Sports Marketing Case Study

It is vital for sports marketers to understand why the participants behave the way that they do, so that they can understand their consumer base as a whole. Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective define participant consumer behavior as “actions that are performed by those who are searching for, participating in, and evaluating the sports activities thats consumers believe will satisfy their needs” (Shank, 136). Sports marketers strive to understand participant consumer behavior because it will lead them to better understand the decision-making process that consumers use when deciding to participate in a specific sport or activity. The decision-making process is a five-step process that consumers use when deciding to participate in a specific

These factor include culture, social class, reference groups, and family. Culture is defined in the textbook as “the set of learned values, beliefs, language, traditions, and symbols shared by a people and passed from generation to generation” (Shank, 156). UAB Football had been struggling to change the culture of its team, from a losing culture to a winning one, and had began to succeed prior to the December decision. Family is another important factor as marketers usually have to sell the family on being spectators of the sport, in addition to selling the participant. While UAB football didn’t win as many games as the families of the participants would have liked, they did work to create a family atmosphere for the participants and hold events for families of participants. One example of this is UAB’s family weekend which includes a parade, a pre-game tailgate, and a football game (Family Weekend). Jason Martin, Associate Director of Ticket Sales at Ohio State University, also talks about how it is important for the fans of a sport to “feel like they are part of the team” (Jason Martin). Social class and reference groups are the final two external factors that affect participation-consumption behavior. While internal an external factors are fairly consistent to participants, it is Situational factors that are always changing and keeping sports marketers on their