Room for Growth in Professional Sport: An Examination of the Factors Affecting African-American Attendance

Abstract

Due to the growing buying power of diverse consumers and the importance of attendance to professional sports in the US, this study qualitatively examines the factors affecting African-American attendance at professional sporting events and identifies several attendance drivers and constraints, including alternative forms of commitment, atmosphere, comfort and convenience, cost, exposure and access to the sport, image and identity, performance and entertainment, social nature of sport, and value. These findings support and extend prior research by offering seven new factors affecting African-American attendance at professional sporting events—an important first step in enabling sport managers to reach out to a more diverse group of spectators to not only enhance diversity in attendance but subsequent revenue and profitability as well.