Usdathletics Finalreport Janellegalpin

Issues Affecting Sports Game Attendance at the University of South Dakota
Janelle Galpin, Marysa Basham, Rachel Green, Tiffany Eide,

Amanda Kokesh & Jenna Johnson
MCOM 400 Research Methods

5 December 2014
Basham, Edie, Galpin, Green, Johnson, and Kokesh MCOM 400 Butterflies pg. 1
Abstract
The athletic department at the University of South Dakota is looking for reasons why
students are not attending athletic events and what factors would cause students to attend athletic
events. This research report will include the literature review, which is organized into four
sections: background introductory information, fan motivation, social influence, and marketing
strategies. The literature review helps to understand the background of the subject of attendance
at college athletic events, as well as to create the survey to administer to students at the
University of South Dakota. The research questions for this report are, why arent college
students attending athletic events? and what would motivate students to attend athletic
events? The participants in the research were the undergraduate students at the University of
South Dakota. The method chosen to conduct this research was a survey, with quantitative and
qualitative questions. To analyze the quantitative data, frequency distribution measures and
descriptive statistics were used. To analyze the qualitative data, general themes and trends were
observed.
The qualitative data from the surveys found the students favorite part of attending the
game and the top three reasons were tailgating, the atmosphere of the Dome and crowd, and
socializing with friends. The top three reasons students do not attend are they had a lack of team
spirit, the unsuccessful team, and students were not interested in USD. Finally, the top three
student suggestions were to give out more free stuff, have a better record, and have more
promotions and fan and crowd engagement. Students were also asked how they would prefer to
find out about the games, and the top three responses were word of mouth, Twitter, and the USD
website. The factors that most influenced students attendance at games were the socialization
with other students and the pregame events. The factors that influenced most students not to
attend were the schoolwork they had or they had to work during the game times.
Introduction
This research report will help the University of South Dakota Athletics Department to
understand why students are not attending games, as well as identify some factors that would
motivate students to attend. The goal of this literature review is to look at research on the subject
of college sports attendance and why fans are not attending college athletic events. The research
will help to identify factors that could motivate students to attend. The information collected
from the literature review helped to form the questions that were on the survey that was
administered to students. This literature review will be organized into four sections: introductory
background information, fan motivation, social influence, and marketing strategies. The research
report will include the literature review, research questions, methods, data analysis, and results.
The report will finish with the conclusions of what was discovered from the literature review,
data collection, and data analysis.
Background Introductory Information
An article written in Time explains the threat that college campuses face when compared
to media outlets. In the article Brad Tuttle gives information from the Chattanooga Times Free
Press who reported that 9 of the 14 teams of the richest and most successful conference in
college football saw home attendance decline last year (Tuttle, 2013). The article directs its
attention to the major decrease in football attendance and the affects that it has upon the teams
despite how successful they are in their games. The key issue regarding sporting attendance is
due to the constant increase in social media users, people are less likely to go to the games. The
situation becomes inconvenient now for many attendees of the games. Instead they stay at home
and use social media outlets to take part instead. The reasons for this seem to be the individuals
growing interests in simpler methods of achievement.
Going to games is no longer a matter of simply buying tickets and coming to the game.
There are many factors that people consider before they purchase the tickets. One problem is the
rising costs of these events; not only are ticket prices going up but then the consumer needs to
pay large amounts for food, parking, as well as facing large amounts of traffic to the area. One
report in the Sentinel claimed a lot of fans have reached the point where the hassle simply isnt
worth the price of admission (Tuttle, 2013). The main problem the teams face is that with media
making everything easier, fewer people are willing to put up the effort in exchange for their
convenience.
An article from ESPN College Football is focused specifically on the Arizonas student
section decline for football games but brought in statistics from other universities supporting that
the decline in students attendance is becoming a problem for many universities.
This article showcases how different universities decided to deal with the problem of
student attendance, for example, Arizona sold 10,376 student season tickets, but 47.6 percent of
those students, for an average, didnt even show up (Rovell, 2014). This shows that not only
does the University of South Dakota have a struggle getting their students to attend but so do
larger schools like Arizona. The article showed a collection of data from students and what they
concluded needed to be changed in order to attract higher student attendance. For instance when
Arizona gave away cash prizes to students which they could only collect at the end of the game,
the number of students who stayed until the game ended increased slightly (Rovell, 2014). The
article really gives a lot of perspectives and ways of doing things from other schools, such as
Arizona, that it is beneficial to know what is working and what does not work. Then we can
decide if it can work at the University of South Dakota.
Fan Motivation
Affinity and Affiliation
Researchers have examined how fans identify with a team and the psychological
processes that are involved with fan identification. The researchers identified two psychological
processes, affinity and affiliation (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton, 2010). The researchers discuss
how people associate with teams that have an image that is reflected in themselves and they also
want to affiliate with sports teams that share their values. The main point of this study was to
examine the role that affinity and affiliation play in forming students affiliation with their
college football team. The results of the study showed that affiliation is stronger in college sports
and team identification was shown to be a significant factor in students willingness to attend
games (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton).
The team studied by Pritchard, Stinson, and Patton was the Portland Trail Blazers
basketball team. The information and results the researchers gathered could also apply to fan
affinity and affiliation in college basketball as well as football. One of the main points made in
the study was the importance of the team image. When there is a public relations issue or issue
with the image of the team members then fans no longer associate with the team and therefore
attend fewer games (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton, 2010). This article discusses what has been
found in previous research about psychology and the identification of individuals with other
social groups such as sports teams. Individuals consider these social connections very important.
Sports teams are considered an important social group for people to identify with. The authors
noted that when sports teams did things that the fan viewed as good and relatable the fans went
to more games (Pritchard, Stinson, & Patton). Past research has discussed how identification is
developed. Pritchard, Stinson, and Patton concluded, fans identify when they see images of
themselves or qualities they aspire to mirrored in a team (2010). While this is an important
factor, there is a second effect, affiliation, where individuals want organizations to share their
personal principles and values. A hypothesis being tested in this study is, team identification
will strengthen fan intentions to attend games (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton). Pritchard, Stinson
and Patton say that creating affinity and affiliation should not only lead to identification, but then
also lead to increases in attendance to games.
There are two strategies to increase consumers affinity with the team. Affinity can be
increased when the team builds a brand personality, which can be done through marketing
communications or player recruitment. Another strategy is for the teams management to take a
more active role and become more involved in creating a positive customer service image to
present to the fans (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton, 2010).
One example of affinity and affiliation that could apply to the University of South
Dakotas football and basketball programs is coming up with an approach that is centered on the
students values. In 2009, the Seattle Sounders developed a strong affinity for their team by
conducting research on which brand personality traits were attractive and that their fan base
identified with. After they had collected the responses they were ready to launch a campaign
based on the fans responses. Passion, community, courage and excellence, were the most
important to the fans and researchers could use these principles to launch their new marketing
campaign. Those, along with having fans participate in team charity activities throughout the
season increased ticket sales to more than any other soccer team in the leagues history
(Pritchard, Stinson & Patton, 2010). Affiliation is also important and strategies designed to
align organizational values with fan priorities can increase the fan bases involvement in the
organization (Pritchard, Stinson & Patton).
For use in our research, we could find out if students have a weak affiliation with the
football team and also to survey students for those keywords that they want to be associated with
our team and use them to create a campaign and to increase the students affiliation with the
team which should increase game attendance.
Team Identification, Eustress, and Self Esteem Enhancement
Swanson, Gwinner, Larson and Janda (2003) studied the factors that motivate fans to
attend sporting events. The psychological factors that they studied are team identification,
eustress, and self-esteem enhancement. This study came to the conclusion that team
identification is one of the biggest motivators for fans, because they can feel like if it is their own
team that motivates fans to participate and be more involved in sporting events.
Swanson, Gwinner, Larson & Janda (2003), decided throughout their research that in
addition to studying the psychological factors that gender and word-of- mouth marketing were
good attributes to consider. The researchers went into detail about the power of word-of-mouth
marketing and how it affects the fan base and how it can be used as a motivation for game
attendance. Word-of-mouth would appear to be especially important today as sports related
word-of-mouth is being spread rapidly via email, radio talk shows, discussion groups, and fan
initiated websites (Swanson, Gwinner, Larson, and Janda, 2003 p. 152).Word-of-mouth
marketing tends to be very effective in campus settings, due to the fact that when groups of
people are excited about an event that it tends to rub off onto the rest of the community.
Another purpose of this study was to explore possible differences in individual
psychological motivations for attending sporting events and initiating word of mouth behavior
between female and male spectators(Swanson, Gwinner, Larson, and Janda, 2003 p. 160). The
results of this study found that unlike other research, their study presents evidence that this
relationship may be gender specific. The result was that women are more likely to be affected by
word of mouth marketing (Swanson, Gwinner, Larson & Janda, 2003).
Behavioral, Sociological, and Psychological Factors
Seok, Jeffrey, Menugguk and Yoh (2009) investigated the motivational factors for
spectator involvement at mens and womens basketball games. They focused mainly on
behavioral and socio-psychological factors. A Fan Behavior Questionnaire was developed to
learn more about spectator behavior. The results of this questionnaire showed that fans are more
likely to buy team merchandise when they are attached to a specific sports team. (Seok, Jeffrey,
Menugguk, & Yoh, 2009). A motivational scale was developed to measure specifically what
