University 75 University of Arkansas 1

University of California Irvine 75 UC Riverside 1

Florida Southern College 61 University of Minnesota 1

Northwestern University 58 University of North Dakota 1

Tulane University 53 University of Washington 1

Total Responses 11,681

5

Demographics

Race

Race N %

White/Caucasian 5042 82.3

Hispanic 300 4.9

African American 271 4.4

Asian 157 2.6

Multiracial 51 0.8

Indian 32 0.5

Pacific Islander 20 0.3

Native American 17 0.3

Chose not to disclose 142 2.3

Age M = 21.11, SD = 5.25

Gender Female = 3454, 55.5%

Male = 2704, 43.5%

Other/chose not to disclose = 63, 1.0%

In-State/Out-of-State

In-state = 4265, 67.7%

Out-of-state = 1916, 30.4%

Out-of-country = 122, 1.9%

Class (N = 6,309) Freshman = 1706, 27%

Senior = 1380, 21.9%

Junior = 1254, 19.9%

Sophomore = 1186, 18.8%

Graduate Student = 539, 8.5%

Doctoral Student = 184, 2.9%

Reported GPA (N = 6,309)

3.5 – 4.0 = 3017, 48.7%

3.0 – 3.49 = 2106, 33.4%

2.5 – 2.99 = 702, 11.1%

2.0 – 2.49 = 143, 2.3%

1.5 – 1.99 = 13, 0.2%

1.0 – 1.49 = 4, 0.1%

Less than 1.0 = 3, 0.1%

Chose not to disclose = 267, 4.23%

6

Team Identification and Consumption

Team Identification – Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS: Wann & Branscombe, 1993)

Item M SD

Overall (N = 11,080) 5.24 1.59

How important is it to you that your school Athletics win? 6.28 21.94

How strongly do you see yourself as a fan of your school Athletics? 5.99 1.90

How strongly do your friends see you as a fan of your school Athletics? 5.14 2.08

During the season, how closely do you follow your school Athletics:

- In Person? 5.22 2.11

- On Television? 4.19 2.48

- On the Radio? 1.95 1.99

- On the Internet? 5.27 2.24

- Via a Newspaper? 2.08 1.92

How important is being a fan of your school Athletics to you? 5.80 2.08

How much do you dislike the greatest rival of your school Athletics? 4.90 2.38

How often do you display your school Athletics:

- At your Place of Work? 5.10 2.38

- Where you Live? 5.75 2.24

- On your Clothing? 5.64 1.82

Notes

- Students are likely to follow school athletic teams in person (M = 5.22, SD = 2.11) and online (M = 5.27, SD = 2.24).

- Student are not likely to follow school athletic teams via [traditional] newspaper (M = 2.08, SD = 1.92) or radio (M = 1.95, SD = 1.99).

How many home games have you attended/will you attend during the current season?

Games Football Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

0 858 (8.64%) 2,330 (23.45%) 4,722 (47.53%)

1-2 1,216 (12.24%) 2,781 (27.99%) 2,925 (29.44%)

3 861 (8.67%) 1,579 (15.89%) 976 (9.82%)

4 1,066 (10.73%) 1,134 (11.41%) 523 (5.26%)

5 1,187 (11.95%) 745 (7.50%) 250 (2.52%)

>5 4,747 (47.78%) 1,366 (13.75%) 539 (5.43%)

Total 9,935 9,935 9,935

How many home games have you attended/will you attend during the current season?

(non-Football schools)

Games Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

0 167 (16.75%) 379 (38.01%)

1-3 307 (30.79%) 318 (31.90%)

4-7 157 (15.75%) 129 (12.94%)

8-10 92 (9.23%) 62 (6.22%)

11-12 56 (5.62%) 24 (2.41%)

Nearly All 218 (21.87%) 85 (8.53%)

Total 997 997

7

Sports that students have attended/plan to attend at least one home game during current season. (N

= 9,731)

