The relationship between spectator motivations and media and merchandise consumption at a professional Mixed Martial Arts event.

Andrew, Damon P.S. ; Kim, Seungmo ; O'Neal, Nick 等

Introduction

The popularity of Mixed Martial Arts has grown dramatically over the last few years. Not only has the major North American promoter, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), grown dramatically, but other professional MMA organizations such as Bellatar Fighting Championship, King of the Cage (KOTC), and Strikeforce have emerged. In addition, many amateur MMA organizations have begun promoting fights at a local level. Further, MMA has competed well against other popular sports in television ratings. According to Spike TV, UFC 75, held in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2007, recorded a 3.1 overall rating, surpassing the ratings for college football games, NASCAR, and the U.S. Open tennis tournament televised on the same Saturday night. The sport has been extremely successful in attracting men in the 18-49 years old demographic (Pishna, September 2007). Spike TV reported:

UFC 75 scored 2,503,000 [men in the 18-49 years old demographic] compared to 2.3 million for Oregon vs. Michigan [college football] on ABC; 2.1 million for NASCAR on ABC; 1.3 million for Virginia Tech vs. LSU [college football] on ESPN; 1.3 million for Notre Dame vs. Penn State [college football] on ESPN, and 546,000 for the U.S. Open Women's Tennis Final on CBS. (Pishna, September 2007)

The success of the UFC as a leading promoter of MMA in the world has not been limited to the United States. Indeed, as of July 2009, UFC events are televised in over 100 countries and in 17 different languages (Show, 2009). Given this rapid increase in popularity, the context of MMA provides sport management researchers a unique opportunity to examine a sport in its formative years and understand what attracts customers. Whereas other sports in the United States, such as soccer, have struggled to gain acceptance or widespread support, MMA has demonstrated phenomenal growth as evidenced by the number of organizations promoting events, attendance at live events, television ratings, and participation in the sport. To date, though, little empirical research has been undertaken to better understand the sport and its growth. Prior MMA research suggested motives for watching individual versus team sports may differ (Kim, Greenwell, Andrew, Lee, & Mahony, 2008), and illustrated motives may differ for consumers in different countries (Kim, Andrew, & Greenwell, 2009). Much remains to be understood, however, regarding the motivations of MMA consumers. This study adds to our knowledge of MMA consumers by examining motives for attending live events, buying MMA merchandise, and watching televised MMA events.

Sport Consumption

Claeys and Vanden Abeele (2000) noted that the motivational approach was a good method to explain the means-end chain theory of consumer behavior. Sport motives have been considered as predictors of a fan's interest to attend or watch a sporting event (Madrigal, 2006). Trail, Anderson, and Fink (2000) proposed a model of sport consumption behavior that consists of six general factors which sequentially influence sport consumption behavior: (a) motivation, (b) level of identification, (c) expectancies, (d) confirmation or disconfirmation of expectancies, (e) self-esteem responses, and (f) the affective state of the individual. For example, consumers' motivation, an initial factor of the model, may directly influence their expectancies of the sporting events or indirectly influence their expectancies through their levels of identification. In turn, the confirmed or disconfirmed expectancies may have a direct impact on the affective states of consumers or indirect impact on the states through their self-esteem responses such as Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing) and Cutting Off Reflected Failure (CORFing). Through this sequence, the affective states of consumers influence their consumption intentions (e.g., media consumption, merchandise consumption, and attendance at events).

Trail, Fink, and Anderson, (2003) empirically tested their model using 364 attendees (male = 168; female = 196) at two NCAA Division-I basketball games. Even though the results indicated acceptable reliability and validity data for each construct and reasonable fit for the model, the path coefficient between expectancies for the event and confirmation/disconfirmation of the expectancies was not significant, and several path coefficients (e.g., identification [right arrow] expectancies = .186; expectancies [right arrow] disconfirmation = .151) identified weaker relationships. Finally, the model only explained 11.6% of the variance of consumption behavior. While the evidence supporting the inclusion of some of the latter predictors of sport consumption behavior was not as strong, this study highlighted the importance of sport consumer motives as predictors of consumption behavior.

