Motives of sport spectators

Motives underly many aspects of behavior. A comprehensive understanding of the motives involved with consumer behavior is crucial if businessmen are to achieve success. For sport spectators, there is much research on the motives of those attending sporting events. In this chapter, the meaning of spectator is initially discussed. Then, a review of the theories of sport spectators motivation, motives held by sport spectators, the relationships between motives and other dependent variables, and motives related to other issues are discussed. Wang and Matsuoka’s (Examining motives of sport spectators in China and Japan. Unpublished raw data; Motives of sport spectators in China: A case study of the Chinese super league. Manuscript submitted for publication, 2013) motive scale for Chinese and Japanese spectators is described. This 9-motive-24-item scale was developed based on a focus group, literature review, and pre-test given to the Chinese Super League (CSL) spectators. Further questionnaire surveys were conducted on CSL and J2-Leagues. The data from the latter two leagues adequately confirmed the scale. To some extent, the scale can be used as a practical tool for sport managers and marketers to explore the characteristic of their consumers, and further, to realize an effective marketing segmentation.