TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 and Attendance Demand for Professional Sport in Japan
T2 - A Multilevel Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional National Data during the Pandemic
AU - Funahashi, Hiroaki
AU - Sato, Shintaro
AU - Furukawa, Takuya
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Research Institute of Sport Business Waseda University, Research Institute of Sport Management Doshisha University, and Japan Society of Sports Industry for providing us with the data.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5/1
Y1 - 2022/5/1
N2 - In the current investigation, we assess the effect of COVID-19 on intention-based spectator demand for professional sports in Japan captured by eight, monthly repeated cross-sectional national surveys from May to December 2020 (n = 20,121). We regress spectator demand on individual (e.g., gender), prefecture-wave (e.g., COVID-19 infection status), and prefecture-level factors (i.e., with or without quality professional teams). The results of multilevel logistic regression demonstrate that individual (i.e., male, younger, full-time employment, and with children status) and prefecture-level team factors (i.e., with teams) were associated with intention-based spectator demand. Nevertheless, COVID-19-related factors were found to be unrelated to spectator demand. The findings imply that sports fans are likely to return to the stadium once behavioral restrictions are lifted. The current research provided further evidence that individual factors and team quality serve as influential antecedents of spectator demand in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.
AB - In the current investigation, we assess the effect of COVID-19 on intention-based spectator demand for professional sports in Japan captured by eight, monthly repeated cross-sectional national surveys from May to December 2020 (n = 20,121). We regress spectator demand on individual (e.g., gender), prefecture-wave (e.g., COVID-19 infection status), and prefecture-level factors (i.e., with or without quality professional teams). The results of multilevel logistic regression demonstrate that individual (i.e., male, younger, full-time employment, and with children status) and prefecture-level team factors (i.e., with teams) were associated with intention-based spectator demand. Nevertheless, COVID-19-related factors were found to be unrelated to spectator demand. The findings imply that sports fans are likely to return to the stadium once behavioral restrictions are lifted. The current research provided further evidence that individual factors and team quality serve as influential antecedents of spectator demand in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.
KW - COVID-19
KW - multilevel logistic model
KW - professional sports
KW - spectator demand
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19095318
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19095318
M3 - Article
C2 - 35564713
AN - SCOPUS:85128731687
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 9
M1 - 5318
ER -
