Factors Influencing Spectatorship of Disability Sport
Management Whitepaper
A Comparative Analysis of Factors Influencing
Spectatorship of Disability Sport
A Qualitative Inquiry and Next Steps
Michael Cottingham, Brian Gearity, Andrew Goldsmith
Wonyoung Kim, Matt Walker
I. Research Problem
Consumer behavior has been of keen interest in sport and leisure studies during the past 20 years. Efforts to understand sport consumer behavior have relied
heavily on scales designed to examine various consumer experiences. While these
standardized measures have served researchers well in mainstream professional
or revenue-generating collegiate sports other sport contexts have received little attention. Disability sport, for example, lacks context-specific investigations, which
could prove valuable both in the academic discourse and in an applied setting as
sports managers and practitioners strive to understand what motivates spectators
to consume disability sport. If we assume that disability sport is unique from nondisability sport, it is reasonable to surmise that hegemonic perspectives used to
measure general sport consumption might not be suitable for assessing disability
sport. Considering the limited work on disability sport consumption and the lack
of appropriate measures to reveal the nuanced reactions of spectators, research
is needed to provide greater understanding on the spectators of disability sport.
Such findings could enhance how disability sports are marketed to the general
public.
II. Issues
Disability sport promoters are constrained by razor-thin budgets and typically lack formal marketing departments. For these reasons, marketing strategies
utilized by these practitioners are often based on “a hunch” or habit rather than
empirical data. These same promoters have recently been provided with empirical data on disability sport consumption by a number of academics. The issue is
that this empirical data is based on able-bodied sport marketing factors and only
quantitative data collections. Due to these limitations, disability sport promoters
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Cottingham et al.
are not provided with a full view of disability-sport spectator motivations and
experience. This study provides both researchers and practitioners with a richer
understanding of the factors that influence disability sport spectatorship. The authors hope that these findings help guide promotional strategies to increase disability-sport spectatorship.
III. Summary
Findings indicated that when asked why people attended, rather obvious answers were provided (i.e., “I am volunteering” or “I am here to support a
team”); however, when asked what they were aware of, answers that more similarly matched results identified in nondisability sport contexts (i.e., strategy, close
games, violence in the game). A full list of all themes and subthemes are provided
here.
Table 1 Table
1
Research Question 1: Reasons for Attendance Research Question 1: Reasons for Attendance
Frequencya Quote Volunteering 10 “I’ll give you a convoluted answer. I take a lot of pictures, so part of it is just looking for photo ops,” said Dan. Family 8 “My sister. She’s on the rugby team and I’m motivated to come because she loves it,” Monica shared. Support of a team 6 “I came to support the team I started with,” professed Edgar. Friendship 5 “You connect with some old friends, see some old buddies,” declared Clayton. Attachment to the sport 4 “I just come ‘cause it’s really fun, it’s really a fun sport to watch,” Patty shared. Engagement in the sport 3 “Well, I’ve actually been out of the game since ‘05 and I just wanted to come watch it,” Clayton verbalized. Education/Knowledge 2 “[Watching] helps me with coaching,” Bobby answered. Factor a
Must have more than one person identifying the factor. bRefers to supporting research identified in disability or nondisability sport consumer behavior literature. 41
Factors Influencing Spectatorship of Disability Sport
Table 2 Table
2
Research Question 2: What are Spectators Aware of While Watching? Research Question 2: What are Spectators Aware of While Watching?