Other studies have more directly examined the relationship between motives and consumption behavior. For example, Mahony, Nakazawa, Funk, James, and Gladden (2002) found that 15% of the variance in frequency of attendance among J. League consumers was explained by their motives. Specifically, team attachment and vicarious achievement had a positive impact on attendance, while drama, community pride, and player attachment showed negative impacts on attendance.

Sport Consumer Motivations

Previous research (Mahony et al., 2002; Trail et al., 2000) on sport consumer motives provides insight into the possible reasons why people attend sporting events, explains why some highly identified individuals attend events, and why they consume sport-related merchandise. Much of this research has identified the motives of sport consumers in relation to team sports (Funk, Mahony, & Ridinger, 2002; McDonald & Milne, 1999; Sloan, 1989; Trail & James, 2001; Wann, 1995) and individual sports (Kim et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Robinson, Trail, & Kwon, 2004). However, the vast majority of sport consumer motivation research has concentrated on the context of team sports.

Wann, Schrader, and Wilson (1999) were the first to examine the potential spectator motivation differences between individual and team sports. Through their research, Wann et al. (1999) discovered that fans of individual sports reported a higher level of aesthetic motivation than persons with a preference for team sports, and persons who preferred team sports showed higher scores on the subscales for self-esteem and eustress. The results, however, are limited because of the student sample. Wann et al. (1999) did not take into account whether the students considered themselves fans of individual sports, and did not explore whether the students spent more time attending individual sports versus team sports.

McDonald, Milne, and Hong (2002) examined motives for a variety of sports, including team and individual sports. McDonald et al. (2002) discovered there were differences in motives between golf spectators and team sport spectators, but did not elaborate why. Robinson, Trail, and Kwon (2004) examined the motives of professional golf spectators on the basis of gender and tour (e.g., PGA, LPGA, and PGA Senior) in the belief that the unique aspects of golf spectatorship (e.g., spectator mobility, length of event, etc.) could explain the results of McDonald et al.'s (2002) study. The results from a MANCOVA, after controlling for age and employment status, uncovered significant interaction effects between gender and tour, and the univariate analyses showed interactions on the motives of aesthetics, drama, and appreciation of physical skill. Clearly, more research exploring sport consumer motives for individual sports is needed.

Another way to understand the motivation of sport consumers is an approach using customer segmentation based on demographic variables. Ross (2007) conducted cluster analyses to classify National Basketball Association ticket holders and found those attending games could be classified into several segments based on their demographic profile: gender, education level, and household income. The results of Ross' (2007) study support the findings of previous research (Fink, Trail, & Anderson, 2002; James & Ridinger, 2002; Robinson & Trail, 2005) that has uncovered different motivations for males and females attending sporting events. For example, Fink et al. (2002) found that female consumers differed from male consumers in terms of motives and media and merchandise consumption behaviors. In the context of MMA, Kim et al. (2008) uncovered significant differences on the basis of gender regarding the motives of sport interest, economics, and violence at a local MMA event.

Motivations of MMA Consumers

Only two studies have studied sport consumer motives in the context of MMA (Kim et al., 2008, 2009). Kim et al. (2008) examined sport consumer motives at a small, amateur MMA event in a mid-sized Midwestern city. This study was the first empirical work to examine sport consumer motives in the context of individual fighting sports like boxing and MMA. The primary purpose of their study was to examine the preferences, loyalty, and motives of consumers who attended a MMA event, to examine gender differences regarding the motives, and to explore the relationship between the sport consumer motives and media consumption behavior in terms of gender. Kim et al.'s (2008) scale, based on other sport motivation studies (Funk et al., 2001; Trail & James, 2001; Trail et al., 2003; Wann, 1995), consisted of 10 motives: drama/eustress, escape, aesthetics, vicarious achievement, economics, national pride, violence, sport interest, adoration, and socializing or group affiliation. The results of the study indicated that the four motives rated highest for attending MMA events were sport interest, drama, socializing, and vicarious achievement. In addition, significant differences were uncovered between males and females, with males rating sport interest, economic, and violence as significantly stronger motives. Since there were significant differences between male and female respondents, two backward deletion linear regressions assessing the relationship between motives and media consumption for each gender were calculated. The results indicated that sport interest, vicarious achievement, and national pride were significant predictors of media consumption for males, while sport interest and drama were significant predictors of media consumption for females.

