Submitted by David Gargone*(1)

(1) David Gargone is an assistant professor of business and director of the sport management program at Misericordia University.

*Corresponding Author:
David Gargone, Ed.D.
Misericordia University
301 Lake St
Dallas, PA 18612
dgargone@misericordia.edu
570-674-6337

ABSTRACT
Fan motives, factors that influence a person’s decision to attend a sporting event, affect sport consumption at both the amateur and professional levels. This study identified the fan motives, selected from the Sport Interest Inventory (SII), most influential on college football fans and more specifically examined the effects on fan motive prevalence of seven variables: team identity, team loyalty, team affiliation, conference affiliation, household income, age, and level of education. All seven variables exhibited a statistically significant effect, at the p < 0.001 level, on a majority of the 17 fan motives considered, with team loyalty exhibiting a statistically significant effect (p < 0.001) on all 17 motives. In general, higher levels of team identity and team loyalty were associated with greater preference for fan motives. Across all participants, excitement, drama, sport knowledge, and interest in team were identified as the most common college football fan motives; interest in players, bonding with family, interest in sport, and escape were identified as the least common motives.

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