Understanding Season Ticket Holder Attendance Decisions

Abstract

Predicting attendance at events is important for efficient facility management and marketing to maximize crowds. Most work to date is conducted at the aggregate level; however, the large crowd size being predicted often means important individual decisions are masked. In many markets, increased nonattendance by season ticket holders (STHs) is being reported, which is troubling given they have prepaid and are expected to be highly loyal. To understand who attends, rather than just how many, the authors analyze the “no-show” behavior of over 5,900 individual STH of one professional team over a season. Results show that in addition to game viewing and quality conditions, age, tenure, expenditure, and prior game attendance are predictors of individual attendance decisions, with differences in how individuals are influenced by winning and uncertainty of outcome. The paper expands understanding of drivers of STH attendance decisions and provides guidance toward managerial strategies for STH management.

Disaggregated Attendance Demand: Comparing Daily Ticket Purchasers and Season Ticket Holders in K-League 1

“…Earlier literature identified that STHs are the most loyal consumers of professional sport teams (McDonald, 2010). However, recent studies have provided evidence of behavioral disloyalty in STHs, indicating that loyalty may not be appropriate for distinguishing STHs from DTPs (Karg et al, 2021; Schreyer & Torgler, 2021). Therefore, we conceptualize DTPs and STHs as different segments of sports fans consuming the same product with heterogeneous purchasing behavior (e.g., bulk purchase or single purchase).…”

The impact of environmental barriers on attendance of outdoor and indoor professional sports: the case of the South Korean soccer, baseball and basketball leagues

“…For instance, consumers who buy tickets to sporting events, but do not attend (i.e. no-show behavior), prevent scholars from having a profound understanding of consumption behaviors in sport spectatorship (Karg et al. , 2021).…”

“…For instance, consumers who buy tickets to sporting events, but do not attend (i.e. no-show behavior), prevent scholars from having a profound understanding of consumption behaviors in sport spectatorship (Karg et al, 2021). Spectators of organized competitive sport, despite purchasing tickets in advance, may not use them in response to environmental barriers.…”

“…Spectators of organized competitive sport, despite purchasing tickets in advance, may not use them in response to environmental barriers. As discussed by Karg et al (2021), future research needs to unravel the influence of external factors (e.g. environmental factors) on consumption behaviors at the game attendance-or no-show level.…”

Big Data and Analytics in Sport Management

“…This study advanced demand literature in sport and hospitality using a large and diverse data set. Karg, Nguyen, and McDonald (2021) examined "no show" behavior for STH of Australian Rules Football. Taking advantage of another large and diverse data set, the authors focused on why certain STH chose to attend games.…”