Team Performance and Sport Attendance of South African Super Rugby and Currie Cup Rugby Fans

Abstract

To compete successfully in the expanding sport market, sport marketers need a thorough understanding of sport consumers, who include sport participants and sport spectators. Sport spectators are, in many instances, fanatical about the performance and success of their teams. It is thus obvious that ultimately their satisfaction with the experience of attending sporting events will be an important predictor of whether they will attend future events. Understanding the factors that influence spectator attendance is fundamental to understanding decisions about sport consumption. In professional rugby, competitions such as the Super Rugby and Currie Cup benefit from the lucrative money-generating opportunities offered. This study focuses on team performance and spectator attendance of the Super Rugby and Currie Cup competitions. Results indicated some interesting relationships between team performance and spectator attendance, and that a team’s final log position could predict future spectator attendance.