Factors Affecting Stadium Attendance in the Ghana Premier League amid High Social Media Consumption: A Study among Soccer Fans in Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31949/ijsm.v4i2.9066Abstract
The recent attention to social media has altered the place of consumption of products and services in almost every sphere of business. The rise of social media has deepened the consumption of soccer, as it has brought on a new space for effective and convenient interactions, and engagement for sport fans. Thus, fans are been connected and linked to their favourite sport through social media with a sense of feeling and experience vis-à-vis their physical presence at the stadium. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors contributing to low stadium attendance in the Ghana Premier League amid the high social media consumption of soccer among Ghanaians. The study adopted a quantitative method with a survey design via random sampling technique to gather data from 397 football fans in Accra, Kumasi and Ho. Validity and reliability of research instrument adopted the Lawshe’s content validity ratio, R and Cronbach Alpha, α which recorded R=0.86 and α=0.77 respectively. The study revealed factors such as poor leadership, officiating, Hooliganism/vandalism, club management, and advertisement and promotion of the league have affected stadium attendance among Ghanaian soccer fans. This has resulted in a switch to social media consumption to keep the spirit of their favourite sports alive and thereby been attracted to other leagues. This means that sponsors may not find the league attractive and this will affect league sponsorship.
Keywords:
Stadium Attendance, Social Media, Ghana Premier League, Football Consumption, Ghana Football AssociationDownloads
References
Abdourazakou, Y., & Deng, X.N. (2019). Understanding the Value of Social Media in the NBA’s Digital Communication: A Fan(s)’ Perspective. Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pg. 2417-2426. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/59680
Aboagye, E., Adu, N., Yawson, J.A., Khalid, A.O., & Ernest, O.A. (2021). Football fans consumption
media during Covid-19: The Ghanaian perspective. International Journal of Education Research and
Review, 2(5), 53-60. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.515053.
Adler, D. (2023, October 2). Attendance up, game time down in record-setting ’23 season. Retrieved https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-attendance-mlb-tv-post-big-numbers-in-2023
Attor, C., Jibril, A.B., & Chovancova, M. (2022). Does brand personality mediate the link
between social media usage and customer buying decisions on telecommunication’s
products and services? Evidence from Ghana. Innovative Marketing, 18(3), 84-98.
https://doi.org/10.21511/im.18(3).2022.08
Awini, G. (2019). Assessing The Impact of Social Media and Sports Fan Engagement: A Case of Accra
Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko. [Published master thesis], University of Ghana press.
Broughton, D. (2023, April 17). NHL draws regular season attendance of 22.4 million. Retrieved https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2023/04/17/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/nhl-attendance-regular-season.aspx
Business Wire (2019, May 14). Sports -$614 Billion Global Market Opportunities & Strategies to 2022 ResearchAndMarkets.com. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190514005472/en/Sports-614 Billion-Global-Market Opportunities?_ga=2.246587200.517950020.16696527481953626395.1669652747
Charmaz, K. (2020). ”With constructivist grounded theory you can’t hide”: Social justice research and critical inquiry in the public sphere. Qualitative Inquiry 26 (2):165–76. doi:10.1177/1077800419879081
Charmaz, K., & Thornberg, R. (2021) The pursuit of quality in grounded theory, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18:3, 305-327, DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2020.1780357
Dixon, S. (2022, July 26). Most Popular Social Networks Worldwide as of January 2022, ranked by number of monthly active users. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
Fischer, B., & Broughton, D. (2023, January 16). NFL per- game attendance makes big jump. Retrieved https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2023/01/16/Upfront/nfl-attendance.aspx
Gough, C. (2022, February 1). Share of Sports fans consuming sports content on social media worldwide as of December 2019, by age. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100571/sports-content-social-media/
Ghana Football Association (2024). Observed acts of violence at Asante Kotoko SC- Nations FC. Retrieved https://www.ghanafa.org/press-release-observed-acts-of-violence-at-asante-kotoko-sc-nations-fc-premier-league-match-0n-24th-march2024
Huang, Y., & Hsu, J.H. (2017). The application of social media in sports marketing. Physical Education Journal, 50 (12), 1-18.
Kwaw, P. E. (2021). Social Media as an Enhancement Tool for Football Publicity: A Case Study of Selected Ghana Premier League Clubs. [Published master thesis], Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Laing, D. (2018, November 14). Study Finds NFL Social Media Relevance Up 9.38%. https://www.samford.edu/sports-analytics/fans/2018/Study-Finds-NFL-Social-Media-Relevance-Up-9-38
LaLiga. (2022, August 1). LaLiga clubs achieve 45% more social media engagement in 2021-22. https://khelnow.com/football/laliga-2021-22-clubs-achieve-more-social-media-engagement#:~:text=Comparing%20this%20past%20campaign%20with,1.604%20billion%20to%20be%20precise.
