Mass media spectation and the social identity theory: A study of Chicago Cubs fans

Two major concerns for sport practitioners and sport managers are understanding consumers' behaviors and understanding consumers' consumption of sport and sport related products. As the content areas of group association, social identity, spectation, and media proliferation would indicate, there exists both (a) a need to understand the differences between the means and frequency of spectator observance of sporting events and the levels of perceived team association and (b) a need to understand the differences between the means and frequency of spectator observance of sporting events and displayed social identity traits. The purpose of this study was to analyze the use of mass media as a method of spectation for Chicago Cubs' baseball games and how these varying methods and frequency of spectation (TV, Radio/Internet Radio, or In-Person) affected the levels of perceived team association and social identity traits displayed by the spectators. Fans of the Chicago Cubs were chosen as subjects because of the availability of spectation of Cubs' games and the history and popularity of the Chicago Cubs. Participants were recruited using America On-Line, Internet message boards, and Internet ListServs. A web site was constructed to host the Sport Spectator Analysis Questionnaire (SSAQ). The SSAQ combined Wann and Branscombe's Sport Spectator Identification Scale with questions regarding method and frequencies of spectation, questions regarding past and future Cubs' events, and demographic questions. A sample of 308 Chicago Cubs fans responded to the SSAQ on line. An analysis of the results implies that there were no significant differences in either (a) levels of team association of the subjects or (b) displayed social identity traits by the subjects due to the method of spectation. These results indicate that mass media spectators show similar levels of emotional attachment to the Chicago Cubs as do in person spectators. This investigation also revealed a positive correlation between number of games spectated by the subjects and their levels of team association, supporting past literature. However, further analysis into subjects' total number of games spectated revealed no differences due to displayed social identity traits by the subjects. This finding was contradictory to both past literature and additional results discovered in this study. Understanding that “Die-Hard” sports fans are not exclusive to in person spectators provides sport practitioners and sport managers a much larger potential consumer audience.