factors affect motivations. Some challenges that are presented in the research understand the
interrelationships between motives and specific behavior, and developing a list of motivational
factors comprehensive enough to measure the wide variety of motivating forces which influence
spectator behavior (Seok, Jeffrey, Menugguk & Yoh, 2009).
A case study about game attendance factors discussed factors affecting athletic event
participation at a rural based Division I school. There were many factors that were discovered,
some of the factors included: popularity of sports, team performance, game attractiveness,
promotions, economics, weather, competition, fan identification, social interaction,
entertainment, accessibility, new stadium, and food services quality (Seok, Jeffrey, Menugguk
&Yoh, 2009). When looking into these, the authors believe that by having more controllable
factors they may change the focus to different objectives, such as new facilities, accessibility,
crowding, parking, seat comfort, food services and quality, and cleanliness (Seok, Jeffrey,
Menugguk &Yoh). Team performance and economic factors were also considered. However, the
biggest factor discovered was game atmosphere. Students were interviewed in this study and
they ranked game and service factors on a Likert scale. The second part of the survey consisted
of a demographics section including season tickets holder status, frequency of attendance at
athletic events, location of residence, sex, age, ethnicity, household status, highest education
level, occupation, annual household income and relationship to the University (Seok, Jeffrey,
Menugguk &Yoh).
Krohn, Clark, Preston, McDonald and Preston (2008) studied psychological and
sociological influences on sporting event attendance. These researchers established several
different issues including several that focused on a more mental concept of attendance.
According to this study, there are several motivating factors that affect the fans and how they
participate in events. These include: the personal objectives of the individual, the need for
excitement and escape from reality, and the fan identification ideal. Each of these factors
controls whether or not an individual interacts favorably to a sporting event or negatively. By
looking into these specific traits, researchers can better understand the reasoning behind ticket
sales (Krohn, et al., 1998).
The first issue to be looked at regarding this is personal objectives. This group included
the individuals who have a strong personal goal and associate these goals with sporting events.
These personal goals can be things such as money or gaining a certain level of status in society.
According to Krohn, Clark, Preston, McDonald and Preston these fans are interested in attending
sporting events not just to witness a winner and loser, but primarily to be included in the overall
atmosphere the game presents (Krohn, et al., 1998, p. 277). The games signify a lifestyle that
the participant wishes to be included in. So one way to earn more attendance for this group may
be to build on the concept of belonging attributed to the games.
The second point mentioned by Krohn et al. is the excitement and escape attribute.
With this concept the authors argue that people will use sporting events as a way to separate
themselves from their normal lives. The world becomes boring to these individuals, and they
seek outlets that allow them differences from the normal. To some this method of escape may be
even more effective than speaking to a family member or another close person. To some fans
certain sports such as football and hockey as being a difficult and brutal job, therefore they use
an analogy to relate the struggles athletes have during football and hockey games to the
difficulties they face with their own work (Krohn, 1998, p.277). Many businesses take
advantage of this by purchasing tickets for their employees to sporting events. This increases the
number of people who would usually not attend. The individuals then get to break their
workweek up with these events and enjoy the excitement created by the athletes. Businesses
could also use this time and these events to build stronger ties between coworkers.
The final trait is fan identification, where the individual benefits from being part of a
group. Many individuals feel the need to connect to something in order to have personal
validation. By identifying as fans they gain this while being able to participate with other large
groups. This article explains that fans can have serious relationship with regards to these sporting
events. Fans connect themselves as an important part of the game and feel this with the players
as well. These fans can even experience pre-game symptoms such as nervousness and an
increased heart rate. Some go a step further and actually go over game plans as if they were
actually competing in the event (Krohn et al., 1998). Many alumni go to sporting events because
they feel this sense of connection. These alumni find sporting events to be the strongest or at
least the most universal symbolic link between themselves and their college days (Krohn et al.,
1998, p. 277).
What this article argues is that a large amount of the reasoning behind game attendance is
set within the minds of the individuals. There are specific mental traits that attract people to these
events. When planning an event, the attendance of the audience focuses on this specific
universitys ability to play into these traits. The article points out that when individuals lack these
specific qualities, they are less likely to attend events. Universities have to focus on the specific
mental reasoning for why these individuals participate and strengthen it. As these authors state,
fans have all accepted the illusion that the results of the contest matters (Krohn et al., 1998,
p.277).
Relationships between Motives and Points of Attachment
Previous research has studied relationships among motives and points of attachment to
explain fan motives and spectators for going to college football games. The study consisted of
501 college student responses. Understanding motives of the fans and spectators is an important
part of marketing. There are at least nine different motives for fans to attend which include:
various achievement, acquisition of knowledge, aesthetic qualities of the same/sport, social
interaction, drama, escape, family, physical attractiveness, and appreciation of physical skills
(Woo, Trail, Kwon, & Anderson, 2009, p.39).
Points of attachment and motives are basically equal in meaning, but there are different
reasons for fans to have points of attachment to college football. The possible reasons are an
individual could be attached to a player, coach, community, university, level of sport, or sport
itself, in addition to the team (Woo, B., et al., 2009, p. 40). The students were asked about the
nine motives and six attachments, but the motive of physical attractiveness was removed due to
issues with the athletic department, the motive of family was removed due to this focusing on
wanting to spend time solely with family and/or a spouse (Woo, B., et al., 2009, p. 44). The
answers were based on two scales, the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption and the Points of
Attachment Index. The studys participants included 46% male and 53% female. The number
one motive for fans and spectators was for socialization (Woo, B., et al). While the average
number one point of attachment was a tie between identification with the team and coach (Woo,
B., et al). The study found that fans are correlated with organizational identification while
spectators are associated with sport identification, which indicates two different marketing
segments, fans of the team and fans of the sport (Woo, B., et al).With this knowledge it will help
us decide how we can market to fans and spectators of USD football.
Trail and Yu Kyoum (2011) studied factors that influence spectator sports and
consumption and explained several motivators for why attendance is limited, and then proposed
solutions. Trail and Yu Kyoum focused a great deal of their article on scientific reasoning behind
motivators. These authors pointed out that they have examined three different models of
constraints and motivators that influence attendance (Trail & Yu Kyoum, 2011). The article
pointed out three specific areas that had an influence and claimed that both positive (i.e.
motivators) and negative factors (i.e. constraints) that affect individuals leisure choices and
behaviors should be examined to more thoroughly understand individuals reasoning for those
choices and behaviors. In addition, negative factors are often more influential than positive ones
as decision factors for choices and behaviors (Trail & Yu Kyoum, (2011), p. 61). The main
study was a great deal of statistical research that identified factor issues and what the authors
believed may be affected by it.
The first model created by Trail and Yu Kyoum (2011) focused on attendance motivators
with regards to intentions. Internal constraints such as lack of team success, lack of someone to
attend with and no interest from significant othershad significant negative impact on the
attendance intention (Trail & Yu Kyoum (2011), p. 63). In order to improve attendance, it is
necessary to look at the primary motivations associated with the problem. If the university is
unable to list the problems that are causing the drop in attendance, they will be unable to address
the problems. Many institutions fail to research the primary reasons for which the student body
fails to have any interest in attending the games. These are constraints that can be changed with
simple steps of just focusing on the negative attributes.
The second point the article focused on was the issues of constraints on the spectators.
Having knowledge of constraints is critical to teams, schools and sports that draw low
attendance figures. Low game attendance in these incidences may be influenced more by
constraints than by motivators (Trail & Yu Kyoum, (2011), p. 80). One thing the journal
explained was an experiment to judge if there are any social or systematic hierarchy in the
decision making process of spectators. The research questioned whether or not individuals are
attending based on the social systems that they are a part of. While these findings showed no
correlation between a hierarchy and attendance, it showed an attempt to focus on the individuals
personal states. The article also focused on external constraints such as cost, parking, and the
location of the event as other areas of consideration for negative influences. By the end of this
study, the research provided several negative constraint solutions that may assist in attendance.
One solution for the negative constraints suggested was for the sports teams to focus on
individuals who usually do not attend these events. One reason for this is that such individuals do
not have others to attend with, and thus shy away. By doing this, the researchers feel that
individuals will find others in the demographic who they can relate to and thus become one with
the system. Another method they argue is to create an online social network to influence other
possible future attendance. The creation of an online community support effort will allow the
university to use a wider range of methods to sell tickets. An effective media strategy helps
sports consumers share team-related information, discuss opinions and build relationships with
other sport consumers in cyberspace (Trail & Yu Kyoum, (2011), p.63). The team can then
attract more attendance by providing group tickets with designated areas so that people can better
attend in groups. These solutions are managed by addressing the negative constraints of the
individuals and the motivators that would drive their attendance.
Social Influence
Stadium, Concessions, Entertainment, Activities, and Merchandise
Palanjian (2012) studied the factors that influence student and employee attendance at
college football games. For this study 998 respondents completed an online survey. The online
survey resulted in 52% of male respondents, and 48% female respondents, and the biggest social
factors that influenced fans to come to games included the stadium, concessions, in-game
entertainment, pregame activities, and merchandise sales (Palanjian, 2012). In relation to the
most popular factors from the online survey, they broke the research down even farther by which
factors had a bigger influence between males and females. Throughout this study the research
focused on how to market the games to not just a large pool of people, but how to reach specific
subjects. When they broke down the statistics between men and women they found that for
females the importance of the specific factors ranked in the order of importance by stadium,
merchandise sales, pre-game activities, in game entertainment, and concessions (Palanjian,
2012). Whereas for males the order of importance for the factors ranked other aspects, stadium,
pre-game activities, merchandise sales, in-game entertainment, and concessions (Palanjian,

