Measuring season ticket holder satisfaction: Rationale, scale development and longitudinal validation

Season tickets are examples of sports subscription products, research into which is very limited. Given the nature of subscription markets, there is sufficient reason to expect that the relationship between service quality, satisfaction and renewal might operate differently from transactional markets. This paper seeks to address this deficiency in the research by developing and verifying a scale that identifies and measures the components of professional sport club season ticket packages that are most influential on buyer satisfaction. Survey data were collected over three consecutive years from season ticket holders (STHs) supporting the same team. Three research phases were undertaken using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to develop and refine the scale, and a stage of longitudinal modelling to explore levels of invariance within the scale over multiple years. The result is a 19-item scale measuring overall satisfaction as well as five key constructs by which STHs assess the season ticket package: service, home ground, on-field performance, club administration, and personal involvement. The scale provides a parsimonious and robust measure by which sport teams can identify the most effective way to manage STHs’ attitudes towards their subscription products, regardless of fluctuations in on-field performance or playing personnel.

► Identifies components of season ticket holder experiences that influence satisfaction.
► STH satisfaction developed as a multi-dimensional construct.
► Scale development uses EFA, CFA and longitudinal modelling on three years of data.
► Five constructs developed that STHs use to assess the season ticket package.
► Scale provides measure by which clubs can effectively evaluate and manage STH attitudes.