Sports Spectator Behavior for Collegiate Women’s Basketball

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the Desire to attend collegiate women’s basketball (DES) and three aspects of attending collegiate women's basketball games. The participants were spectators of a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's basketball game ranging in age from 18 to 70 (N = 312). The Modified Sports Consumers Questionnaire (Milne & McDonald, 1999) was administered during a basketball game. After exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), three factors (Habit, Attitude, and Satisfaction) with 19 items were retained for Sports Spectator Behavior (SSB). Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships among DES and three SSB factors. The findings revealed that the DES was positively related to the Habit of affiliating themselves with sports (HAB) and the Attitude toward watching sports (ATT), but negatively related to the Satisfaction of watching sports (SAT). The three main predictors of SSB account for 85% of the variance of DES. Spectator behavior is always a major concern of sports organizers. An understanding of sports spectator behavior allows sports managers to promote programs effectively. Numerous researchers have tried to assess sports spectator behavior in specific sports settings such as the Women’s National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association (Williamson, Zhang, Pease, & Gaa, 2003; Zhang, Connaughton, & Vaughn, 2004; Zhang & Pease, 2001; Zhang, Pease, Hui, & Michaud, 1995; Zhang et al., 2003; Zhang, Piatt, Ostroff, & Wright 2005; Zhang & Smith, 1997; Zhang, Wall, & Smith, 2000), the Japanese Professional Soccer League (Mahony, Nakazawa, Funk, James, & Gladden, 2002), collegiate football (Kahle, Kambara, & Rose, 1996; Swanson, Gwinner, Larson, & Janda, 2003), professional sports (Roy & Graeff 2003), and men’s and/or women’s collegiate basketball (Fink, Trail, & Anderson 2002; Trail, Anderson, & Fink, 2002, 2005; Trail, Fink, & Anderson, 2003). Collegiate women’s basketball, meanwhile, has always been overlooked. With the continual increase in number of spectators attending collegiate women’s basketball games, the investigation of sports spectator behavior for collegiate women’s basketball becomes necessary. This study aims to examine the relationships between the Desire to attend