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The current study investigated Major League Soccer (MLS) premium seating purchase motivations. Results of the qualitative thematic analysis indicated perceived motivations of luxury suite purchases included entertainment of others, prestige, and sponsorship/branding connections. Previous attendees indicated their ticket upgrade to a suite would be motivated by entertainment of others, and prestige. Additionally, results indicated perceived motivations of both past club seat purchases and prior attendees’ ticket upgrade to a club seat included prestige, watching the game, and value. Notably, only past club purchasers denoted corporate entertainment, whereas only prior attendees denoted a social group outing as their club ticket upgrade motive. Importantly, the findings highlighted that MLS premium seating appealed to both individuals and corporations. Moreover, the prevalence of the prestige motive may indicate a separation between fans through being judgmental of seating sections, and these results helped develop a new conceptual perspective in the Theory of Spectator Seating Superiority (TOSSS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As sport attendance is declining athletic administrators must look to increase fan support, particularly from students as they are considered future supporters. Moreover, non-premier sport levels often have less financial room for error, but revenue potential exists in football. As such, the purpose of this study was to analyze football game patronage at the FCS level. One focus was to understand attendance motivators of those that have previously attended a game. Another focus was to analyze non-attendance over a season through constraints and what can prevent attendance. Comparisons were conducted of those that have previously attended to those that have never attended, as well as upperclassmen to underclassmen. A multiple linear regression indicated internal motivators of team attachment, and to a lesser extent player attachment and level of sport attachment, predicated attendance. The MANCOVA results indicated significant constraint differences between past-attendees and never-attendees, as well as between upperclassmen and underclassmen, but the interaction effect was not significant. The commitment constraint was significantly different between past-attendees and non-attendees, and the stadium location constraint was significantly different between upperclassmen and underclassmen. However, none of the significant differences rose to a meaningful level. Theoretically, the study suggests the concept that certain variables only impact attendance in a positive manner, or negative manner, is not always accurate. Moreover, it may be time to re-think how spectator constraints are studied. The findings also emphasize the FCS is different from other football levels, and practitioners should accordingly adjust their promotional tactics to increase student game attendance. Keywords: football; attendance; motivators; constraints; FCS; student attendance; sport consumer behavior, Introduction Among sport spectatorship in the United States, football is the most popular (Norman, 2018), but attendance is declining across all college levels (Bonesteel, 2018; National, 2019). Accordingly, the concept [...]

The current exploratory study determined the prevalence of the sport management academic degree being offered in top-ranked institutions as based on U.S. News & World Report rankings. A focus on the differences of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees being offered, or not offered, was placed on national universities and liberal arts colleges because of the prevalence of these institution types and their educational settings. Additionally, the study aimed to determine if relevant indicators predicted a sport management degree being offered at a top-ranked national university and liberal arts college. Results indicated significant differences, with sport management degrees being offered at a higher frequency in national universities than liberal arts colleges. However, the sport management degree was largely not offered by the majority of top-ranked institutions. Notably, ranking, enrollment, and public/private institutional status did not predict sport management degree offerings at a liberal arts college. However, a national university had an increased likelihood of offering a sport management degree as enrollment increased and ranking increased (i.e., moved closer to 150). Altogether, the project highlighted that while the sport management academic discipline has certainly grown since its inception, growth has not really occurred at top-ranked higher education institutions, especially liberal arts colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated systems of PEM water electrolyzers (PEMWE) and photovoltaic (PV) power plants are a promising method for the production of green hydrogen with zero-carbon emissions. Despite their potential, matching the intermittent nature of solar energy with the continuous demand for hydrogen production remains a challenge. In directly coupled PV-H 2 systems, the electrolyzer is operated dynamically with frequent load changes and shutdown (SD) periods whereas battery assisted systems enable steady operation at a fixed power rate. In this study, two accelerated stress tests (ASTs) were designed based on the data from a 100 kWp PV plant to mimic failure under real-life conditions in a single cell PEMWE. The first AST represents a time-accelerated PV-profile that depicts power imbalances during daytime and idle periods at night, where the cell is kept at open circuit voltage (OCV). In the second AST, the SD periods are compensated by a protective current of 0.3 A cm−2 to simulate a battery assisted system. A thorough electrochemical and physical characterization revealed a correlation between SD periods and the accelerated degradation of PEMWE components. With regard to the battery-supported AST, a lower degradation rate of ∼3 mV h−1 at 1 A cm−2 compared to ∼11 mV h−1 for the intermittent operation was recorded. [Display omitted] • A novel accelerated stress test for testing the impact of solar photovoltaic energy on electrolyzer operation is presented. • The role of OCV in PEM electrolyzer degradation is identified in a complementary investigation. • A thorough examination of the primary degradation mechanisms in PEMWE is caried out via various characterization techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As financial and sustainability pressures placed upon collegiate athletic programs grow, it is important to understand all revenue generation areas, which include luxury suites. However, while suite finances are readily available on American professional sports, the opposite appears true for collegiate sports. As the first empirical investigation on the pricing of college suites, this study aimed to contribute to the limited literature on luxury suites and help better understand the luxury suite market. Multiple regression analyses were used to develop two significant models that estimated collegiate football luxury suite price using 16 explanatory variables. The results explained between 65% and 68% of the variation in suite price, highlighted the uniqueness of the college football suite market, and indicated that Conference Affiliation, Suite Capacity, County Income, Tickets Included, College Basketball Competition, and Winning Percentage were positively related to suite price, while County Population had a significant negative impact. Keywords: pricing, athletic revenue, luxury suites, suites, college suites, collegiate sport, sport finance, football, college football, college athletics, Introduction Intercollegiate athletics are a popular, and at times, profitable segment of the American sport landscape (Knight, 2009). While the finances and operations of these public and private not-for-profit organizations [...]