1. Factors affecting collegiate sports season-ticket holders' satisfaction and renewal intention Steve Chen, William Salazar, and Lynne Fitzgerald Morehead State University 2009 Annual AAHPERD Convention, Tampa, Florida IntroductionPurpose: (1) Examining the fan satisfaction on perceived service quality (2) Identifying motives for attending basketball games (3) Identifying the season ticket holders intention for renewing their season-ticket package. Benefits: (1) Finding strategies to expand the current fan base (2) Retaining current season ticket holders (3) Finding strategies to improve services and promotional activities Review of Literature Satisfaction of the Season-Ticket Holders: Criteria for evaluation: ticket costs, accessibility to facilities, entertainment value, services to season-ticket members, on-field performance, communication, quality of facilities, and food services. A high level of satisfaction would tend to generate a high potential of future ticket purchases. Motivating factors for Game Attendance: Winning is probably the most single dominant factor in increasing fan attendance. Star athletes are also an important factor that draws fans to athletic events. Identified Socio-psychological factors for attending sporting events: game schedules, discretionary income, competing activities/events, fan loyalty and event satisfaction. Renewal Intention of the Season Ticket Holders: Key factors that affect season ticket holders renewal intentions: (1) team performance, (2) the economy (3) game competitiveness, (4) athletic event, (5) social interactions and (6) star athletes. Methodology Participants and Procedure: (1) 94 season-ticket holders and 148 non-season-ticket holding attendees (including 115 students) attendees (including 115 students) (2) Participants were attendees at three MSU home games in early February in 2008 February in 2008 (3) Participants were randomly selected in a convenient sample Instrument : (1) A modified questionnaire based on the studies of Beccarini and Ferrand (2006), McDonald and Shaw (2005), and Pan and Baker (2005). (2) The 60-item survey covered five major sections: (1) demographic information, (2) motives for attending athletic events, (3) reasons for renewing season-tickets, (4) satisfaction toward the existing services and programs, and (5) overall satisfaction and renewal interest. Results Major Characteristics of Fan Demographics: (1) Male: 128 (52.9%); Female: 114 (47.1%) (2) Two main age groups: Under 30 (55%) and Above 50 (28/%) (3) 68% are students and local fans and are 94% White (4) 64% took less than 15 minutes to travel to the games (5) 71% spent less than $50 on MSU merchandises Specific Characteristic of Season Ticket-holders: (1) 52% own the season ticket less than 3 years; 22.4% are long- time fans (own the season ticket more than 10 years) Three Major Influential Factors for Game Attendances : (Loading =.636) Fans Satisfaction on Three Key Service Categories : (Loading =.690) Four Factors Affecting Renewal Intention: (Loading =.701) Top 5 Reasons for Attending Games: Top 5 Reasons for Reviewing Season Tickets Top 5 Ratings in Services Overall Impression RankReasonScore1 The ticket price is very reasonable 4.21 2 I want to be with my friends/family 4.13 3 I want to be part of atmosphere 4.11 4 I feel happy when I watch others playing 4.07 5 The game is very exciting 4.00 RankReasonScore1 The games provide great entertainment 4.17 2 I have a strong interest in attending the sport events 4.06 3 My love for sports is strong 4.04 4 Ticket purchasing process is at ease 3.95 5 The matches are exciting 3.94 RankReasonScore1 Safety of the environment/arena 4.23 2 Condition of the event facility 4.11 3 Performance of the coaching staff 4.10 4 Game atmosphere 4.01 5 Administration of the athletic staff 3.98 StatementScore I would love to renew my season ticket again 4.25 I am satisfied with the provided service quality 4.12 I am satisfied with my season ticket holders status 4.11 I have received a great deal out of the package 4.03 Conclusions (1) The participants perception on the management of event and facility (MEF) is the best predictor for their overall satisfaction. (2) Season-ticket holders willingness to renew could be best predicted by their perceived ratings on Administration and Tangible Services(ATM) and Team Performance. (3) Participants who tended to value ATS, were more likely to have a higher level of overall satisfaction and better satisfactory rating in MEF. (4) Participants satisfaction and willingness to renew season tickets varied significantly based on demographic classifications. (5) This study reaffirms the concept that athletic departments could still remain optimistic about its ticket sales by aggressively marketing their added services and special fan incentives (6) As long as the offered season-ticket packages and improved service quality were valued by all spectators, a mediocre performance by the team did not effect attendance. Social and psychological motivation (SPM), 3.93 Characteristics and performance of the team (TEAM) 3.68 Amotivation (i.e., I got nothing to do). 3.67 Management of event and facility (MEF)4.06 Ticketing related business (TRB)3.70 Food and entertainment (FET)3.76 Administration and tangible services (ATS)3.87 Team performance (TP)3.37 Social-related concerns (SRC)3.33 Love for sports (LOVE)4.06