Major League Baseball (2019, September 19). 2019 MLB season generates increase in consumption and youth participation. https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-2019-mlb-season-generates-increases-in-consumption-and-youth-parti
Meng, F. (2020). The Impact of Social Media on the Youth: The Ghanaian Perspective. International Journal of Science, 7(4).
Mereu, S. (2021, October 15). The influence of social TV on viewer loyalty of National Hockey League (NHL) viewers: ice hockey’s second screen and social media engagement behaviour. https://sportsbusinessresearch.academy/2021/10/15/social-tv-influence-on-national-hockey-league-nhl-viewer-loyalty-second-screen-social-media/
Mohammadkazemi, R. (2015). Handbook of Research on Integrating Social Media into Strategic Marketing. [Ch. 20], Newcastle University Business School. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8353-2-ch020.
NBA. (2023, April 10). NBA sets all-time records for attendance and sellouts during 2022-23 regular season. Retrieved https://www.nba.com/news/nba-sets-all-time-records-for-attendance-and-sellouts-during-2022-23-regular-season
Nielsen. (2018, November, n.d). NBA Teams Score a Slam Dunk with Social Media. https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2018/nba-teams-score-a-slam-dunk-with-social-media/
Nota de Prensa. (2022, May 9). La Liga generated €3,818m in revenue and maintained positive EBITDA in 2020/21, the season hardest hit by. https://www.laliga.com/en-GB/news/laliga-generated-euro3818m-in-revenue-and-maintained-positive-ebitda-in-2020-21-the-season-hardest-hit-by-covid
Ocansey, S.K., Ametepe, W., & Oduro, C.F. (2016). The Impact of Social Media on the Youth: The Ghanaian Perspective. International Journal of Engineering Technology and Sciences, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.15282/ijets.6.2016.1.12.1062
Okuley, M. (2023, November 29). BetPawa withdraws as headline sponsor of Ghana Premier League. Retrieved https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/sport/betpawa-withdraws-gpl/2023/#:~:text=The%20reason%20leading%20to%20the,pitch%20panels%20at%20some%20centres.
Owusu, D. S., & Pokumensah, J.B. (2020). A Study of The Use of Social Media by Four Ghanaian Premier Football Clubs. International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science, 1(4) 89-99.
Rial, B. (2023, June 15). Premier League sets record average attendance. Retrieved https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2023/06/15/premier-league-sets-record-average-attendance/
Ross, M. (2020, September 20). LFP widens TikTok tie-up, Ligue 1 digital audience flourishes in 2019-20.https://media.sportbusiness.com/news/lfp-widens-tiktok-tie-up-ligue-1-digital-audience-flourishes-in-2019-20/
Sienu, S.T. (2023, August 23). Feature: An Intellectual take on the issue of low attendance during Ghana Premier Leagues games.
Skinner, J., Edwards, A., & Corbett, B. (2015). Foundations of Sport Management: Research Methods for Sport Management. Routledge publication.
Statista Research Department. (2022, September 6). Premier league soccer clubs revenue in England 2014-2022, by stream. https://www.statista.com/statistics/874020/revenue-of-premier-league-football-clubs-by-stream/
Statista Research Department. (2022, September 6). Revenue of French Ligue 1 clubs 2013-2021, by stream.https://www.statista.com/statistics/1022911/earnings-revenue-french-ligue-1-football-income-type-france/
Statista. (2022, September 22). Sports – Africa. https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/app/sports/africa#revenue.
Statista. (2022, November 22). Sports & Outdoor – Ghana. https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/ecommerce/toys-hobby-diy/sports-outdoor/ghana
Sportcal. (2017, November 16). There is huge demand for sport, and if sports properties can harness it with an intelligent combination of lives events and high-quality entertainment shows, they will see a decent return on investment through Facebook Watch. https://www.sportcal.com/comment/there-is-huge-demand-for-sport-and-if-sports-properties-can-harness-it-with-an-intelligent-combination-of-live-events-and-high-quality-entertainment-shows-they-will-see-a-decent-return-on-investment/
The Daily Gazette. (2022, November 28). Major Professional Sports Leagues: The US & Canada. https://dailygazette.com/major-professional-sports-leagues-the-us-canada/
Transfer Market. (2022, n.d). Ligue 1 Crowd Attendances 2022/2023 Season. Retrieved https://www.transfermarkt.com/ligue-1/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/FR1/plus/?saison_id=2022 on December 30, 2023.
Watson, R. (2015). Quantitative Research. Scholarly Journal, 29 (31), 44. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.29.31.44.e8681
Zurek, K (2021, July 31). GPL clubs urged to make PROs part of management at Betway summit. Retrieved https://graphic.com.gh/sports/sports-news/gpl-clubs-urged-to-make-pros-part-of-management-at-betway-summit.html
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Frank Appiah Kusi, Emmanuel Santiaguel
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.