Influence of Fantasy Sport on Consumption Behavior

Abstract

There are many previous studies that indicate that participating in fantasy sport has positive influence on the players mediated sport consumption. However there seems to be lack of studies indicating general influence on consumption behavior. Therefore the purpose of this research is to examine the influence of fantasy sport on consumption behavior in three broad aspects: mediated sport consumption, event attendance, and merchandise purchase. To examine the influence of fantasy sport, a survey method was conducted among two subject group of MLB viewers. One group contained MLB viewers that play fantasy sport while other group with just traditional MLB viewers that do not play fantasy sport. By comparing the two groups, this study was able to find the significance of participating in fantasy sport on various consumptions. The result of the study showed that when fan identification was controlled, participating in fantasy sport had positive influence on mediated sport consumption of the league and of favorite team, merchandise purchase, while not influencing event attendance. When people who do not play fantasy sport were excluded and remaining subjects divided into high and low fan identification group, results were compared side by side. People with high identification had only positive influence on the league media consumption while people with low identification had significant influence on all four aspects.