Title: Differences in motives and points of attachment by season ticket status: a case study of ACHA

Authors: Donghun Lee, Galen T. Trail, Dean F. Anderson

Addresses: Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, University of Florida, 300 Florida Gym, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ' University of Florida, 186B Florida Gym, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ' Department of Health and Human Performance, College of Education, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA

Abstract: We investigated differences in motives (vicarious achievement, aesthetics, drama, escape, social interaction, aggression, knowledge, appreciation of physical skill, interest in hockey and interest in college sport) between Season Ticket Holders (STH) and Single Game Ticket Purchasers (SGP) attending a national tournament for intercollegiate club hockey teams. STH and SGP differed on the number of games attended and the number of games intending to attend, giving support for our hypothesis that STH were fans and SGP were spectators. Because we found no significant group differences on team identification (cognitive loyalty), we controlled for it to determine if the two groups differed on motives. We found significant group differences on five motives: escape, knowledge, drama, aggression and interest in hockey. In contrast, the two groups did not differ on vicarious achievement, aesthetics, appreciation of physical skills, social interaction and interest in collegiate sport. All respondents rated these motives relatively highly in general.

Keywords: spectator motivation; ticket status; season ticket holders; intercollegiate club hockey; single game ticket purchase; team identification; cognitive loyalty; sport marketing; sports fans; American Collegiate Hockey Association; ACHA National Tournament.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2009.021755

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2009 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.132 - 150

Published online: 01 Dec 2008 *

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