2012). Palanjian found that demographics variables tend to be crucial when trying to understand
your fan base. Variables such as age, race, gender, etc tend to affect which marketing tactics
they should utilize more.
Social Impact
Inoue and Havard (2014) studied the determinants and consequences of social impact of a
sport event. A survey was administered to 458 local attendees of the 2012 FedEx St. Jude
Classic, a PGA Tour, held in Memphis, Tennessee. The results of the study indicate that a sport
event generates a greater level of social impact for local attendees if they feel a higher sense of
social comradeship at the event. It was also indicated that attendees perceive an elevated level of
social responsibility toward the event, which results in more repeat attendance and sponsors
engagement which in turn creates a higher business return (Inoue & Havard, 2014).
The PGA tour event included 130,000 attendees and 60% of the attendees were local
Memphis residents. It is important to realize that part of the tour included a fundraiser and
awareness element for a well-known American campaign, specifically St. Jude Childrens
Hospital. This could be beneficial to remember when studying what aspects of an event can
generate a higher social impact for attendees (Inoue & Havard, 2014).
Sample and data collection procedure was comprised of local attendees of the 2012
FESJC that provided their contact information through an onsite short survey conducted during
event and had their contact information on the event organizers email database. The number of
individuals on the database was never revealed to the researchers. The study investigated cause
and effect of the consequences of the perceived social impact by analyzing the post event survey
(Inoue & Havard, 2014).
Marketing Strategies
Jennings (2002) tried to determine if there was a difference between marketing dollars
spent, winning percentages and attendance. This study focused on Division I baseball, softball,
mens basketball and womens basketball. As for the research, they were either conducted by an
email questionnaire or telephone interview. The telephone interview asked the same questions as
the email questionnaire. The results found that attendance and marketing dollars spent for men
and womens games were not related. The findings suggest that as the money increases the
attendance at sporting events did not increase (Jennings, M. A., 2002 p. 62). The findings were
for general spending, not for target marketing. There was also a weak correlation between
winning percentage and attendance, yet attendance is limited to factors like: city population,
weather conditions, or the skill level of the competition (Jennings, M. A., 2002).
Peetzs (2011) article about marketing college games discusses the pattern of students not
attending games against teams who they considered not to matter as much, which greatly
decreased the supportive atmosphere of the game as well as revenue. Also there is a difference
between a fan and spectator, which the researchers think is an important key to a successful
marketing campaign. Then factors that influence motivation are discussed in relation to having a
successful rewards program (Peetz, 2011).
Peetz (2011) discusses the student rewards program at Kansas State and how it was
implemented and some problems that occurred. The problem that was occurring at K-State is the
same problem that is happening here. The high profile games such as the game against the
University of Kansas would always have a high attendance rate, but then the attendance rate
would drop for other games. The same problem happens at the University of South Dakota.
Attendance for specific games, such as the homecoming game and the game against South
Dakota State University, have good attendance but other games do not. To resolve this problem
K-State came up with their rewards program (Peetz, 2011).
The students were encouraged to sign up for the program in groups of 2 to 10 people. KState thought this would encourage the whole group to attend the game together. The students
were then awarded a point for every home game they attended. The points system determined
their place in line for the games that sold out during the season. To get the information about the
new rewards program out, there were emails sent to the students, a press release, and an article in
the student newspaper. The rewards program was connected with the students ID numbers and
their team names. The ticket office organized the points into an Excel document to determine the
students place in line based on the number of games they attended. This program successfully
increased attendance at games in 2009 by 18.2% (Peetz 2011).
To understand why this program increased the attendance we look at the difference
between fans and spectators and their different motivation factors (Peetz, 2011). Spectators
merely observe or watch a game while fans do so because they are engaged on a deeper level.
Marketing plans have to work to maintain their connections with loyal fans while also trying to
find out what could increase the interest of the spectators (Peetz 2011).
Peetz discusses how rivalry is an important factor and can influence both fans and
spectators to attend the games. Rival schools can get together to determine marketing strategies
for the games (2011). The psychological reasons for the rewards program success are also
discussed in the article. The personal investment theory, perceived options, sense of self, and
personal incentives are all relevant to why the rewards program works to get students to games
(Peetz, 2011).
Peetz concludes with three guidelines to developing a successful rewards program.
Guideline #1: Supplemental marketing strategies need to be designed and executed in

order to increase the attractiveness of an event or reward program. Giveaways, half-time
entertainment, and in-game promotions are some ways in which to strengthen the allure
of a rewards program (2011).
Guideline #2: Marketing activities should be aimed at developing stronger connections
with the teamsteps should be taken to make sure all customer service elements are
given the highest priorityhighlighting unique qualities of a team and promoting
rivalries could also be used to strengthen fan-team connections (2011).
Guideline #3: Marketing campaigns should emphasize the social aspects of attending an
event. People should be encouraged to come in groups and promotions aimed at unifying
a fan base should be implemented (2011). An example of this is having all the fans wear
the same thing, like a white out theme to unify the fans all in one color and then having
a giveaway of white t-shirts to the students in the rewards program to wear on the White
Out game day (Peetz, 2011).
Summary
This review of literature shows different factors that are preventing students from
attending sporting events, as well as some reasons why students would attend these
events. The literature discusses fan motivators, such as affinity and affiliation to the team.
The differences between men and women and how they are affected by word-of-mouth
advertising is discussed and it is found that women are more affected by word-of-mouth
advertising. A Fan Behavior Questionnaire was analyzed to show behavioral and
psychological factors of why fans attend games. Points of attachment and motivators
were also looked at. Social influence was analyzed to see the impact of social factors on
fans attending sporting events. The last section of the literature review was about
marketing strategies that focused on what other universities have done and if those
measures were successful.
Research Question
Our research question is, how do we get more students to attend USD athletic events?
The reasons students are not attending games will be looked at and then the results from the
research will be used to come up with methods and surveys to gauge students participation and
to fully understand why students are not attending games. Once the information is obtained,
marketing strategies to encourage game attendance as well as influence students decisions to
attend the games will be discovered.
Methods
Finding and Organizing Relevant Literature
In order to find and organize literature that was relevant to the topic of increasing
attendance at college athletic events the first step was to decide the concepts, variables, and key
terms to focus on. The literature review has three major sections: fan motivation, social
influence, and marketing strategies.
These three major sections were then broken down further. For the category of fan
motivation, there were four subcategories: affinity and affiliation; team identification, eustress,
and self-esteem enhancement; behavioral, sociological, and psychological factors; relationships
between motives and points of attachment. For the category of social influence, there were two
subcategories: stadium, concessions, entertainment, activities, and merchandise and social
impact. The final category of marketing strategies contained all of the information found on
marketing strategies used by other athletic departments at universities and their effectiveness.
These concepts, terms, and variables, which are relevant to the study helped to categorize
search goals and develop categories. To gather the sources needed to gain information about our
concepts and terms, a search was conducted of online databases, which included academic
journals, sports magazines, and other similar studies.
Data Collection
A self-administered, print survey questionnaire was designed to ask carefully prepared
questions to University of South Dakota undergraduate students that followed the guidelines for
writing valid questions. Questions covered the following areas:
Respondent demographics
Respondent psychographic/lifestyle questions
Information sources - How did they learn about USD athletic events?
Each group in Research Methods was required to design a survey and then a collaborative
survey was done that would be used. Each member of the team printed out hard copies of the
survey in order to ask participants to volunteer their time and knowledge by filling them out.
Data collection was primarily done on campus in such places like the Muenster University
Center, personal classes or given to known University of South Dakota undergraduate students
outside of campus. The entire Research Methods class was required to have a minimum number
of surveys filled out.
Selection of Subjects
The sampling technique was primarily convenience sampling, with the desire to
incorporate simple random sampling. In order to have a more diverse representation it is
important to follow the guidelines for selecting individuals from the Institutional Research
Offices statistical highlights of the fall 2014 calls that could guide the team on the percentages
of students in different categories. Some highlights included:
Sex, 62.8% female and 37.2% male
The majority of students major in the Arts & Sciences department
The strengths were having the ability to collect the data in a short period of time in order to get
the composite survey data together and organized. Another strength was the accessibility of the
undergraduate population, in places such as the Muenster University Center, library, and other
classes.
Some weaknesses were the misrepresentation of undergraduate demographic at the
University of South Dakota, due to choosing subjects that were convenient and not searching out
hard to find subjects to fill quotas. This may have caused a reduced validity in the data collected.
Student Demoographics by Year-Graph 1

