1. What Are the Most Important Factors For Maximizing Fan Attendance at Sporting Events? William Sierra, Department of News, Mayborn School of Journalism, and Honors College Faculty Mentor: Diane Verrill, Department of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences, and Honors College As an avid sports fan for many years, I have always been fascinated by the environment at sporting events. This environment, reliant on fan attendance and involvement, is fickle and subject to change that is dependent on many factors. Some variables are unpredictable and cannot be accommodated; however, some factors are controllable. The question I would like to address in my research is, “What factors are most vital for increasing attendance at sporting events?” While it seems obvious that if a team is successful, then the attendance will be up, it may not be that simple. When fans attend games, they go to be entertained. Most would agree that close games are more entertaining, so is it possible that a team would draw more fans as an average team consistently in down-to-the-wire games than a dominant team that won nearly every game with little opposition and no suspense? Fans also attend games to see their favorite players. If a team’s front office personnel decide to get rid of a player fans adore, would attendance decrease even if the move improved the team’s record? These questions can be vital for appeasing and understanding your fans. Because the sporting industry is so fan driven, the ability to make the fans happy can make or break a franchise. By selling tickets and generating more revenue, a team has more resources to use to pursue growth and success. This task is harder for some teams due to factors such as location, demographics, and tradition, which is why teams must do their best to control what they can. Finding out how attendance can be maximized is a topic I hope to better understand. Inhabitants of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex take sports very seriously. A resource of being a student at UNT is that there is a large populous of both homegrown students and sports fans. This large population will likely yield a smaller, but still substantial, group of fans that share a common favorite local team. Because sports is such an emotion-driven subject, a questionnaire would be an ideal method of receiving fan feedback on what works for attracting them to games. Different fans that come from different backgrounds have varying reasons as to why they will choose to spend their hard earned money on tickets for a game. Because of this, I will have to be especially careful to avoid selection bias. The goal of this final survey is to cover as many variables as possible about why fans will attend a sporting contest without polarizing the questions. An interesting finding in past research on maximizing fan attendance at sporting events has been the close game factor (Levin 2009). This raises the question of what type of team will achieve optimal attendance at its games (Levin 2009). Would a dominant team accumulate the largest fan base by gaining loyalty from its fan base through consistent winning? One researcher suggests that fans would like to see a team that is more likely to be in a close, down-to-the-wire game (Levin 2009). While these games are more exciting and do generate more interest than a game in which the home team routinely blows out its opponents, the fans are also more likely to go home disappointed if their team loses. In modern day sports, is it possible that both college and professional athletes are so well coached and well prepared that no team is going to simply annihilate every opponent they face? Other research suggests the sheer talent and skill of every player that competes at a high level will automatically create suspense and a reason to watch until the final buzzer (Bar-Eli 2011). These factors could differ among college teams versus professional teams. It is very possible that college athletics are more likely to feature a wide disparity in skill level between teams’ players than in professional sports, causing wider margins of victory and more likelihood of a dominant team. The presence of students at a college game is also not to be overlooked. Many factors go into a college student attending his school’s sporting event (Ferreira 2001). The unpredictable behavior of a college student adds more variability to this debate. So can one assume that college students would prefer a close game, where the atmosphere is serious, or a blowout, where they can get away with playing around more while feeling less stress throughout the game? Thus, the following factors will be included in my study in order to address my research question: Team success Suspense level of team’s games Fan’s satisfaction/disappointment post game Athlete level of performance, and Demographics of fan base Warren Burggren, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Vish Prasad, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Economic Development Roy Busby, Ph.D., Dean, Mayborn School of Journalism Gloria C. Cox, Ph.D., Dean, Honors College Nann Goplerud, Chair, Department of News, Mayborn School of Journalism Levin, Michael A, and Robert E. McDonald. 2009. The value of competition: Competitive balance as a predictor of attendance in spectator sports. International journal of sports marketing and sponsorship, 96. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=81021f2a-05d3-4572-9bee- c19a2d2bd13e@sessionmgr11&vid=4&hid=109 Bar-Eli, Michael, Henning Plessner, and Markus Raab. 2011. Judgment, decision making, and success in sport. 232. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/unt/docDetail.action?docID=10494600 Ferreira, Mauricio. 2001. The effects of contextual factors and attribute importance on college students' sport event preference and attendance. 163. Retrieved from http://www.oregonpdf.org/print- script.cfm?path=../pdf\&src=PE4223Ferreira(14-2).pdf Images Courtesy of: http://www.crimsonquarry.com/2011/9/23/2443454/indiana-hoosiers-at-north-texas-mean-green-preview http://espn.go.com/travel/stadium/_/s/mlb/id/13/rangers-ballpark-arlington http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/nov/06/university-of-memphis-football-at-crossroads/ http://www.unt.edu/northtexan/fall2008/meangreenmania/ Possible Topics To Cover In Survey: Is fan male or female? Length of fanhood Average number of games attended per year Average number of games viewed on television per year Does the fan typically leave before the game is over? If so, how soon before the conclusion of the game? Favorite player(s) What personnel decisions would make one attend fewer games? What personnel decisions would make one attend more games? Personal commitment to being a fan BACKGROUNDLITERATURE REVIEWRESEARCH METHODS SURVEY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BIBLIOGRAPHY