Motivators and Constraints of FCS Spectators: Examining Past-Attendee and Non-Attendee Behavior

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 [...]