160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Series1
In this data table is a breakdown of all the students who completed the survey in rank by
year they are currently enrolled in the university. Out of the entire survey, the largest group was
juniors, making up about 28% of the total amount surveyed. Sophomores followed this closely at
25.9% and then freshman at 22.8%. When comparing the four-year average to graduate, our
undergraduate students made up 95.6% of our population. According to the USD 2013
enrollment information, the ratio of undergraduate students to graduate students is about 75% to
25%. This means that the graduate population was slightly lower than average, but the fact that
most of these students received degrees from other universities and spend less time at USD than
their opposing side, it can be expected that this will not greatly affect the data.
USD Sex Breakdown-Graph 2
Female
Male
This survey composed the responses from 525 students in total. Of these, 208 surveyed
were male while 317 were female. So of the total population, 60% were female while 40% were
male. This is an accurate representation of the student population because recent school
demographics have separated the two into about 62% female and 38% male. From this the
opinion among the accurate statistics of the schools populations was evenly distributed.
Coding Data
To prepare the data file Microsoft Excel was used. There was a pre-made codebook to
enter data into. The purpose of using the coding sheet was to make sure that the correct numeric
and alpha codes for each respondent choice were used, as well making sure to place data in
correct column. There were multiple team members looking through the file in search of errors.
Open coding was also used to analyze the qualitative data. A color coding system was used to
code the data into the following categories.
For the first qualitative question about what is the respondents favorite part about
attending athletic events at USD the answers were divided into 16 categories: food, community,
friends/socializing, working at the games, atmosphere, drinking, tailgating, school spirit,
like/watch the game, supporting the team, in/like to watch the marching band, in/like to watch
the dance/cheer team, dont attend, half-time activities, participating in the game and other.
For the second qualitative question about what prevents the respondent from attending
athletic events at USD, the responses were separated into 16 categories: having to work, weather,
the teams record, not liking the sport, lack of alcohol at games, lack of team spirit, no friends to
attend the game with, conflicting plans, school work, issues with getting tickets, not interested in
these events, leaving town on the weekends, not liking the crowd and how they act, money,
nothing prevents them from attending and other.
For the third qualitative question about what the respondent would suggest the responses
were separated into nine categories: change the method of ticket distribution, allow alcohol at the
game, give away prizes and free items, more advertising for the games, more school spirit at the
games, the team having a better record, improving the experience/atmosphere at the game, more
promotional activities/fan engagement during games and other.
After separating the respondents answers into categories, a color coding system was
used to make a chart out of the answers to easily see which categories had the most responses.
These made it easier to analyze the data and come to conclusions.
Data Analysis
The types of statistical tests that were used on all of the quantitative data were frequency
distributions: mean, median, and mode. Correlation was used on some of the data to see if there
was any correlation between any of the quantitative questions that were asked. Tables were made
to show the frequency distributions of all the quantitative data and the mean, median, and mode
were all ran in the Excel program.
Results
Qualitative Data
Table 1 - Favorite Part of the Game

Category
Percentage
Tailgating
Atmosphere
Friends/Socializing
Dont Attend
Supporting Team
Like the game/watch the game
25%
25%
18%
17%
8%
7%
Table 1 shows the summarized results for students favorite part about attending USD
football or basketball games. The data originally was separated into 16 categories, but for the
purpose of the chart the top 6 answers were selected because the last answers had either 20
students or less supporting them. The categories were the students enjoyed the food (20
students). They had a sense of feeling like a community with other students, the players, and the
other fans (16). The students had to work at the football or basketball games (3). The students
liked to drink and drink with their friends (10). They enjoyed the sense of school spirit when they
attended the games with their fellow coyotes (23). The students liked watching the marching
band perform or were in the marching band (12). The students like to watch the dance and/or
cheer team perform or were on the dance team or cheer team (7). Students had other reasons that
did not fit into any of our categories most responses were irrelevant or said nothing, (18). The
last category was students leaving the space blank (4). This data is still important, but it would
have been lost in comparison to the top results.
The top two responses student answered for their favorite part of attending games was the
atmosphere of the game and the tailgating. The atmosphere of the game, which had 104 students
in this category, who enjoyed either the atmosphere of the dome, they enjoyed cheering on the
team with their friends, they liked to see all the students in attendance, or they liked the craziness
that occurred during games. Students enjoyed tailgating just as much with 101 students in this
category, which the category included students who liked to drink and eat at the tailgate, they
thoroughly enjoyed the new tailgate this year, and all the activities that happen while at tailgate.
USD students also found attending the games great for socialization with new people
and a great time to hang out with their friends, this category had 73 students. A smaller group of
students found their favorite part of the game was to support their friends on the team or just the
team in general if they knew no one personally. Only 32 students were under our supporting the
team category. While some students attended to support the team, some students attended
merely for the fact they enjoy the sport regardless of the teams playing and like to watch the
game in person, 31 students fell under this category.
Lastly, the fourth largest category was students that do not attend the games. The amount
of students, who have not attended a game due to conflicting schedules, the fact they do not
enjoy the sport at all, they do not want to support the coyotes, or they had negative experience
before, was a total of 70 in this category.
Table 2 - Attendance Prevention

Category
Lack of Team Spirit
Unsuccessful Team
Work
Not Interested in USD
Conflicting Plans
The Crowd
Percentage
24%
21%
16%
15%
14%
10%
To gather useful information relating to the variables preventing attendance to University

of South Dakota mens football and basketball were separated responses into 17 categories. In
order to study the most relevant answers the top six categorical reasons are showcased in Table 2
(pictured above).
The majority of undergraduate students indicated they do not attend games because of the
lack of team spirit, 77 students, and because of USDs unsuccessful basketball and football team
records, with 70 students. The top two categories go hand in hand because it would be assumed
that team spirit would raise as the successfulness of the team rises.
The third category was students had to work while the games occurred; there were 53
students in this category. Truly there can be nothing to prevent students from working during the
game times.
The fourth category most of the student responses fell into was no interest in USD
athletics and there were 50 students in this category. The answers given by the students were due
to not being interested in sports or athletic teams at USD not because of lack of team spirit or an
unsuccessful team. It would be possible that those who are not interested in sports might come to
the games if USD had a winning team and heightened team spirit.
The fifth most reported category not far behind the fourth category was conflicting plans
that does not include work, with 53 students. Therefore, students do have other activities they
wish to do on the weekend that take priority over attending a USD athletic event for example
responses included they be would out of town for birthday parties, family events, concerts, and
other events.
Lastly, was the crowd at the games prevented the students from attending. Many students
mentioned they did not enjoy the drunken students in the crowd and how rowdy they became
throughout the game. Other students noted that the lack of students in the crowd was not
appealing to them. 31 students from the survey did not enjoy the crowds. With young college
kids who generally have been drinking this can truly make or break the level of fulfillment at a
game.
As for the categories not mentioned in Table 2 included the weather, either due to rain,
snow, or cold temperatures (5 students).Students also do not enjoy the sport itself and would
rather not attend because of that (13). Some people were not interested in attending because they
would have to stop drinking in order to attend the game in the dome with the ban of alcohol (16).
Students did not attend because their friends were not able to attend or they have no friends to go
to the games with (24). Some students prioritized school before activities and did not attend due
to their homework (30). Students did not attend because of the ticket process, either there were
no tickets available or they simply did not want to wait in line for a ticket (30). Not including
conflicting plans, some students enjoy leaving on the weekends and go home regardless if there
was a football game or not (22). A couple students felt it was too much money to attend games or
would rather make money (4). Some students wrote nothing for the response (25). While some
student wrote irrelevant things for example one student wrote walk (24). Lastly, a few students
left the area blank with no response (6). These categories were not mentioned in the graph
because it would clutter the graph and not be as easy to read with all the data.
Table 3 - Student Suggestions

