School of Health and Sport Sciences, Chukyo University, 101 Tokodachi, Kaizu-cho, Toyota 470-0393, Japan.
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo 202-0021, Japan.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 27;19(9):5318. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095318.
In the current investigation, we assess the effect of COVID-19 on intention-based spectator demand for professional sports in Japan captured by eight, monthly repeated cross-sectional national surveys from May to December 2020 ( = 20,121). We regress spectator demand on individual (e.g., gender), prefecture-wave (e.g., COVID-19 infection status), and prefecture-level factors (i.e., with or without quality professional teams). The results of multilevel logistic regression demonstrate that individual (i.e., male, younger, full-time employment, and with children status) and prefecture-level team factors (i.e., with teams) were associated with intention-based spectator demand. Nevertheless, COVID-19-related factors were found to be unrelated to spectator demand. The findings imply that sports fans are likely to return to the stadium once behavioral restrictions are lifted. The current research provided further evidence that individual factors and team quality serve as influential antecedents of spectator demand in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.
在当前的研究中，我们评估了 COVID-19 对日本基于意向的职业体育观众需求的影响，该需求是通过 2020 年 5 月至 12 月进行的 8 次月度重复横断面全国调查（共 20,121 人）捕捉到的。我们将观众需求回归到个体（例如，性别）、县波（例如，COVID-19 感染状况）和县级因素（即是否有优质的职业队伍）上。多层次逻辑回归的结果表明，个体（即男性、年轻、全职工作和有子女的状况）和县级队伍因素（即有队伍）与基于意向的观众需求有关。然而，与 COVID-19 相关的因素与观众需求无关。这些发现意味着一旦放宽行为限制，体育迷很可能会回到体育场。本研究进一步证明，在 COVID-19 疫情背景下，个体因素和队伍质量是影响观众需求的重要因素。
