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COPYRIGHT 2006 Winthrop Publications Limited
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of the national sports lottery (toto) in 2001 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup for the Japan Professional Soccer League--J. League. In 2001 J. League attendances grew dramatically and were sustained in subsequent years, even though member clubs did not change many of their marketing strategies and chose to maintain a distance from toto. The evidence suggests that hosting the World Cup allowed the league to leverage the country's hosting of the event in order to generate long-term interest and attendance at J. League games. By contrast, toto appears to have had a short-term impact.
Keywords
social impact
attendance
motives
sport
events
Executive summary
The Japan Professional Soccer League (J. League) began play in 1993. After its initial popularity, attendance began to dwindle in 1996. J. League clubs failed to anticipate this decline through the misperception that attendance levels would continue and the alienation of fans due to sponsorship obligations. The J. League responded with grass-roots marketing activities to strengthen relations between the clubs and their local communities. Despite these efforts, attendance remained relatively consistent from 1997 to 2000. In 2001-02, two external activities emerged that had the potential to impact J. League attendance. The present study examined the impact of the national sports lottery (toto) introduced in 2001 and the hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup on attendance, spectator motives and marketing strategies. (Japan co-hosted the Word Cup with Korea.)
The Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) (Funk & James, 2001) was used as the theoretical framework to understand the social impact of toto and the World Cup. From the literature, five research questions were developed. Data for this study were taken from an ongoing research programme that surveyed spectators attending J. League matches during the years 1993-2004. Questionnaires were distributed at J. League games in the Tokyo Metropolitan area each year. Qualitative data was also collected during semi-structured interviews with two J. League executives.
The results revealed that J. League attendance declined after 1995 but increased by 49.5% in 2001, with average attendance of 16,548 and a total of 600,000 new spectators. The results also indicated that 65.6% of J. League spectators participated in toto in 2001 and this increased interest in game results, effort in gathering information before matches and in interest for the league in general. However, by 2003, the impact of toto had declined.
The World Cup had two separate impacts. The Japanese national team's first participation in the World Cup in 1998 increased new spectator attendance, but total attendance did not increase. Hosting the World Cup in 2002 succeeded in attracting new spectators, increasing total attendance and improving television ratings. Spectators before 2002 had a stronger attachment to the team, community and interest in the sport, while spectators after 2002 were more attracted by marquee players, the drama of the game and the enjoyment of simply being at a match.
Although the J. League has benefited from both toto and the World Cup, interviews with J. League executives confirmed that no marketing programmes were developed for toto. The league sought to maintain distance from toto by supporting social benefits but avoiding suspicion related to prearranged games and the negative image of gambling. This decision not to promote the lottery may have limited the long-term impact of toto. By contrast, the league implemented a World Cup ticket draw through member clubs in 2001 that had a more profound impact on attendance. These results suggest that marketers may benefit from external forces to help move individuals from initial sport awareness to a desire to attend a match as a spectator. However, marketers must leverage these forces through additional promotions to continue this momentum and move the individual from being a spectator towards becoming a loyal fan.
Introduction
Social impacts refer to the consequences to human populations of any public action that alters the ways in which people live, work, play, relate to one another, organise to meet their needs and generally cope as members of society (Institute for Environmental Studies, 1995). Public actions in the form of sports-led projects have become an attractive strategy for local, regional and national governments to provide social benefits for community residents (Johnson & Whitehead, 2000). Social benefits associated with these types of sports-led public actions are generally agreed to include increased recreational participation, improved community image and civic pride (Crompton, 2004; Groothius et al, 2004; Swindell & Rosentraub, 1998). However, the social benefits accrued by residents from these sports-led public actions are more difficult to quantify and have rarely been subjected to scientific scrutiny (Coates & Humphries, 1999; Siegfried & Zimbalist, 2000). In addition, research has not examined managerial responses to public action by league officials and franchises. In response to this lack of evidence, the current study examined the impact of two sports-led public actions on both passive recreation participation and league marketing responses.
Literature review
It has become common for governments to expend public money and political resources on infrastructure and venues for professional sports franchises and major sporting events (Jago et al, 2003; Johnson & Whitehead, 2000). The arguments for these investments are generally based on the economic and social windfalls that such developments will provide to a geographical region. However, there has been great debate about the true economic benefits of these investments, with great disparity between the reports commissioned by proponents of the ventures and those found in the academic literature (Howard & Crompton, 2003b). Independent studies have generally found that such sports-led investment strategies have no significant positive correlation with economic development (Siegfried & Zimbalist, 2000). In fact, Coates & Humphries (1999 p. 620) concluded their study with: "... our results do not invalidate the contribution of sports to the sense of community and overall satisfaction enjoyed by residents of metropolitan areas. Rather, our results suggest, as do the papers in Noll & Zimbalist [1997c], that efforts to attract or retain a professional sports franchise should be motivated and justified by these factors, and not by false claims of economic benefits flowing from professional sports".
In contrast to views on economic impact, researchers tend to be in more agreement about the potential social benefits associated with these types of investments and the possibility that they will provide a real net benefit to the community (Howard & Crompton, 2003b). These benefits include increased recreational participation--both active (playing) and passive (volunteers, officials, spectators), improved community image and identity, and a more integrated and inclusive community (Crompton, 2004). Despite this anecdotal evidence, few attempts have been made to quantify the social impact of sports-led projects. A review of the literature uncovered only three such studies (Groothius et al, 2004; Johnson & Whitehead, 2000; Swindell & Rosentraub, 1998). These studies relied on survey data taken in single case periods from community residents to quantify the impact of sports-led projects on community pride and identity. Results revealed social benefits were mainly accrued by a small percentage of community members who used the facilities for active recreation purposes and to a larger degree for spectators who attended games. However, previous studies did not examine whether the impact was sustainable over a period of time. Moreover, these studies did not assess whether sports-led public actions alter the type of motives for spectators. In addition, the impact of sports-led public actions on sports marketing practices was not explored.
The present research extends the line of inquiry by quantifying the impact that sports-led public actions have on the residents mostly likely to benefit--spectators--by analysing trends of attendance patterns and motives to attend. The research analysed attendance patterns at J. League games before and after two sports-led public actions: the introduction of the national sports lottery (toto) and the hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Spectators attending J. League matches were also surveyed the season preceding and the season following the World Cup to examine whether changes to individual motives for attendance occurred. In addition, the impact that these two external forces had on J. League marketing strategies was explored through interviews with league officials.
The following discussion provides the basis for five research questions that guide this inquiry into examining the...
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