Spectators’ Experience Global Survey: Football Edition

There is more to sports spectating than just watching a game from in the stadium. Spectator Experience starts from the moment of getting information on the game, and continues on through purchasing tickets, moving to the venue, having a meal with a friend after the game and relaying and viewing information via social media – all the way up to reading news articles about the game the next day.

How do people evaluate these experiences? And when they consider recommending the attendance of sporting events at a stadium to their friends and acquaintances, how much do these experiences affect their recommendation scores?

What particular characteristics exist in each country’s sports watching culture? We consider where hints may be hidden toward establishing sports as a part of culture so that sports spectating in Japan can be enjoyed even more.

Survey Results Summary

Differences between countries become apparent when individual experiences which affect the recommendation score are considered (how likely you are to recommend a stadium visit to acquaintances and friends).

Compared to Japan and Germany – countries where the game itself is an influencing experience – viewers in America are influenced more by surrounding experiences, such as information gathering before the game and how time is spent at the stadium (from the moment one enters to the start of the game). However, the influence these experiences have is not necessarily positive.

Experience surrounding the actual game-watching has small influence in Japan

When we compare the three countries, what stands out about Japan is the wave-like pattern it presents. Though game spectating is the most influential factor (as in Germany’s case), the impact of experiences other than the game spectating itself is extremely small, especially in the case of post-game experiences. As a result, we see a flat line representing experiences other than game spectating.

Compared to the U.S. and Germany, there are few gaps between the yellow and blue lines (meaning there is no dissatisfaction) for Japan.

This may point to the relatively underdeveloped nature of spectators’ experiences in Japan. This means that there are plenty of opportunities to make football spectators’ experience more enjoyable.

It is for this reason that not only the hosts of games, but that stakeholders such as the media, stadium managers, management companies, event organizers, ticket sales companies, catering, restaurants, hotels, public and private transport networks need to share their vision and work together to improve the spectator’s experience.

Of course, there is room for improvement not only on the management side but also for those who watch the games.

There are many hidden lessons that, once learnt, can help establish sports as a business and part of culture in Japan.