Factor Sport Skills Strategy Frequencya 23 8 Quote “I like to see a lot of action, a lot of strategy I guess, watch the different ways they’ll defend, lock up a key player, try to keep key players open for offensive. It’s fun to watch,” Victor offered. Athleticism/ Strength 7 “He jumped up with his chair strapped on his back and ran, caught himself on the wall. Everybody was just kind of shocked,” Kyle described. 5 “They are all aware of what’s going on in the game cheering and you know, supporting each other,” said Morgan. 3 “You [the athletes] have to think ahead so much farther because they can’t just everything changes so quickly,” Steve noted. Teamwork Mental skills Game Features Closeness of play Excitement Level of play Disability Issues Overcoming to compete 13 7 “Well, I just like in any other sports, I like to see a close game, good sportsmanship, and some good ball playing,” Victor said. 3 “Lots of excitement….it’s just an exciting game,” said Patty. 3 “Nationals, it’s just the elite competition it’s the best of the best,” said Clayton. 12 10 “Well, you have different functions, you have different, you know, some people how they overcome their disability or use their disability to their advantage or you know how they overcome, they have limited use of grip,” said Murray. 2 “I think it’s real nice that they have a sport available for people that are quads and those kinds of things that really can’t participate in the other kind of athletic activities,” said Ricky. 9 “You mean actually watching it? It’s oh of course you like it when they crash like NASCAR you know? Contact! It’s like hockey and NASCAR, you like it when they get at it,” said Craig. Supporting opportunities Violence Family and Friends Family 42
Friends 7 4 “Well number one, my husband is a quad,” said Ivy. 3 “I know a lot of the guys so watching some friends play, especially the Lakeshore team,” said Mitch. 2 “I think it’s real nice that they have a sport available for people that are quads and those kinds of things that really can’t participate in the other kind of athletic activities,” said Ricky. Table
2 (cont.)
9 “You mean actually watching it? It’s oh of course you like it when they crash like NASCAR you know? Contact! It’s like hockey and NASCAR, you like it when they get at it,” said Craig. Family and Friends 7 opportunities Violence Family Friends Education Cottingham et al.
4 “Well number one, my husband is a quad,” said Ivy. 3 “I know a lot of the guys so watching some friends play, especially the Lakeshore team,” said Mitch. 6 Watching others improve 2 “Seeing people, how they improve over the years. How the teams improved or degrade depending on the year,” said Jack. 2 “When I first started watching, it just looked like people running around and I did not realize there were actual plays, set plays. Offenses and defenses and strategies (pause) all that kind of stuff. So it’s learning primarily,” said Dan. 2 “It’s just pretty cool to come see the different disabilities, different people (long pause) people that come from different countries… just to get to know…see how their life is,” said Brock. Learning strategy Learning about sport environment a
Must have more than one person identifying the factor. bRefers to supporting research identified in disability or nondisability sport consumer behavior literature. IV. Analysis
Data was collected from 27 participants at Quad (wheelchair) Rugby Nationals. Participants were interviewed before or after games. Spectators were asked to
discuss why they were attending and a more indirect question of ‘what they were
aware of.’ This second question identified many of the more implicit motives for
why people attend a sporting event. Answers were recorded and transcribed. Researchers reviewed the materials and discussed and confirmed themes.
V. Discussion/Implications
Many of these factors had been identified in nondisability sport contexts, but
with variations on the same theme (i.e., violence and the juxtaposition of masculinity and disability instead of just aggressiveness in sport). Other themes were
identified that have no application to able-bodied sport (i.e., overcoming disability,
or supporting opportunities for people with disabilities). These findings indicate
that many of the reasons that spectators attend disability sport events are similar
to why they attend nondisability sporting events, only with small motivational
differences. In addition, a few factors are unique to disability sport spectatorship.
These factors relate to the perception of disability itself.
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Factors Influencing Spectatorship of Disability Sport
These findings provide much needed direction regarding the attendees’ perspectives. We identified several important considerations for practitioners:
1. Sport skills are important. Spectators enjoy the strategy of the sport and the
athleticism of its participants. Promoters should actively educate spectators
on disability sport (something they may not be familiar with), so they can
better appreciate the sport skills.
2. Aspects of disability are important to spectators. Some experts on disability
sport and disability studies believe that promoting disability as overcoming is
objectifying. We do not dispute this view. We do, however, have evidence from
this study that watching athletes with disabilities overcome may be an effective promotional strategy. Sport promoters should keep this evidence in mind.
3. All stakeholders are sport customers. Many people attending had a relationship to the sport because they had a friend who participated, they were personally volunteering, or they had some other relationship to the game. These
relationships do not mean that these attendees are not also sport consumers.
They are, as the findings revealed, highly invested sport consumers, who may
be more likely to consume sport in a way that is more valuable than spectators
without a relationship to the sport.
4. Disability sport promoters who hope to develop a scale to measure consumer motivation should understand these findings indicate that current
scales can be amended and expanded rather than having to be reinvented.
The current scales are missing or misunderstanding some of the disability
spectator motives, but they appear likely to be able to attribute much of the
motivation of disability sport fans. 44