Sport N % Sport N %

Baseball 5,328 54.75 Beach Volleyball 420 4.32

Women’s Volleyball 3,445 35.40 Men’s Gymnastics 393 4.04

Women’s Soccer 3,366 34.59 Men’s Volleyball 376 3.86

Men’s Soccer 2,361 24.26 Women’s Cross Country 309 3.18

Softball 1,766 18.15% Men’s Cross Country 294 3.02

Men’s Ice Hockey 1,273 13.08 Equestrian 283 2.91

Women’s Gymnastics 1,246 12.80 Field Hockey 283 2.91

Men’s Track and Field (Outdoor) 1,068 10.98 Women’s Ice Hockey 258 2.65

Women’s Track and Field (Outdoor) 971 9.98 Men’s Waterpolo 247 2.54

Women’s Swimming & Diving 810 8.32 Rowing 243 2.50

Men’s Tennis 795 8.17 Men’s Golf 239 2.46

Men’s Swimming & Diving 774 7.95 Women’s Waterpolo 174 1.79

Wrestling 772 7.93 Fencing 161 1.65

Men’s Lacrosse 737 7.57 Rifle Shooting 159 1.63

Men’s Track and Field (Indoor) 706 7.26 Women’s Golf 137 1.41

Women’s Tennis 685 7.04 Bowling 108 1.12

Women’s Track and Field (Indoor) 684 7.03 Skiing 59 0.61

Women’s Lacrosse 512 5.26 Do not plan to attend 1,509 15.51

Sports that students have attended/plan to attend at least one home game during current season.

(non-Football Schools) (N = 985)

Sport N % Sport N %

Men’s Soccer 579 58.78 Men’s Track and Field

(Indoor)

61 6.19

Baseball 478 48.53 Beach Volleyball 33 3.35

Women’s Volleyball 405 41.12 Men’s Golf 29 2.94

Women’s Soccer 400 40.61 Women’s Ice Hockey 29 2.94

Men’s Ice Hockey 323 32.79 Field Hockey 26 2.64

Softball 200 20.30 Women’s Golf 26 2.64

Women’s Lacrosse 150 15.23 Wrestling 26 2.64

Men’s Lacrosse 133 13.50 Men’s Waterpolo 25 2.54

Women’s Swimming & Diving 127 12.89 Women’s Waterpolo 23 2.34

Men’s Swimming & Diving 115 11.68 Women’s Gymnastics 17 1.73

Men’s Volleyball 92 9.34 Equestrian 11 1.12

Men’s Cross Country 84 8.53 Rowing 11 1.12

Women’s Track and Field (Outdoor) 83 8.43 Men’s Gymnastics 8 0.81

Men’s Track and Field (Outdoor) 80 8.12 Skiing 6 0.61

Women’s Cross Country 79 8.02 Fencing 5 0.51

Men’s Tennis 79 8.02 Bowling 2 0.20

Women’s Tennis 74 7.51 Rifle 2 0.20

Women’s Track and Field (Indoor) 63 6.40 Do not plan to attend 133 13.50

8

Student Attendance (Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball)

Which sport will you attend the most home games?

Sport N %

Football 5,851 60.13

Men’s Basketball 2,263 23.26

Women’s Basketball 289 2.97

Total 8,403

How often do you tend to leave game before 75% of the game is complete?

Sport Never/Rarely Sometimes Often/Very Often N/A Total

Football 4,815 (50.07%) 2,623 (27.27%) 1,636 (17.01%) 543 (5.65%) 9,617

Men’s Basketball 4,914 (51.10%) 2,246 (23.35%) 514 (5.34%) 1,943 (20.20%) 9,617

Women’s

Basketball

2,713 (28.21%) 1,958 (20.36%) 762 (7.92% 4,184 (43.51%) 9,617

How good a job does your school do about keeping you informed about home games

(dates/times/kick off times/ opponent name)?

*Football N = 9,434; Men’s Basketball N = 9,368; Women’s Basketball N = 9,322

9

FOOTBALL

Is a Football game more of a social event or more of a sporting event? (N = 9,251)

Reasons for Attending a Home Game (with at least 1,000 Responses)

10

Reasons for Not Attending a Home Game (with at least 1,000 Responses)

Reasons that Influence Attendance at a Home Game (with at least 1,000 Responses)

11

Reasons why Students Leave Home Games Early (with at least 1,000 Responses)

Reasons to Stay at Home Game Longer (with at least 1,000 Responses)

12

Men’s Basketball (with football)

Is a Men’s Basketball game more of a social event or more of a sporting event? (N = 7,262)


13


Reasons that Influence Attendance at a Home Basketball Game (with at least 1,000 Responses)

14



15

Women’s Basketball (with football)

Is a Women’s Basketball game more of a social event or more of a sporting event? (N = 5,635)


16


Reasons that Influence Attendance at a Home Basketball Game (with at least 1,000 Responses)

17



18

Student Attendance (Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball)

Which sport will you attend the most home games?

Sport N %

Men’s Basketball 558 56.71

Women’s Basketball 75 7.62

Other 259 26.32

Do not play to Attend 92 9.35

Total 984

How often do you tend to leave game before 75% of the game is complete?

