As part of our research series, we're showcasing some of the research projects produced by both UCFB students and staff members.
For his third-year research project, BA (Hons) Football Business & Marketing graduate Daniel Smith examined how Tottenham Hotspur supporters perceived the Sportscape during the club's stadium transition from its temporary home at Wembley Stadium, to its new permanent base at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The key discussion points from the project can be viewed below:
- Of the six Sportscape factors, five were found to possess significant differences between Wembley Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (excluding Accessibility to the Stadium). These favourable results towards the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be attributed to the novelty effect (Coates and Humphreys, 2005), fans’ enthusiasm of returning ‘home’ (Mizruichi, 1985), and the fact that new Wembley Stadium is 13 years older.
- Game atmosphere was considered the most important factor to the participants’ match day experiences, with corroborating evidence in previous studies (Yoshida and James, 2010; Palmero and Price, 2015). This reinforces the idea that atmosphere should be incorporated into the Sportscape.
- The present study further supported previous theory that perceptions of the Sportscape contribute to desire to stay (Wakefield et al., 1996; Dhurup, Mofaka and Surjlal, 2010) and revisiting intentions (Dhurup et al., 2010; Yitbarek, 2017).
- Season ticket holders’ perceptions of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’s stadium layout, facility aesthetics and seat comfort were lower than non-season ticket holders, which can be owing to the novelty effect wearing off.
