Spectator Service Quality Expectations: Free vs. Paid Collegiate Football Events

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to examine spectator expectations of service quality comparing free/non-ticketed events (collegiate spring football game) to paid/ticketed sporting events (in-season collegiate football game), to identify timely information as to important characteristics of service, in order to satisfy and retain spectators in the changing landscape of college football in the United States. METHOD Data were collected from spectators attending two collegiate football games - one a free/non-ticketed spring game and the other a paid/ticketed regular season game at the same Division I university located in the Southeast United States. Respondents at both events were asked to rate expectations of service quality on 27 items using a 5-point Likert scale (Parasuraman et al., 1991). Respondents were consequently asked to rate the importance of each of the five dimensions of service quality (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) by allocating percentage points (totalling 100), respectively. The mean scores for spectator expectations of service quality were calculated and a set of five t-tests were then conducted to determine if the means calculated for each construct were significant between the spring and fall games. RESULTS The results revealed that spectator expectations of service do not decrease simply because they do not pay to watch an event. On the contrary, spectators maintain high expectations whether they pay to attend a sporting event or not. Additionally, while spectators of both types of events rated tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance) as the most important dimension of service quality, those attending the free/non-ticketed event deemed assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees) to be second in importance. Those attending the paid/ticketed event responded that reliability (perform promised service) to be the second most important dimension of service quality. CONCLUSION The current study brings attention to an important aspect of the spectator experience that has previously received very little attention. Practitioners may want to develop strategies to exceed consumer expectations based on the type of sporting event they are organizing.