Sport Never/Rarely Sometimes Often/Very Often N/A Total

Men’s Basketball 541 (55.54%) 233 (23.92%) 62 (6.37%) 138 (14.17) 974

Women’s Basketball 317 (32.55%) 225 (23.10%) 119 (12.22%) 313 (32.14%) 974

How good a job does your school do about keeping you informed about home games

(dates/times/opponent name)?

*Men’s Basketball N = 969; Women’s Basketball N = 961

19

Men’s Basketball (non-Football)

Is a Men’s Basketball game more of a social event or more of a sporting event? (N = 780)

Reasons for Attending a Home Basketball Game (with at least 250 Responses)

20

Reasons for Not Attending a Home Basketball Game (with at least 150 Responses)

Reasons that Influence Attendance at a Home Basketball Game (with at least 200 Responses)

Reasons why Students Leave Home Games Early (with at least 200 Responses)

21

Reasons to Stay at Home Game Longer (with at least 200 Responses)

22

Women’s Basketball (no Football)

Is a Women’s Basketball game more of a social event or more of a sporting event? (N = 925)

Reasons for Attending a Home Basketball Game (with at least 250 Responses)

23

Reasons for Not Attending a Home Basketball Game (with at least 200 Responses)

Reasons that Influence Attendance at a Home Basketball Game (with at least 200 Responses)

24

Reasons why Students Leave Home Games Early (with at least 200 Responses)

Reasons to Stay at Home Game Longer (with at least 200 Responses)

25

Impact of Rivalry

How students perceive or view their school’s greatest rival. (N = 6,185)

- Measured using the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale SRFPS (Havard, Gray, Gould, Sharp, & Schaffer, 2013)

- Students are not willing to support their team’s greatest rival when they play someone other than the favorite team (M = 2.89, SD = 1.56). Out-group Indirect Competition (OIC)

Item M SD

I would support my team’s greatest rival in a championship game. 2.89 1.87

I would support my team’s greatest rival in out-of-conference play. 3.01 1.83

I want my team’s greatest rival to win all games except when they play my team.

2.75 1.74

- Students slightly disagree that the academic prestige of their team’s greatest rival is poor (M =

3.19, SD = 1.69). Out-group Academic Prestige (OAP)

Item M SD

The academic prestige of my team’s greatest rival is poor. 3.36 1.82

I feel people who attended school where my team’s greatest rival plays missed out on a good education.

3.35 1.89

I feel the academics where my team’s greatest rival plays are not very prestigious.

3.49 1.82

- Students slightly disagree that fans of their team’s greatest rival exhibit poor behavior. (M = 3.82, SD = 1.64) Out-group Sportsmanship (OS)

Item M SD

Fans of my team’s greatest rival demonstrate poor sportsmanship at games. 4.11 1.77

Fans of my team’s greatest rival are not well behaved at games. 4.10 1.73

Fans of my team’s greatest rival do not show respect for others. 4.00 1.76

- Students experience satisfaction when their team defeats their team’s greatest rival. (M = 5.28, SD = 1.41) Sense of Satisfaction (SoS)

Item M SD

I feel a sense of belonging when my team beats their biggest rival. 5.42 1.63

I feel a sense of accomplishment when my team beats their greatest rival. 5.78 1.53

I feel I have bragging rights when my team beats their biggest rival. 5.72 1.57

How playing a rival team influences student home game attendance. (N = 6185)

- Comparison results indicate that students are more likely to attend a home game when playing a rival team (M = 5.31, SD = 1.65) than a non-rival team (M = 4.99, SD = 1.71).

26

How students react when someone other their team defeats their greatest rival. (N = 6,185)

- Measured using the Glory Out of Reflect Failure (GORFing) Scale (Havard, Wann, & Ryan, 2017) o GORFing – the tendency of a fan to celebrate when their greatest rival loses to someone

other than their favorite team.

- Students were slightly likely to experience GORFing when someone other than their team beat their greatest rival. (M = 4.25, SD = 1.55)

Item M SD

When my team’s greatest rival loses to someone other than my team, I want to celebrate with others.

4.35 1.84

When my team’s greatest rival loses to someone other than my team, I feel better about myself.

3.95 1.87

When my team’s greatest rival loses to someone other than my team, I feel my team is superior to the their greatest rival.

4.58 1.80

When my team’s greatest rival loses to someone other than my team, I feel a closer bond to my team.