Category
Percentage
Give out more free stuff
21%
Having a better record
18%
Promotions/Fan Engagement
16%
Other
13%
Alcohol in the Dome
10%
More advertising Efforts
8%
Improve the
8%
Experience/Atmosphere
Change the ticket process
6%
Graph 3 demonstrates the results found from the qualitative question, what would you
suggest that USD Athletics do to increase the amount of USD students attending football and
basketball games? The results were separated into nine categories. These categories were:
change the ticket process (30 students), allow alcohol in the Dome (48), giveaways/and free stuff
(99), more advertising efforts (38), the team having a better record (82), improve
experience/atmosphere (35), promotions/fan (crowd) engagement (74), and other (63). The top 2
suggestions made by students were to give out more free stuff and prizes and the team having a
better record.
The category of changing the ticket processes includes the responses for allowing season
tickets, not having to stand in line for tickets so long, and there were many responses that wanted
to be able to swipe their student ID on the day of the event instead of waiting in line to pick up a
ticket. Some other responses were to hold promotions when giving out the tickets and to not limit
the tickets for the student sections, which applied to games that were more popular with the
student body such as the Dakota Days homecoming game.
The the category of allowing alcohol in the Dome includes responses such as, allow
people to bring their own alcohol into the game, allow the sale of alcohol in the dome, and make
the dome a wet space on campus. It is known that the NCAA regulations do not allow alcohol
to be sold at the event, so these responses are mostly irrelevant, but were included because there
were many respondents with these sorts of responses.
The category of have more giveaways and give out free items at the games includes
responses that suggest giving out free food, shooting more t-shirts out of the cannon, and just
giving out prizes in general. The top responses were to hand out free things for attending the
game and to have more prize promotions during the game to encourage students to stay at the
game.
The category of suggesting more advertising efforts, includes responses such as,
announcing the upcoming game at MUC, have more posters advertising the game, and come up
with new ways to advertise the game that students will actually see. It seemed a number of the
responses suggested students did not know when games were occurring.
The category of suggesting more promotions and fan engagement included most of the
respondents saying that there is not enough school spirit and that deters them from attending the
event. This suggests that if there were more school spirit then more students would attend. Some
of the responses in this category were to make the games more fun, increasing the morale of the
students, having the players come out to encourage fan cheering in the game, and doing
promotions or activities at half-time to encourage students to stay.
The category of suggesting students would go if the team had a better record, most of the
responses were about how they did not want to go to see a team that lost every time. It suggested
that most students wanted to see their team win and if the teams record is bad then students will
not attend just for that reason. Students want to see an exciting game and they are not getting that
from the current team.
The category of improving the experience and atmosphere of the game included
responses such as increasing cheers led by cheerleaders, offer student seating where students are
not required to stand the entire game, make the games more fun and interesting and make the
game feel like a party. These responses had more to do with the environment and how the
students felt about it. It seems that more students are looking for that game day feel with more
excitement, cheering and enthusiasm.
The last category that was included was other. Some responses that did not fit into any of
the categories or the responses were the only of that kind. Some examples of these include:
having a smoking section, not agreeing with attitudes and mannerism of the team, decrease the
number of cops, close the bars, and make all the games shorter. Most of these responses are
suggestions that could never possible and were considered irrelevant.
Quantitative Data
Games Attended
The average number of football games attended by students this year was 1.45 games
compared to 2.0465 games last year. The number of mens basketball games attended remained
relatively the same with 1.25 last year and a projected 1.8 this year. Womens basketball
attendance was .45 games last year and a projected .905 games this year. It was concluded that
football attendance went down from last year, while both mens and womens basketball
attendance will go up. These figures are presented below in Graph 4.
Athletic Event Attendance- Graph 4

2.5
1.5
Athletic Event Attendance This

Year
Athletic Event Attendance Last
year
0.5
0
Football
Men's Basketball
Women's Basketball
Merchandise
Survey subjects were asked how likely they were to purchase USD Coyote merchandise
in the future, buy USD Coyote clothing in the future, and buy USD Coyote apparel for other
people. These questions were answered on a scale of one to seven, with one being very likely
and seven being very unlikely. For the question of purchasing USD Coyote merchandise in the
future the average answer was 3.4, which is almost exactly in the middle, showing that
respondents are neither likely nor unlikely to purchase USD Coyote merchandise in the future.
For the question of how likely you are to buy USD Coyote clothing in the future the average
response was 3.07 indicating that students are neither likely nor unlikely to buy USD Coyote
apparel in the future. The answer that came up the most frequently was one, which shows that
USD students as a whole are not interested in purchasing USD Coyote apparel. For the question
of buying USD Coyote apparel for someone else the average response on the scale was 3.5227,
which was slightly higher than all the rest. Looking at this data, it can be concluded that students
are most interested in buying USD Coyote apparel for other people. The most frequent answer
was still a one on the scale, like the rest of the merchandise data. It can be concluded that USD
Coyote merchandise and apparel are not important factors to USD students.
School Merchandise Purchasing Based on Year
Score to buy merchandise
1
2
3
55
9
11
(45.8%) (7.5%) (9.2%)
Sophomore 36
21
25
(26.5%) (15.4%) (18.4%)
Junior
40
19
20
(27%)
(12.8%) (13.5%)
Senior
17
12
19
(17.3%) (12.2%) (19.4%)
Graduate
3
8
2
(13.6%) (36.4%) (9%)
Other
0
0
1
(0%)
(0%)
(100%)
Year in
School
Freshman
17
(14.2%)
16
(11.8%)
19
(12.8%)
19
(19.4%)
3
(13.6%)
0
(0%)
7
(5.8%)
13
(9.6%)
15
(10.1%)
13
(13.3%)
2
(9%)
0
(0%)
6
(5%)
13
(9.6%)
20
(13.5%)
9
(9.1%)
0
(0%)
0
(0%)
15
(12.5%)
12
(8.8%)
14
(9.5%)
9
(9.1%)
4
(18.2%)
0
(0%)
Total
120
136
148
98
22
1
This table shows a comparison between the years of the students and how likely they
would be to purchase coyote merchandise (7 being very unlikely). Due to the fact that the results
survey did not have the exact same number in every grade level, the averages differentiate
greatly. Yet this does not change the fact that there are specific trends that can be seen between
purchasing merchandise. However, when looking at the data there is a trend in every group. It
seems that in each group the majority of people willing to purchase merchandise are extremely
low. In each year, the amounts of student who are unlikely to purchase merchandise or to buy
little take up over 50% of each grade level. For example, out of all freshmen surveyed, 45% of
them claimed they were very unlikely to purchase merchandise. This trend continues throughout
each year.
Likely to Attend
Table 3
I am LIKELY to attend a USD football or basketball game for
Average
The chance to socialize with others.
2.26
The gracefulness associated with the game.

The promotions/giveaways during the game.
The opportunity to interact with other people.

The pregame events.
4.14
3.85
2.46
2.91
The natural elegance of the game.
4.18
I enjoy the excitement associated with the games.

I feel like I have won when the team wins.
I consider myself to be a real Coyote fan.
I am a big fan of the USD coaches.
I can get away from the tension in my life.
I feel a part of the USD community.
I find the games very exciting.
I get a sense of accomplishment when the USD wins.
I am a big fan of specific Coyote players.
It provides me with a break from my daily routine.
2.71
3.59
3.73
4.17
3.99
3.10
3.32
4.88
4.21
3.33
Table 3 lists each of the items the students were asked to answer about factors that would
make them more likely to attend the game. The respondent answered the item with a number on
a scale of one to seven with one being strongly agree and seven being strongly disagree. Table 3
provides the averages for the answers for each item to show which factors students considered
most important. The factors with averages closest to one are the most important to students and
the factors with averages closest to seven are the least important to students when deciding what
would make them more likely to attend a university athletic event.
The tables below show a further breakdown of the answers to the most important
responses from the section of items that students chose as most likely to make them attend
athletic events.
Frequencies for Socializing with Others
Table 4-chance to socialize
with others
Ranking
1 (Strongly Agree)
2
3
4
5
6
7 (Strongly Disagree)
Freq (N)
244
120
64
39
19
15
24
Freq %
46.48
22.86
12.19
7.42
3.61
2.86
4.57
Table 4 shows the responses to the survey question asking students if they are likely to
attend athletic events in order to socialize with others. The people who took the survey had an
average answer of 2.07, which means that they mostly agree with the statement. The mode for
this category was one, which shows that almost half of the students strongly agree that having
the chance to socialize is an important reason for them to attend athletic events. The frequency
percentage for strongly agree (one) is 46.48%. It can be concluded that students are likely to
attend athletic events for the chance to socialize with others.
Frequencies for Promotions
Table 5- Promotions/Giveaways during the game
Ranking
Freq (N)
1 (Strongly Agree)
73
2
73
3
99
4
86
5
59
6
74
59
Freq (%)
13.8
13.8
18.8
16.3
11.2
14.1
11.3
Table 5 shows the responses to the survey question asking if students are more likely to
attend the game for promotions and giveaways during the game. The respondents had an average
answer of 3.83, which means that they somewhat agree with the statement. The mode for this
category was 3, which shows that most students are in the middle on this question. It can be
concluded from this data that some people may go for the promotions and giveaways, while
promotions and giveaways are not an important factor to other students. None of the frequency
percentages are very high which shows that this is not an important issue to most students.
Frequencies for Pregame Events
Table 6- Pregame events
Ranking
1 (Strongly Agree)
2
3
4
5
6
Freq (N)
202
76
71
49
43
41
44
Freq (%)
38.4%
14.4%
13.4%
9.3%
8.2%
7.7%
8.3%
Table 6 shows the survey respondents answers to the question asking if they are more
likely to attend athletic events for pregame events. The average answer was 2.79, meaning that
the pregame events are a reason why people attend USD athletic events. The mode was 1,
indicating that a majority of the respondents are more likely to attend athletic events for the
pregame events. It can be concluded that pregame events are an important reason to USD
students to attend athletic events.
Frequencies for Feeling like Part of the USD Community

