Classifying Followers of Gorgan Municipality's Basketball Club based on Demographic and Geographic Variables

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to classify followers of Gorgan Municipality's basketball club based on demographic and geographic variables. There were participated 357 subjects in the research. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics after completing questionnaire. Classifying followers based on education level showed that 14.84% of them have cycle degree, 30.81% with diploma, 24.65% with AA, 27.45% with M.A and 2.24% with MSc degree. Classifying followers based on their job showed that 7% are employee, 23.52% with self-employment, 18.2% collegian, 4.2% military, 9.8% student, 16.24% worker and 23.52% other jobs. Classifying followers based on their monthly income showed that 16.6% of them had less than 100,000 tumans, 18.

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RESEARCH
JOURNAL OF
SPORT SCIENCES
RJSS
Classifying Followers of Gorgan
Municipality’s Basketball Club based on
Demographic and Geographic Variables
Mahboubeh Kardel1, Reza Rezaeishirazi2*, Amir Dana3
1Department of Physical Education, Aliabad Katoul Branch, Islamic Azad
University, Aliabad Katoul, Iran
2Department of Physical Education, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz,
Iran
*Corresponding Author: Reza Rezaeishirazi
ABSTRACT: The purpose of the present research was to classify followers of
Gorgan Municipality’s basketball club based on demographic and geographic
variables. There were participated 357 subjects in the research. Data were
analyzed using descriptive statistics after completing questionnaire. Classifying
followers based on education level showed that 14.84% of them have cycle degree,
30.81% with diploma, 24.65% with AA, 27.45% with M.A and 2.24% with MSc
degree. Classifying followers based on their job showed that 7% are employee,
23.52% with self-employment, 18.2% collegian, 4.2% military, 9.8% student,
16.24% worker and 23.52% other jobs. Classifying followers based on their
monthly income showed that 16.6% of them had less than 100,000 tumans, 18.2%
with 100,000-300,000 tumans, 20.72% with 300,000-500,000 tumans, 19.04%
with 500,000-700,000 tumans, 23.25% with 700,000-900,000 tumans and 0.12%
with more than 900,000 tumans income. It seems that we should consider a
compiled and comprehensive plan for all age levels to achieve marketing
objectives and helping their more attendance. Possibly, considering safety issues
and respecting laws and regulations for ridding motorcycle is one of worries of the
traffic department for holding matches because 12.6% of followers go to stadium
with motorcycle.
KEYWORDS: Follower, Basketball, Marketing.
INTRODUCTION
Today, basketball is one of the best and most popular team-lead courses in most countries, where in some countries
it is more popular than football. Overflowing stadiums by observers in some countries such as the USA for
observing local, national, continental and global matches as well as several million people who watch the matches
from TV channels, have introduced basketball and football as two most popular sport courses worldwide. During
the last decade, basketball has been introduced as one of the best and most popular team-lead courses in our
country, on addition volleyball and football. They have attracted the most athletes and followers in comparison with
other sport courses (Jalilian, 2004). By increasing interest to the sport in many countries, it has become a full-
fledged industry (Kennett et al., 2001). The main industrial sources of revenue of the sport are television-
broadcasting rights, financial sponsors and their daily income. Due to lack of formality of television-broadcasting
rights as an income source (Jalilian, 2004), attracting persons (followers) to stadiums is an appropriate solution for
many clubs to increase their revenue as well as being different from other clubs. To increase participation,
identifying factors with the most influence on people is very important in sport marketing (Kennett et al., 2001). In
today’s performed marketing activities, customer satisfaction is one of the main goals of marketers (Alipur et al.,
2010). By increasing number of observers and followers of teams, identifying observers’ groups is very important,
in order to success providing their needs, satisfaction and increase their attendance in matches, because all
observers are not similar; conversely, they are different in demographic characteristics, values, lifestyle and using
products. If these people and their needs are not appropriately identified and managed, sport organization cannot
Vol 3 (1): 8-14
http://www.rjssjournal.com
ISSN: 2148-0834
Copyright © 2015

Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (1), 8-14, 2015
9
gain a strong base in market. Market sharing is an optimal way to meet needs of all observers and
creating a strong base in sports market. By market sharing, sport organization not identifies distinct
groups with unique needs, but develops marketing approach, which is appropriate for these groups
(McDonald, 1997). Therefore, on the current situation, it is essential that sport clubs and other
organizations related with sport industry consider sport marketing, market sharing and identifying target
markets specially. Therefore, the purpose of the present research was to classify followers of Gorgan
Municipality’s basketball club based on demographic and geographic variables.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research was descriptive. Static population of the research was all followers of both basketball clubs
of Gorgan Municipal. Averagely, there were attended 5,000 people to watch the matches at last season.
Based on Morgan Table, there were considered 357 people as sample size. The followers were selected
voluntarily. The author distributed questionnaires by collaborating with colleagues in one of matches,
and then collected them after completing. At the beginning, there was randomly determined some
platforms among full platforms of stadium. After a brief explanation about the research plan, the
questionnaires were distributed among them with a pen, and then they were collected after completing.
The questionnaires were distributed from two hours before starting game and then they were collected
ten minutes before starting game.
Questionnaire of Demographic, Geographic and Behavioral Data: the questionnaire’s demographic
consisted questions about age, income, race, marital status, education level, occupation; its geographic
side consisted questions about place of residence as well as access to motorcycle and other vehicles to go
to stadium; and its behavioral side consisted questions about time of supporting the team, number of
attending in the stadium in a season, the considered time to follow matches and news about their favorite
team through the Internet and TV. Sagha (2011) has translated and compiled the questionnaire. To
determine reliability of the questionnaire, he has reported 0.82 for Cronbach's alpha coefficient after
conducting a preliminary study on 50 followers, which it is an acceptable coefficient. The questionnaire
consists 14 questions (questions 1 to 14) to measure attitudinal loyalty by using five-point Likert scale
(strongly agree to strongly disagree). There are five questions to measure behavioral loyalty (questions
26 to 30) and 11 questions (questions 15 to 25) to collect demographic and geographic data. Data was
analyzed by descriptive statistics. There was considered p≤ 0.05 as significance level for all statistical
analyses.
RESULTS
Demographic and geographic characteristics of followers of Gorgan Municipality’s basketball club include
age, marital status, education level, race, occupation and monthly income as follows.
Data analysis results have shown that 68.62% and 31.37% followers of Gorgan Municipality’s basketball
club are single and married respectively (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Classifying the club’s followers based on marital status.
245
112
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Single Married

Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (1), 8-14, 2015
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Figure 2 shows that 13.7% of the followers were less than 16 years old, 24.64% between 16 and 24 years
old, 26.98% between 25 and 34 years old, 21% between 35 and 44 years old, 9.8% between 45 and 54
years old and 3.92% more than 55 years old
Figure 2. Diagram of followers’ age.
Fig. 3 shows that 14.84% of the followers have cycle degree, 30.81% with diploma, 24.65% with AA,
27.45% with M.A and 2.24% with MSc degree and more.
Figure 3. Classifying the club followers based on education level.
Figure 4 shows that among the followers, 7% are employee, 23.52% with self-employment, 18.2%
collegian, 4.2% military, 9.8% student, 16.24% worker and 23.52% other jobs.
Figure 4. Classifying the club followers based on their job.
Figure 5 has classified Gorgan Municipality’s basketball club based on family income. Accordingly, 16.6%
of them had less than 100,000 tumans, 18.2% with 100,000-300,000 tumans, 20.72% with 300,000-
49
88 96 75
35 14
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Less than
16
16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 More
than 55
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Cycle Diploma AA M. A MSc and
higher
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Employee Self
employment
Collegian Military
(conscript)
Student

Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (1), 8-14, 2015
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500,000 tumans, 19.04% with 500,000-700,000 tumans, 23.25% with 700,000-900,000 tumans and
0.12% with more than 900,000 tumans income monthly.
Figure 5. Classifying the club followers based on family income.
Table 1 classifies the followers based on their place of residence in Golestan province (Gorgan and other
townships). Accordingly, there are living 76.75% and 23.25% of them in Gorgan and surrounding
townships respectively.
Table 1. Classifying the club followers based on residence.
Frequency
Percent
Gorgan
274
76.75
Other townships
83
23.25
Total
357
100
According to Table 2, the followers attend in stadium as follows: 31.37% with private car, 33% with taxi,
12.6% with motorcycle and 22.96% with bus.
Table 2. Classifying club followers based on how to go stadium.
Frequency
Percent
Personal automobile
12
32.37
Taxi
118
33
Motorcycle
45
12.6
Bus
82
22.96
Total
357
100
Based on Fig. 6, supporting time of the followers was considered as 15.96%, 26.61%, 22.68% and 34.73%
for those with less than 1, 2-3, 3-4 and more than 4 years respectively.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Less than
100
100-300 300-500 500-700 700-900 900 and
more

Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (1), 8-14, 2015
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Figure 6. Classifying the club followers based on length of supporting the team.
Based on Fig. 7, during a season, the followers attended in stadium as follows: 6.12% for one time,
21.32% for 2 to 3 times, 85.35% for 4 to 7 times and 32.19% for more than 7 times.
Figure 7. Classifying the club followers based on number of their attendance during a season.
Table 3 shows the considered times to watch sport programs in TV, read subjects in sport newspapers
and following news through the Internet. Averagely, the club followers spent 10.21 hours to watch the
team television programs weekly. They also spent 4.22 hours per week to read sport newspapers and
magazines devoted to the club averagely. Finally, they spent 2.61 hours per week to follow news devoted
to the club via the Internet.
Table 3. Describing the considered times to watch sport programs in TV, read subjects in sport
newspapers and following news through the Internet.
Average
The considered time to watch sport programs of favorite team
10.21
The considered time to read subjects in sport newspapers and publications
4.22
The considered time to read team news through the Internet
2.61
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The purpose of the present research was to classify followers of Gorgan Municipality’s basketball club
based on demographic and geographic variables. Demographic variables included marital status, age,
education level, race, occupation and monthly income. Geographic variables included location of
residence and how to go to stadium. Results of marital status data analysis have shown that 68.22% and
31.37% of the followers were single and married respectively. So one of challenges facing managers of the
team is to identify and eliminate obstacles for attending the followers to attract more followers to
stadium. Results of age data analysis showed that 13.7%, 24.64%, 26.98%, 21%, 9.8% and 3.92% of the
followers were 16, 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and more than 55 years old respectively. Results of the
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Less than 1 2-3 3-4
more than 4
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
one time 2-3 times 4-7 times 7 times or more

Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (1), 8-14, 2015
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present research are similar with describing demographic age-related in the conducted research by
Safabakhsh (2002). It seems that we should consider a compiled and comprehensive plan for all age
levels to achieve marketing objectives and helping their more attendance. Classifying the followers based
on education level showed that 14.84% of the followers have cycle degree, 30.81% with diploma, 24.65%
with AA, 27.45% with M.A and 2.24% with MSc degree and more. Classifying the followers based on job
showed that 7% are employee, 23.52% with self-employment, 18.2% collegian, 4.2% military, 9.8%
student, 16.24% worker and 23.52% other jobs. Classifying the followers based on monthly income
showed that 16.6% of them had less than 100,000 tumans, 18.2% with 100,000-300,000 tumans, 20.72%
with 300,000-500,000 tumans, 19.04% with 500,000-700,000 tumans, 23.25% with 700,000-900,000
tumans and 0.12% with more than 900,000 tumans income. Classifying the followers based on their
residence showed that there are living 76.75% and 23.25% of them in Gorgan and surrounding townships
respectively. Classifying the followers based on how to go to stadium showed that they attend in stadium
as 31.37% with private car, 33% with taxi, 12.6% with motorcycle and 22.96% with bus. Possibly,
considering safety issues and respecting laws and regulations for ridding motorcycle is one of worries of
the traffic department for holding matches because 12.6% of followers go to stadium with motorcycle.
For a long time, sport management and psychology research concentrated on followers’ behavioral
indicators such as attending in stadium, watching matches of favorite team on TV and buying products
with their trademark to show their loyalty. In a general measurement under name watching sport in
Australia, Stewart and Smith suggested that sport followers can be classified based on characteristics
describing their motivations and behaviors. Using this approach, they have described five types of
observers: 1) Aficionado, the group will explore performance quality, and they are loyal to play, in turn
team. Although they consider their chosen team usually and look games regularly, but focus on aesthetic
skills; 2) theater goers looks for fun and entertainment, loving; they are modest loyal to team; continuing
losses leads to lack of their interest to the team, but they may attend in some tourneys; 3) Passionate
partisan like team to be winner and they are loyal to team. In a short time, their loyalty does not fade
because of the repeated defeats, and they react to successes and failures of the team; 4) champion
followers want team to be winner, they have short-term loyalty, and loyalty is a function of team success;
and 5) Reclusive partisan wants team to be winner always, the don’t show their loyalty by attending in
games, they have strong adaptability, but provide hidden support. Each sector interests to core product or
competing, but they expressed their interest by different ways.
In the present research, followers were classified based on duration of supporting their favorite teams.
Results showed that supporting time of the followers was considered as 15.96%, 26.61%, 22.68% and
34.73% for those with less than 1, 2-3, 3-4 and more than 4 years respectively. In their research about
motivational factors affecting observers’ behavior in J-League and K-League, Won et al (2006) showed
that in the current season, 75% followers have attended in stadium less than four times, while 18% have
attended 5-10 times and only 6% have attended more than 10 times. Although criteria for classifying both
studies are different from each other, another behavioral and loyalty index of followers is their spent time
to watch TV and follow news about their favorite team via sport publications and the Internet.
Accordingly, the present research showed that averagely, the club followers spent 10.21 hours to watch
the team television programs weekly. They also spent 4.22 hours per week to read sport newspapers and
magazines devoted to the club averagely. Finally, they spent 2.61 hours per week to follow news devoted
to the club via the Internet. Exclusive using from behavioral indicators ignores importance of basic
psychological processes such as deep internal consistency with team. For example, number of attending
in matches of favorite team does not provide an insight about inner relationships of followers and their
attachment to the team. It is possible that someone is going to observe a game just because he/she has a
ticket.
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