4.12 1.79

27

Comparison of 2016 and 2015 Attendance Data

(This is a two-year snapshot, not a traditional trend analysis)

Football

Attending a Home Game

2016 2015

Rank Reason Rank Reason

#1 Spirited stadium atmosphere/Tradition #1 “Live game” watching

#2 I like watching the “live game” #2 Spirited stadium atmosphere

#3 Socializing with friends #3 Socialize with friends

#4 Tailgating before/after game #4 Tailgate before/after game

#5 Relevance of opponent (secondary rival or in-conference)

#5 Team has a winning record

Not Attending a Home Game

2016 2015


#1 Studying/Prior academic obligation #1 Studying

#2 Poor weather #2 Poor weather

#3 Inconvenient game time #3 Team has losing record

#4 Work schedule conflict #4 Work conflict

#5 Family commitment #5 Unable to get ticket

Influence Attendance at Home Game

2016 2015


#1 Chance for free “stuff” (t-shirt, etc.) at the game

#1 Free food

#2 Potential for free/discounted food at the game

#2 Free stuff

#3 A friend asks me to attend #3 Friend asks me

#4 Relevance of opponent (a secondary rival or in-conference school opponent)

#4 Cheaper tickets

#5 If going to the game gets me a discount at school store

#5 Discount at student store

Leave Game Early

2016 2015


#1 Bad weather #1 Fatigue

#2 My team is likely to lose by a substantial margin

#2 Poor weather

#3 Fatigue #3 Length of game

#4 Emergency/illness #4 Team likely to lose

#5 Length of game #5 Team like to win

28

Stay at Home Game Longer

2016 2015


#1 Competitiveness of Game #1 School tradition

#2 Tradition (e.g., everyone singing school song after game)

#2 Free stuff

#3 Free “stuff” (e.g., t-shirts) after the game #3 If friends stay

#4 Loyalty points for staying till the end #4 Free food

#5 Free/discounted food after the game #5 Loyalty points

29

Men’s Basketball


2016 2015


#1 I like watching the “live game” #1 Socialize with friends

#2 Spirited stadium atmosphere/tradition #2 “Live game” watching

#3 Socializing with friends #3 Spirited stadium atmosphere

#4 Relevance of opponent (secondary rival or in-conference)

#4 Team has winning record

#5 My school team has a winning record #5 Promotions


2016 2015


#1 Studying/Prior academic obligation #1 Not interested in men’s basketball

#2 Inconvenient game time #2 Studying

#3 Work schedule conflict #3 Inconvenient game time

#4 I do not care much about the opponent (opponent is out-of-conference, etc.)

#4 Work conflict

#5 Family commitment #5 Poor weather


2016 2015



#2 Chance for free “stuff” (t-shirt, etc.) at the game

#2 Free stuff


#3 Not interested in men’s basketball


#4 Free food



Leave Game Early

2016 2015



#1 Team likely to lose

#2 Emergency/illness #2 Fatigue

#3 Fatigue #3 Friends leaving

#4 Length of game #4 Anticipation of traffic problems

#5 My team is likely to win by a substantial margin

#5 Length of game

30


2016 2015


#1 Competitiveness of Game #1 Free stuff

#2 Free “stuff” (e.g., t-shirts) after the game #2 School tradition


#3 If friends stay

#4 Free/discounted food after the game #4 Free food

#5 Loyalty points for staying till the end #5 Meet-and-greet

31

Women’s Basketball


2016 2015


#1 Socializing with friends #1 “Live game” watching

#2 I like watching the “live game” #2 Socialize with friends

#3 Spirited stadium atmosphere/Tradition #3 Spirited stadium atmosphere

#4 My school has a winning record #4 Relevance of opponent

#5 Promotional door prizes/Other promotions #5 Going to game “in-person” helps team


2016 2015


#1 Studying/Prior academic obligation #1 Studying

#2 Not interested in women’s basketball #2 Irrelevant opponent

#3 Inconvenient game time #3 Not interested in women’s basketball

#4 Work schedule conflict #4 Inconvenient game time

#5 Family commitment #5 Poor weather


2016 2015



#2 Chance for free “stuff” (t-shirt, etc.) at the

game #2 Not interested in women’s basketball


#3 Free stuff


#4 Free food



Leave Game Early

2016 2015



#1 Inconvenient game time

#2 Fatigue #2 Team likely to lose

#3 Emergency/illness #3 Fatigue

#4 Length of game #4 Illness

#5 I see friends/other fans leaving #5 Anticipation of traffic problems

32


2016 2015


#1 Competitiveness of Game #1 If friends stay

#2 Free “stuff” (e.g., t-shirts) after the game #2 Free stuff

#3 Free/discounted food after the game #3 Meet-and-greet


#4 School tradition

#5 Loyalty points for staying till the end #5 Free food

report on college student attendance at collegiate …...2018/08/03 · report on college student...

Documents