Differences in motives and points of attachment by season ticket status: a case study of ACHA.

We investigated differences in motives (vicarious achievement, aesthetics, drama, escape, social interaction, aggression, knowledge, appreciation of physical skill, interest in hockey and interest in college sport) between Season Ticket Holders (STH) and Single Game Ticket Purchasers (SGP) attending a national tournament for intercollegiate club hockey teams. STH and SGP differed on the number of games attended and the number of games intending to attend, giving support for our hypothesis that STH were fans and SGP were spectators. Because we found no significant group differences on team identification (cognitive loyalty), we controlled for it to determine if the two groups differed on motives. We found significant group differences on five motives: escape, knowledge, drama, aggression and interest in hockey. In contrast, the two groups did not differ on vicarious achievement, aesthetics, appreciation of physical skills, social interaction and interest in collegiate sport. All respondents rated these mot...