Table 7- Part of the USD Community
Ranking
Freq (N)
Freq %
1 (Strongly Agree)
129
24.57
88
16.76
124
4.23
85
16.19
32
6.10
31
5.90
36
6.86
Table 7 shows the survey respondents answers to the question asking if they were likely
to attend the game to feel like part of the USD Community. The respondents answered the
question on a scale of one to seven, with seven being strongly disagree and one being strongly
agree. The average answer for this question was 3.068 and the answer that was chosen the most
was one, which shows the students strongly agree that going to USD athletic games helps them
to feel like they are part of the community at USD. Table 12 also includes the frequency number
and percent of the students seeking the goal to be part of the USD community.
Methods of Communications to Students
Froms of Communication
Preferred Methods of Communications

Graph 5
WOM
USD Website
Posters
Newspaper
Handout
Email
TV Ads
Radio Ads
Instagram
Snapchat
FaceBook
Twitter
Series1
10
15
20
Freq %
25
30
35
For this graph the data from the composite survey of how the students would prefer to
learn about USD athletic events or promotions was used, and there were twelve different forms
of communications: word of mouth, USD website, posters, newspaper, handouts, email, TV ads,
radio ads, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. The respondents chose a number 1
through 7, meaning 1 was do not prefer and 7 was strongly prefer. It was decided to compute all
the frequency percentages of the 7s (Strongly Prefer) from each form of communication from
the data results and create a chart to see which was the most popular way students wanted to
learn about USD sporting events. It is concluded that the highest form of communication that
students thought would be most beneficial to learn about was word-of-mouth which 29.8% of
respondents strongly prefer, and the next highest frequency percentage of 27.19% was tied
between the USD website and Twitter. The other forms of communication that would still be
beneficial as a way to market to students were Facebook, Snapchat, and email which had
relatively high frequency percent of 24.76% for Facebook, 21.14% for Snapchat, 21.07% for
email, and 18.85% for posters.
Unlikely to Attend
Table 8
Table 8 lists each of the items the students were asked to answer about factors that would
make them more not likely to attend the game. The respondent answered the item with a number
on a scale of one to seven with one being strongly agree and seven being strongly disagree. Table
8 provides the averages for the answers for each item to show which factors students considered
most important. The factors with averages closest to one are the most important to students and
the factors with averages closest to seven are the least important to students when deciding what
would make them least likely to attend a university athletic event.
I am NOT LIKELY to attend a USD
football or basketball game because
Averages
I dont understand game strategy.
5.55
I lack friends to go to the game with me.
5.14
the USD team doesnt win many games.
3.51
my friends and family are not interested in

going.
4.27
4.49
I work out or exercise.
2.89
I make other commitments to friends.
3.55
I have work commitments.
2.93
I have school work/studying to do.
4.79
I go to a bar.
4.74
I play recreational sports
4.74
I watch sports on television.
4.43
I attend another college or professional game.
4.81
The tables below show a further breakdown of the answers to the most important
responses from the section of items that students chose as most unlikely to make them attend
athletic events.
Friends and Family Uninterested in the Game
Table 9- Friends and family are not interested
Ranking
Freq (N)
1 (Strongly Agree)
70
2
57
3
63
4
92
5
70
6
54
117
Freq %
13.38
10.90
12.04
17.59
13.39
10.33
22.37
The question for table 9 for students was, are you unlikely to attend a USD football or
basketball game if your friends and family were not interested? Most USD students strongly
disagreed with the question; therefore students are willing to attend games without their friends
and family. Out of the total students surveyed, 36.32% of people overall were in the top three
positive positions for this statement. In turn, 46.09% disagreed with this statement. Only 17.59%
of individuals were in-between and had no real opinion on the subject. Many students were also
in between on the question which also signifies that students might not attend depending if their
friends or family are not interested. It seems as though the majority may have alternate reasons
for not attending despite not having someone to go with. Overall, whether they have friends or
family who are interested in attending USD games, does not play a big part in a USD students
decision to attend a game.
Unlikely to Attend Due to Other Commitments

Table 10- Other commitments to friends or family
Ranking
Freq (N)
1 (Strongly Agree)
130
2
125
3
107
4
73
5
40
6
24
26
Freq (%)
24.71
23.76
20.34
13.88
7.60
4.56
4.94
A majority of students that took this survey strongly agreed (24.71%), somewhat agreed
(23.76%), or agreed (20.34%) that they were unlikely to attend a USD game or event due to prior
commitments either to friends or family. Therefore it can be concluded that having other
commitments to friends is an important reason why USD students are not attending the athletic
events. USD cannot do much to prevent the students from attending the other events that pertain
to their friends or family, so it is inevitable to get these students to attend.
Unlikely to Attend Due to Work Commitments
Table 11 Work
Ranking
1 (Strongly Agree)
2
3
4
5
6
Freq (N)
138
75
71
63
46
51
83
Freq %
26.19
14.23
13.47
11.95
8.73
9.67
15.75
The survey asked respondents if they were unlikely to attend a game because of work
commitments based on a scale from one to seven with one being strongly agree and seven being
strongly disagree. Table 11 shows the answers in frequency number and percent. The average
answers for this question was 2.74 and the answer that most frequent in the survey was 1
showing that students are likely to not attend games because they have prior work commitments.
The frequency percent was 26.19% which shows that a large percentage of students are not going
to games because they are working. It can be concluded that students are not attending athletic
events because they have to work at the same times as games.
Unlikely to Attend Based on Studies
Table 12- Homework or Studying
Ranking
Freq (N)
1 (Strongly Agree)
155
2
116
3
85
4
58
5
46
6
27
39
Freq %
29.5%
22.1%
16.1%
11.02%
8.7%
5.1%
7.4%
The question asked for table 11 was, are you unlikely to attend a USD football or
basketball game if you have homework or studying to do? With over 50% of students, most
USD students strongly (29.5%) agreed, agreed (22.1%), or somewhat agreed (16.1%) with this
question. It is clear some student come to school in order to focus on their studies rather than
participate in school activities. There is not much to do to prevent students from wanting to do
their homework or studying and it would be looked down if USD tried to stray their students
from their studies. Studying is essential for the success in school, and therefore students should
be encouraged to study and not looked down for their lack of attendance to games.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the answers to the question for the research, how do we get more USD
students to attend athletic events? are as follows. The qualitative data from the surveys found
that the students favorite part of attending the game and the top three reasons were: tailgating,
the atmosphere of the dome and crowd, and socializing with their friends. The top three reasons
students do not attend were: they had a lack of team spirit, the unsuccessful team record, and
students were not interested in USD. Finally, the top three student suggestions to get more
students to attend USD events were: give out more free stuff, have a better record, and have
more promotions and fan and crowd engagement. Students were also asked how they would
prefer to find out about the games, and the top three responses were: word of mouth, Twitter, and
the USD website. The factors that most influenced students attendance to games was the
socialization with other students and the pregame events. The factors that influenced most
students not to attend were the schoolwork they had or they had to work during the game times.
Reference List
Anonymous. Case Analysis of Game Attendance Factors for a Rurally Located Division
University. Retrieved from Google Scholar.
http://www.sportmarketingassociation.com/2010conference/2010conferencepresentations
/p-28.pdf
Choi, Y., Martin, J. J., Park, M. & Yoh, T. (2009). Motivational factors influencing sport
spectator involvement at NCAA Division II basketball games. Journal for the Study of
Sports and Athletes in Education, 3(3), 265-284.
http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=coe_khs&s
eiredir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DDeterminan
ts%2520of%2520spectator%2520attendance%2520at%2520NCAA%2520Division%252
0II%2520football%2520contests.#search=%22Determinants%20spectator%20attendance
%20NCAA%20Division%20II%20football%20contests.%22
Jennings, M. A. (2002). An analysis of marketing dollars spent, winning percentage and
attendance for selected intercollegiate sports at division I institutions (Order No.
3076288). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text. (305462112).
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305462112?accountid=14750
Krohn, F. B., Clarke, M., Preston, E., McDonald, M., & Preston, B. (1998). Psychological and
sociological influences on attendance at sporting events. College Student Journal, 32(2),
277. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?sid=72c88a82-bd2c-4c1b-bb6f74b17db2abbe%40sessionmgr4003&vid=13&hid=4207&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3Qtb
Qt2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=759268
Palanjian, S. (2012) Factors influencing student and employee attendance at college football
games (Master's thesis).
Peetz, T. B. (2011). Marketing the 'big game': Developing a student rewards program in college
basketball. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 20(2), 115-121. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/875962586?accountid=14750
Pritchard, M. P., Stinson, J., & Patton, E. (2010). Affinity and affiliation: The dual-carriage way
to team identification. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 19(2), 67-77. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/527938679?accountid=14750
Rovell, D. (2014, February 17). Will next generation of fans show up? ESPN College Football.
Retrieved September 25, 2014, from http://espn.go.com/collegefootball/story/_/id/10458047/next-generation-ticket-holder-concern-students-showcollege-football-games
Swanson, S. R., Gwinner, K., Larson, B. V., & Janda, S. (2003). Motivations of college student
game attendance and word-of-mouth behavior: The impact of gender differences. Sport
Marketing Quarterly, 12(3), 151-162.
Woo, B., Trail, G., Kwon, H., & Anderson, D. (2009, March). Testing Models of Motives and
Points of Attachment among Spectators in College Football. Sport Marketing Quarterly,
18(1), 38-53. Retrieved October 1, 204, from Proquest.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.usd.edu/docview/228107959/537D170CD97D4C74P
Q/9?accountid=14750
Yuhei, I., & Havard, C. T. (2014). Determinants and consequences of the perceived social
impact of a sport event. Journal Of Sport Management, 28(3), 295-310.
doi:10.1123/jsm.2013-0136
Tuttle, B. (2013, Aug 13) College Football Encounters Its Biggest Rival: The Couch. Time.
http://business.time.com/2013/08/16/college-football-encounters-its-biggest-rival-thecouch/
Trail, G. T., & Yu Kyoum, K. (2011). Factors influencing spectator sports consumption: NCAA
women's college basketball. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship,
13(1), 60-82.
Appendix
Appendix AData Frequency Tables
Table 1-chance to socialize with
others
Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Freq (N)
244
120
64
39
19
15
24
Freq %
46.48
22.86
12.19
7.42
3.61
2.86
4.57
Table 2- Gracefulness associated with the game

