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Norwegian School of Economics Bergen, Fall Semester, 2016 A Beautiful Game, But Nobody Cares? An Analysis of the Low Attendances at Brazilian Football League Games Florian Wieser Supervisor: Professor Aksel Ivar Rokkan Master Thesis within the Profile of Marketing and Brand Management NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS This thesis was written as a part of the Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration at NHH. Please note that neither the institution nor the examiners are responsible − through the approval of this thesis − for the theories and methods used, or results and conclusions drawn in this work. 2 Abstract Despite Brazilians’ huge passion for football, attendance levels at local league games are often remarkably low. As more spectators at the games positively affect all of a clubs’ sources of income, clubs should have a clear interest in increasing attendances at their home games. This thesis identifies the underlying reasons for the low attendance levels and deduces recommendations for clubs to improve attendances at their home games. Using the widely popular consumer decision making process as a basis, a fan decision making process is developed by enriching and adapting the original model with findings from relevant football management literature. Thereby relevant factors affecting fans in their match attendance decision are identified. Case examples from European football leagues and relevant literature furthermore allow the deduction of best practices on these factors. A quantitative analysis using data from the 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (CBSA) confirms most of the previously identified factors for the case of Brazilian football. Comparing CBSA clubs’ current performance to the best practices deduced regarding the relevant factors affecting fans’ decision making process then allows the detection of the deficits and shortcomings of the clubs’ current approaches, which can serve as an explanation for the low attendance levels at CBSA games. The complete lack of information on ticket sales, the severely reduced opportunity to purchase tickets as well as high ticket prices that exclude substantial parts of the clubs’ target groups from attending the games are identified as the main reasons for the low attendances. Other less severe factors are related to clubs’ pricing strategies, the infrastructure of stadiums or the communication measures used to address fans. Based on these finding, concrete recommendations are deduced on how Brazilian clubs can effectively increase attendances at their home games in the future. 3 Contents ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................... 2 CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ 6 LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. 8 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 RELEVANCE OF THE THESIS AND CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH ............................................ 11 1.2 AIM OF THE THESIS ................................................................................................................ 14 1.3 STRUCTURE AND APPROACH OF THE THESIS .......................................................................... 15 2 FAN BEHAVIOUR – A THEORETICAL APPROACH ..................................................... 17 2.1 THE CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS.......................................................................... 17 2.1.1 Need recognition ......................................................................................................... 18 2.1.2 Information search ...................................................................................................... 18 2.1.3 Motivation, ability and opportunity ............................................................................ 19 2.1.4 Evaluation of alternatives ........................................................................................... 19 2.1.4.1 Cognitive decision making ................................................................................................... 19 2.1.4.2 Affective decision making ................................................................................................... 20 2.1.5 Post purchase decisions .............................................................................................. 20 2.2 FAN DECISION MAKING PROCESS ............................................................................................ 22 2.2.1 Need recognition ......................................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Information search ...................................................................................................... 24 2.2.3 Motivation, ability and opportunity ............................................................................ 25 2.2.3.1 Motivation ............................................................................................................................ 25 2.2.3.2 Ability .................................................................................................................................. 26 2.2.3.3 Opportunity .......................................................................................................................... 27 2.2.4 Evaluation of alternatives ........................................................................................... 28 2.2.4.1 Cognitive decision making ................................................................................................... 28 2.2.4.1.1 Economic...................................................................................................................... 28 2.2.4.1.1.1 Price ..................................................................................................................... 28 2.2.4.1.2 Quality of viewing ........................................................................................................ 29 2.2.4.1.2.1 Weather................................................................................................................ 29 2.2.4.1.2.2 Venue ................................................................................................................... 30 2.2.4.1.3 Sporting contest ............................................................................................................ 30 2.2.4.1.3.1 Uncertainty of outcome ....................................................................................... 30 2.2.4.1.3.2 Relevance of the game for the outcome of the season ......................................... 31 2.2.4.1.3.3 Matchday ............................................................................................................. 31 2.2.4.1.3.4 Attractiveness of the opponent............................................................................. 31 4 2.2.4.1.3.5 Star Players ..........................................................................................................32 2.2.4.2 Affective decision making ....................................................................................................32 2.2.5 Post-purchase decisions ............................................................................................. 33 3 DETERMINANTS OF MATCH ATTENDANCE IN BRAZIL ......................................... 36 3.1 THE MODEL ........................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 40 3.3 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 43 4 ANALYSIS OF CBSA CLUBS’ CURRENT PERFORMANCE ........................................ 46 4.1 NEED RECOGNITION .............................................................................................................. 46 4.1.1 Analysis of current performance ................................................................................ 47 4.1.2 Potential future improvements ................................................................................... 48 4.2 INFORMATION SEARCH .......................................................................................................... 49 4.2.1 Search for different alternatives ................................................................................. 49 4.2.1.1.1 Analysis of current situation .........................................................................................49 4.2.1.1.2 Potential future improvements ......................................................................................50 4.2.2 Availability of information ......................................................................................... 51 4.2.2.1 Analysis of the current situation ...........................................................................................51