چکیده:
Background. Sport spectators are an essential part of the professional sport landscape. Spectators are important economically, because they generate revenue through ticket and concession sales, and provide ambience for broadcast televisions. Problematically, spectators’ attendance is declining in many professional leagues throughout the world.
Objectives. The current study aimed at identifying factors affecting spectators’ attendance in the Iranian Football League.
Methods. Initial data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 20 participants, with expertise in the Iranian Football League. Using Q Methodology, 50 Q-expressions were sorted by the participants. Then, Q-factor analysis was performed.
Results. The study identified seven broad factors: 1) Lack of desirable access and transportation services to/from the stadiums; 2) Defective implementation of strategic plans in federations and clubs; 3) The impact of low-quality plays and the superiority of TV services to stadium ones; 4) Inappropriate services in stadiums; 5) Inappropriate stadium atmosphere; 6) Economic problems of spectators; and, 7) Paying more attention to margins by media from the viewpoint of critics.
Conclusions. Football officials can increase the number of spectators in stadiums by systematically removing these damages from the Iranian football body, which may solve many other problems as well.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The study identified seven broad factors: 1) Lack of desirable access and transportation services to/from the stadiums; 2) Defective implementation of strategic plans in federations and clubs;3) The impact of low-quality plays and the superiority of TV services to stadium ones; 4) Inappropriate services in stadiums; 5) Inappropriate stadium atmosphere; 6) Economic problems of spectators; and, 7) Paying more attention to margins by media from the viewpoint of critics.
KEY WORDS: Spectator, Mental Model, Declining Presence, Q Methodology INTRODUCTION The sports marketing industry has changed a lot in the past 20 years, just like companies, organizations, and sports clubs that use new promotional tools to attract more customers in the current competitive environment.
, studied Spanish Football League and indicated the planning and scheduling of tournaments as the most important factors in spectators’ attendance; among these factors, holding games on time, providing easy access to the stadium, and presenting the full schedule of matches early in the season were noteworthy (15).
Therefore, the current study aimed at investigating the decline in attendance and number of sport fans in the stadiums of the Iranian Premier League.
Based on the results, seven distinct mental patterns regarding the absence of spectators from the stadiums to watch Iranian Football league matches were identified.
Proponents of this mental pattern believed that the poor quality of services provided in football stadiums and the better quality of the video media (TV) declined attendance of spectators.
Based on this mental pattern, the economic status of spectators and fans of the Iranian Premier League clubs had a direct correlation with attendance rate in stadiums.