What brings people into the stadium? A social science perspective of soccer fans' motives for attendance

Nowadays, sport is an enormous economic sector (Viseu, 2006). Besides, soccer is the national passion of several countries, namely, of Portugal. However, the stadiums across the country have a low occupation rate ofaround 40% during a season (LPFP, 2010). Hence, this is a totally new research where the main objective to find out what brings fans into the stadium , by e xploring multiple aspects of the consumer decision-making process . In this route, two major entities are involved: the soccer fans and the clubs. Therefore, the research design includes three studies. In the first study, the influence of multiple variables (age, sex, income, sports participation, fan s residence, team identification, place attachment, ticket price, championship ranking , membership and duration of involvement with the club as a fan) on the attendance will be examined (n=1000). The data collection will be conducted in first league Portuguese clubs. In the second study, a relation between the results of the study 1, namely, the attendance, and the marketing strategies of the clubs will be established. In the third study, a research with Belgium clubs will be conducted, in a cross-cultural comparison. Qualitative and quantitative analyses will be used. Finally, implications for management, marketing and research will be discussed.nrpages: 283status: publishe