The Effect of Match Attendance on Team Performance in Basketball
The Effect of Match Attendance on Team Performance in Basketball

Summary/Abstract: Attending matches is a characteristic of spectator sports. Studies have investigated what effects team performances had on fans’ decisions to attend a game, yet rather few research has been carried out in the opposite direction. This paper starts from a rule of thumb that the quantity (number of spectators at the game) and quality (atmosphere created in the stands) of a match attendance has got an impact on how the teams perform during the game. Positive (cheering for the favourite team) and negative (jeering against the opposition or against match officials) emotional influences can be discussed. For testing the conceptual model, a sample of 64 statistical observations ranging over five seasons of the Romanian men’s national basketball league (LNBM) has been used, employing as variables the Performance Index Rating (PIR) – a basketball specific indicator for measuring in-game performances – and attendances at games played in the competition (independent variable x). An ANOVA Factor Analysis, a t-Test and a Regression Analysis (α = 0.05, p<0.05) have been carried out in order to test the research hypothesis. Results show that match attendances have an influence over the quality of sporting performances on the court. Even though the relationship is only moderate (performances continue to be, most of the times, an outcome of sporting skills and decision-making of athletes), the research shows that, acknoweldgeing this influence is important for sports managers as they can better plan the strategies for the development of their teams and they can also approach winning matches in a better way if situational variables such as attendances are taken into account.

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