The relative importance of the sportscape in football game attendance at a NCAA division I-A university

Because football at Texas Tech, like most other Division I universities, supplies much of the revenue for the athletic department, ticket sales are of the utmost importance. The president of Texas Tech University formed the Pride and Pageantry Committee in the fall of 2000 and charged them with revitalizing fan interest in Red Raider football. To accomplish this charge, the Bonham Group, a sports marketing research firm in Denver, Colorado, conducted a market analysis of the Texas Tech football fan base and collected the data used in this dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to establish the importance of the sportscape in the experiences of the Texas Tech University football fan. Data from season ticket holders as well as the occasional game attendee were analyzed.

The Bonham data contained three variables which serve as a proxy for "stadium factors". Those variables were stadium parking, fan control, and food service quality. In addition, the Bonham data contained a proxy for "team loyalty" and "desire to stay at the game". Loyalty, stadium parking, fan control, food quality, selected demographic categories and Texas Tech gameday factors were independent variables that were entered into a logistic regression equation as predictors of Texas Tech football season ticket holder.

The study identified six significant independent variables and discussed opportunities for gameday and season ticket marketing for Texas Tech were presented.