“What do football fans really want. A case study about how Greek football clubs can maximize customer satisfaction” Iason Prionidis SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ECONOMICS A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science (MSc) in Management December 2020 Thessaloniki – Greece Student Name: Iason Prionidis SID: 1102190008 Supervisor: Prof. Lida Kyrgidou I hereby declare that the work submitted is mine and that where I have made use of another’s work, I have attributed the source(s) according to the Regulations set in the Student’s Handbook. December 2020 Thessaloniki - Greece Abstract This dissertation was written as part of the MSc in Management at the International Hellenic University. Football is considered the most popular sport in all around the world. In recent years, football in Greece is following a declining course due to various reasons. This declining course is also shown in ticket sales. A comparison between Greek and English football was made in order to show their large differences. This study aimed to show the most important reasons that keep fans away from visiting the stadiums. Also, it aimed to suggest ways to attract non- football-watching fans to the stadiums, in order to increase ticket sales as much as possible. A research was conducted among 171 participants, who either watch football or not. Suggestions were proposed on factors who keep people away from football, and on how to attract new ones according to the scorecard from the research. Keywords: Football, Attendance, Tickets, Superleague, Premier League, Iason Prionidis 7/12/2020 Preface I would like to express my special thanks to my teacher Mrs. Kyrgidou and also the International Hellenic University for giving me the chance to conduct a research on a so interesting topic. Also, I would like to thank the participants of this research who gave their time to complete the questionnaire. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my friends, my girlfriend and my parents who supported me in order to complete this research with quality and on time. -i- Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................iii Preface ..................................................................................................................... i Contents .................................................................................................................. ii List of Tables ............................................................................................................ 1 List of Charts ............................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2 1.Crisis in Greek Football .......................................................................................... 4 1.1 Factors responsible for the football crisis ........................................................ 6 2.The English example .............................................................................................12 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................12 2.2 The English Football Association ....................................................................12 2.3 The Premier League .......................................................................................12 2.4 Comparison of the two leagues ......................................................................13 3.Aim of research ....................................................................................................14 3.1 Questionnaire Description .............................................................................15 3.2 Technical Characteristics of the Questionnaire ...............................................15 3.3 Statistical Analysis .........................................................................................15 4. Research Results .................................................................................................16 5. Discussion ...........................................................................................................40 Conclusions .............................................................................................................43 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................45 Appendix ................................................................................................................. 1 -ii- List of Tables Table 1.Total Tickets sold per season (Source: Papanikos,2020) ..................................... 4 Table 2.Greece’s position per Season (Source: UEFA.com) .............................................. 5 Table 3. Greek National Team FIFA Ranking per season (Source: FIFA.com) ................... 5 Table 4.Tickets per GDP (Source, Papanikos 2020) .......................................................... 7 Table 5.Tickets per GPD per capita (Source: Papanikos,2020) ......................................... 7 Table 6. Sector 1 Scorecard ............................................................................................. 41 Table 7. Sector 2 Scorecard ............................................................................................. 42 List of Charts Chart 1. Sex ..................................................................................................................... 16 Chart 2. Sex% ................................................................................................................. 16 Chart 3.Age Groups ........................................................................................................ 17 Chart 4. Age groups% ..................................................................................................... 17 Chart 5. Football involvement allocation ........................................................................ 18 Chart 6. Football involvement allocation% .................................................................... 18 Chart 7.Watching games frequency ................................................................................ 19 Chart 8. Watching games frequency% ............................................................................ 19 Chart 9.Watching matches preference ............................................................................ 20 Chart 10.Watching matches preference .......................................................................... 20 Chart 11. Greek Football Ranking .................................................................................. 21 Chart 12. Greek Football Ranking% ............................................................................... 21 Chart 13.Ticket Prices ..................................................................................................... 22 Chart 14.Ticket Prices%.................................................................................................. 22 Chart 15. Economic crisis effect allocation .................................................................... 23 Chart 16.Economic crisis effect allocation % ................................................................. 23 Chart 17.Football Facilities allocation ............................................................................ 24 Chart 18.Football facilities allocation % ......................................................................... 24 Chart 19. Safety effect..................................................................................................... 25 Chart 20. Safety effect % ................................................................................................ 25 Chart 21.Services effect allocation ................................................................................. 26 Chart 22.Services effect allocation % ............................................................................. 26 Chart 23.Spectacle effect allocation ................................................................................ 27 -1- Chart 24. Spectacle effect allocation % .......................................................................... 27 Chart 25.Transparency effect allocation ......................................................................... 28 Chart 26.Transparency effect allocation % ..................................................................... 28 Chart 27. Native involvement effect allocation .............................................................. 29 Chart 28. Native invovlement effect allocation % .......................................................... 29 Chart 29.EPL Standards effect allocation ....................................................................... 30 Chart 30.EPL standards effect allocation % ................................................................... 30 Chart 31.Company effect allocation ............................................................................... 31 Chart 32.Company effect allocation % ........................................................................... 32 Chart 33.Facilities effect allocation ................................................................................ 32 Chart 34.Facilities effect allocation % ............................................................................ 33 Chart 35.Special Discounts