Ranking
Freq (N)
1
48
2
54
3
110
4
97
5
74
6
65
7
78
Freq %
9.13
10.26
20.91
18.44
14.1
12.17
14.83
Table 3- Promotions/Giveaways during the game

Ranking
Freq (n)
1
73
2
73
3
99
4
86
5
59
6
74
7
59
Freq (%)
13.8
13.8
18.8
16.3
11.2
14.1
11.3
Table 4- Opportunity to interact with each other

Ranking
Frequency(N)
1
195
2
143
3
80
4
42
5
22
6
16
Frequency %
37.07%
27.18%
15.20%
7.98%
4.18%
3.04%
5.32%
28
Table 5Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (n)
202
76
71
49
43
41
44
Percent
38.4%
14.4%
13.4%
9.3%
8.2%
7.7%
8.3%
Table 6- Elegance of the game

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Freq (N)
55
64
91
85
70
67
92
Freq %
10.496
12.21
17.366
16.22
13.36
12.786
17.56
Table 7- enjoy the excitement associated with the games

Ranking
Frequency (N)
1
197
2
98
3
81
4
54
5
34
6
22
7
38
Frequency %
37.59%
18.70%
15.45%
10.30%
6.48%
4.19%
7.25%
Table 8- Likely feel like they win when the team wins
Ranking
Freq (N)
1
93
2
80
3
96
4
83
5
75
6
52
7
45
Freq %
17.75
15.27
18.32
15.84
14.31
9.92
8.59
Table 9Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Freq (n)
86
71
85
111
68
42
63
Freq (%)
6.11
7.4
6.18
4.73
7.7
12.52
8.34
Table 10- I am a big fan of USD coaches

Ranking
Freq (N)
1
48
2
50
3
80
4
144
5
75
6
48
7
81
Free %
9.13
9.50
15.21
27.37
14.25
9.13
15.21
Table 11- I can get away from the tension in my life

Ranking
Free (N)
1
62
2
67
3
88
4
113
5
60
6
66
7
70
Free %
11.7%
12.7%
16.7%
21.4%
11.4%
12.5%
13.3%
Table 12- Part USD Community

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free %
24.57
16.76
4.23
16.19
6.10
5.90
6.86
Free(N)
129
88
124
85
32
31
36
Table 13- I find the games very exciting
Ranking
Free(N)
1
112
2
84
3
106
4
82
5
57
6
51
7
32
Free %
21.37
16.03
20.23
15.65
10.88
9.73
6.12
Table 14- Likely sense of accomplishment

Ranking
Frequency (N)
1
106
2
75
3
113
4
102
5
54
6
40
7
35
Frequency %
20.19%
14.28%
21.52%
19.42%
10.28%
7.61%
6.66%
Table 15- Fan of the Coyote Players

Ranking
Free(n)
1
76
2
45
3
65
4
106
5
66
6
76
7
92
Free (%)
6.9
11.69
8.09
4.96
7.97
6.92
5.72
Table 16- it provides me with a break from my daily

Ranking
Free(N)
1
106
2
75
3
113
4
102
5
54
6
40
7
35
Free %
20.19
14.29
21.52
19.43
10.29
7.62
6.67
Table 2.1- Email
Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (N)
134
18
33
69
81
77
110
Frequency %
25.67%
3.44%
6.32%
13.21%
15.51%
14.75%
21.07%
Table 2.2- Facebook

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
89
28
32
63
98
85
130
Free %
16.95
5.33
6.10
12.0
18.67
16.19
24.76
Table 2.3- Handout

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
156
73
46
94
76
38
40
Free %
29.83
13.96
8.80
17.97
14.53
7.27
7.65
Table 2.4- Instagram

Rankings
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free (N)
156
73
46
94
76
38
40
Free %
29.8%
13.9%
8.7%
17.9%
14.5%
7.3%
7.6%
Table 2.5- Newspaper
Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
217
70
73
79
38
24
22
Free %
41.49
13.38
13.96
15.11
7.27
4.59
4.21
Table 2.6- Poster

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (N)
74
31
37
81
105
98
99
Frequency %
14.09%
5.90%
7.04%
15.42%
20%
18.66%
18.85%
Table 2.7- Radio Ads

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
184
66
63
75
60
35
41
Free %
35.11
12.60
12.02
14.31
11.45
6.68
7.82
Table 2.8- Snapchat

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
150
31
35
49
80
69
111
Free %
28.57
5.90
6.67
9.33
15.24
13.14
21.14
Table 2.9- TV ads
Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
137
55
55
82
79
56
58
Free %
26.25
10.54
10.54
15.71
15.13
10.73
11.11
Table 2.10- Twitter

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free (N)
93
26
33
62
87
100
123
Free %
17.7%
4.9%
6.3%
11.8%
16.6%
19.1%
22.9%
Table 2.11- USD Website

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
55
18
31
71
86
122
143
Free %
10.46
3.42
5.89
13.49
16.35
23.19
27.19
Table 2.12- Word of Mouth

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (N)
51
14
30
75
97
98
155
Frequency %
9.80%
2.69%
5.76%
14.42%
18.65%
18.84%
29.80%
Table 3.1- Unlikely to go because dont understand the game
Ranking
Free(N)
1
30
2
26
3
28
4
48
5
52
6
89
7
252
Free %
5.71
4.95
5.33
9.14
9.90
16.95
48.0
Table 3.2- Lack of Friends

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (N)
56
36
38
38
57
81
219
Free %
10.7%
6.9%
7.2%
7.2%
10.8%
15.4%
41.7%
Table 3.3- USD loses

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free (N)
106
93
81
75
65
36
66
Free %
20.31
17.82
15.52
14.37
12.45
6.89
13.64
Table 3.4- Friends and Family are not interested

Ranking
Free (N)
1
70
2
57
3
63
4
92
5
70
6
54
7
117
Free %
13.38
10.90
12.04
17.59
13.39
10.33
22.37
Table 3.5- Unlikely to go to go exercise instead
Ranking
Frequency (N)
1
69
2
41
3
59
4
87
5
75
6
62
7
133
Frequency %
13.11%
7.79%
11.21%
16.53%
14.25%
11.78%
25.28%
Table 3.6- Other commitments to friends

Ranking
Free(n)
1
130
2
125
3
107
4
73
5
40
6
24
7
26
Free (%)
4.03
4.2
4.91
7.19
13.13
21.87
20.19
Table 3.7 Work

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free (N)
138
75
71
63
46
51
83
Free %
26.19
14.23
13.47
11.95
8.73
9.67
15.75
Table 3.8- Have work/studying

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free (N)
155
116
85
58
46
27
39
Free %
29.5%
22.1%
16.1%
11.02%
8.7%
5.1%
7.4%
Table 3.9 Unlikely to go because go to a bar
Ranking
Free(N)
1
65
2
52
3
51
4
52
5
49
6
57
7
201
Free %
12.33
9.86
9.67
9.86
9.29
10.81
38.14
Table 3.10- Rec Sports

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
37
50
55
87
79
78
140
Free %
7.03
9.51
10.46
16.54
15.02
14.83
26.61
Table 3.11- Sports on TV

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Frequency (N)
62
66
76
55
57
64
145
Frequency %
11.80%
12.57%
14.47%
10.47%
10.85%
12.19%
27.61%
Table 3.12 At other sports

Ranking
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Free(N)
46
51
56
75
53
66
178
Free %
8.76
9.71
10.67
14.29
10.10
12.57
33.91
Appendix BQualitative Data
Favorite part
Categories
Food
Community
Friends/Socializing
Working Games
Atmosphere
Drinking
Tailgating
School Spirit
Like the game /Watch the game
Supporting Team
Marching Band
Dance/Cheer Team
Don't Attend
Other
Half-Time
Participating in the Game
Blanks
# of responses
20
16
73
3
104
10
101
23
31
32
12
7
70
18
2
1
4
Previously Attend
Categories
Work
Weather
Team Lose
The Sport
Lack of Alcohol
Lack of Team Spirit
No Friends
Conflicting Plans
School Work
Tickets
Not interested
Leave on the Weekends
The Crowd
Nothing
# of responses
53
5
70
13
16
77
24
46
30
30
50
22
31
25
Suggestions
Categories
Allow Season Tickets
Alllow Alcohol
Free Stuff
More Advertising
More School Spirit
Winning Team
Improve
experience/atmosphere
Promotions/Fan
Engagement
Other
Blank
Other
Blank
Money
# of responses
30
48
99
38
20
82
35
74
63
39
528
24
6
4
Appendix C- Survey
USD Sports Survey
The Media & Journalism Departments Research Methods class is administering a survey to gain a better
understanding about student attendance at USD football, mens basketball and womens basketball
games. Our class hopes to apply the information gathered from this survey in ways that will help improve
the USD athletic experience for fans. The following survey should take approximately five to ten minutes
of your time. Thank you for taking the time to participate in this survey.
This survey is intended for students currently enrolled at USD. If you are not a current USD
student, please return it to the researcher and accept our thanks.
1. What is your favorite part about attending USD football or basketball games?
2. What prevents or discourages you from attending USD football or basketball games?
3. What would you suggest that USD Athletics do to increase the number of USD students attending
football and basketball games?
Please answer the following questions to help us understand student interest in USD athletics.
4. How many USD Football games have you attended this year (2014)?
______ games
5. How many USD Football games did you attend last year (2013)?
______ games
6. How many USD Mens Basketball games did you attend last year (2013-14)?
______ games
7. How many USD Mens Basketball games do you expect to attend this year (2014-15)
______ games
8. How many USD Womens Basketball games did you attend last year (2013-14)?
______ games
9. How many USD Womens Basketball games do you expect to attend this year (2014-15)?
games
_____
10. For the following statements, please circle the number on each line that indicates how much
you agree or disagree with each of the statements.

Very
Likely
How likely are you to
Very
Unlikely
purchase USD Coyote merchandise in the future.
buy USD Coyote clothing in the future.
buy USD Coyote apparel for other people.
11. For the following statements, please circle the number on each line that indicates how much
you agree or disagree with each of the statements about how likely you are to attend a USD
football or basketball game.
I am LIKELY to attend a USD football or
basketball game for
Strongly
Agree
Strongly
Disagree
the chance to socialize with others.
the gracefulness associated with the game.
the promotions/giveaways during the game.
the opportunity to interact with other people.
the pregame events.
the natural elegance of the game.
I am LIKELY to attend a USD football or

basketball game because
Strongly
Agree
Strongly
Disagree
I enjoy the excitement associated with the games.
I feel like I have won when the team wins.
I consider myself to be a real Coyote fan.
I am a big fan of the USD coaches.
I can get away from the tension in my life.
I feel a part of the USD community.
I find the games very exciting.
I get a sense of accomplishment when the USD wins.
I am a big fan of specific Coyote players.
it provides me with a break from my daily routine.
12. How would you prefer to learn about USD athletic events or promotions? Circle the number
that best describes your preference (1 being do not prefer, 7 being strongly prefer).
Do Not
Strongly
Do Not
Strongly
E-Mail
Prefer
Prefer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Facebook
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Handout
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Instagram
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Newspaper Ads 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Poster
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Radio Ads
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Snapchat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Television Ads
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Twitter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
USD Website
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Word-of-Mouth
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Other (write below) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Prefer
Prefer
13. For the following statements, please circle the number on each line that indicates how much you agree
or disagree with each of the statements about how likely you are to NOT attend a USD football or
basketball game.
Strongly
Strongly
I am NOT LIKELY to attend a USD football or
basketball game because
Agree
Disagree
I lack friends to go to the game with me.
the USD team doesnt win many games.
my friends and family are not interested in going.
I am NOT LIKELY to attend a USD football or

basketball game because I am more likely to
Strongly
Agree
Strongly
Disagree
work out or exercise.
make other commitments to friends.
have work commitments.
have school work/studying to do.
go to a bar.
play recreational sports
watch sports on television.
attend another college or professional game.
To help us better understand who is taking the survey, please answer the following questions.
14. What is your current age? _____ years

15. What is your sex? (Circle one).....Female ............Male
16. How many hours do you work in an average week? ______ Hours
17. What state are you from? _______________
18. Where do you live? (Circle one) On-campus........ Off-campus-Vermillion ........Out of town
19. Are you a USD athlete? (Circle one) .......Yes ...........No
20. Are you a transfer student? (Circle one) ..Yes ...........No
21. Which of the following best describes your current student status? (Check one)
1st Year
2nd Year
3rd Year
4+ Year (Undergraduate)
Graduate Student Other: ______
22. What is your major(s)? ____________________ Minors(s)? _________________________
Thank you for participating in this survey. We appreciate you sharing your perspectives.
Basham, Eide, Galpin, Green, Johnson & Kokesh, MCOM 400-Butterflies, p. 61

Please return the completed survey questionnaire to the researcher.

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Issues Affecting Sports Game Attendance at the University of South Dakota

Janelle Galpin, Marysa Basham, Rachel Green, Tiffany Eide,

MCOM 400 Research Methods

pre-game activities, merchandise sales, in-game entertainment, and concessions (Palanjian,

Guideline #1: Supplemental marketing strategies need to be designed and executed in

Respondent psychographic/lifestyle questions

Sex, 62.8% female and 37.2% male

The majority of students major in the Arts & Sciences department

Student Demoographics by Year-Graph 1

USD Sex Breakdown-Graph 2

Table 1 - Favorite Part of the Game

Table 2 - Attendance Prevention

To gather useful information relating to the variables preventing attendance to University

Table 3 - Student Suggestions

Athletic Event Attendance- Graph 4

Athletic Event Attendance This

The chance to socialize with others.

The gracefulness associated with the game.

The opportunity to interact with other people.

The natural elegance of the game.

I enjoy the excitement associated with the games.

Frequencies for Feeling like Part of the USD Community

Methods of Communications to Students

Preferred Methods of Communications

I dont understand game strategy.

I lack friends to go to the game with me.

the USD team doesnt win many games.

my friends and family are not interested in

I dont understand game strategy.

I work out or exercise.

I make other commitments to friends.

I have work commitments.

I have school work/studying to do.

I play recreational sports

I watch sports on television.

I attend another college or professional game.

Unlikely to Attend Due to Other Commitments

Table 2- Gracefulness associated with the game

Table 3- Promotions/Giveaways during the game

Table 4- Opportunity to interact with each other

Table 6- Elegance of the game

Table 7- enjoy the excitement associated with the games

Table 10- I am a big fan of USD coaches

Table 11- I can get away from the tension in my life

Table 12- Part USD Community

Table 14- Likely sense of accomplishment

Table 15- Fan of the Coyote Players

Table 16- it provides me with a break from my daily

Table 2.2- Facebook

Table 2.3- Handout

Table 2.4- Instagram

Table 2.6- Poster

Table 2.7- Radio Ads

Table 2.8- Snapchat

Table 2.10- Twitter

Table 2.11- USD Website

Table 2.12- Word of Mouth

Table 3.2- Lack of Friends

Table 3.3- USD loses

Table 3.4- Friends and Family are not interested

Table 3.6- Other commitments to friends

Table 3.7 Work