Kim et al. (2009) extended their initial work by examining cross-national differences in motivation and media consumption between American and Korean MMA consumers. The tremendous growth of the MMA's popularity has been found throughout the world, but especially in Asian countries as well as in the United States. The researchers attempted to examine differences regarding the motives and the media consumption behaviors of consumers between two countries in order to provide practical recommendations for developing more effective marketing strategies to MMA promoters striving to expand their businesses abroad. They surveyed 438 participants who attended local MMA events held in a mid-sized Midwestern city in the United States (n = 209) and a major metropolitan city in South Korea (n = 229) and found significant differences between American and Korean participants across five motives: sport interest, vicarious achievement, aesthetics, national pride, and violence. The results of two separate backward linear regression analyses for each country indicated that sport interest and drama were common significant predictors of media consumption for consumers at both the American and Korean events, while adoration was found to be a unique significant predictor of media consumption for those at the Korean event.

Although the aforementioned studies (Kim et al., 2008, 2009) were the first empirical attempts to understand MMA fans, the studies have limitations. The researchers of the current study have attempted to extend these previous studies by implementing three major changes to address prior limitations. First, the most notable limitation of the two studies of the motives of MMA consumers in the United States and Korea was that the researchers collected and analyzed data from a small, local, amateur event in the U.S. and a semi-professional event in Korea. It is difficult to conclude that the results are representative of MMA consumers overall since the motives of consumers at events featuring relatively unknown amateur or professional fighters may differ from motives of those attending a professional event with popular, recognized MMA fighters. For the present study, data were collected at a professional MMA event rather than an amateur event.

The second limitation was that some of the motives, economic and national pride specifically, may not have been appropriate for the MMA event context. For example, national pride was shown to be an unimportant motive based on the ratings of the motives by those attending a local event (Kim et al., 2008), and the economic factor was not relevant to the local amateur event or the event in Korea, where betting is not allowed on MMA events (Kim et al., 2008, 2009). Further, the motive of sport interest was incorporated in Kim et al.'s (2008, 2009) studies, yet the factor could be categorized as an attachment factor rather than a motive. For example, the Point of Attachment Index (Robinson & Trail, 2003) included identification with the sport among seven subsets of attachment, and those items were conceptually similar to the items for the sport interest motive proposed by Funk et al. (2002). In order to better understand MMA consumers, additional motivations not previously included in the context of MMA should be tested. The current study modifies the previous motivation scale developed by Kim et al. (2008) by replacing the economic and national pride factors with two other factors: crowd experience and sport knowledge.

Crowd Experience was first proposed as a sport consumer motive by James, Sun, and Lukkarinen (2004) as part of a presentation examining the dimensions comprising sport entertainment. Previous research has examined entertainment as a sport consumer motive (Funk et al., 2002; James & Ross, 2002; Sloan, 1989). Such work, however, has included items that measure whether sport is perceived as "fun" or "entertaining," but not the underlying dimensions of why sport is fun or entertaining. James et al. (2004) completed a series of studies designed to identify why spectator sport is considered fun or entertaining by consumers. In the first study, interviews were conducted with consumers attending a professional football game in the Midwestern United States. One question consumers were asked was, "What do you enjoy about attending games?" (James et al., 2004). Based on the responses, eight dimensions of entertainment were identified, including the construct of crowd experience.

Crowd experience as a motive pertains to an individual's interest in consuming spectator sport on one level to be part of a crowd, satisfying a need for belonging (James et al., 2004). At the same time, the crowd experience is more than just being part of a group. Another aspect to the crowd experience is the energy and excitement of a sports audience (James et al., 2004). The latter element provides on another level satisfaction of a need for stress and stimulation. More recently, Yoshida (2008) proposed that crowd experience should also be regarded as a sub-dimension of the aesthetic quality of a sporting event. James et al. (2004) presented the initial evidence that the items purported to measure crowd experience were reliable and valid. Considering that professional MMA competitions are lively events with high levels of excitement, crowd experience was deemed an appropriate motive to measure.

The second motive added was "Sport Knowledge," which refers to the notion that people will become partial to the sport if they know more about the sport (e.g., general knowledge, techniques, and strategies) through experiencing it (Funk & Pastore, 2000). Since MMA is a combat sport allowing various martial arts styles or techniques including striking and grappling, MMA fighters must prepare very sophisticated strategies for each event according to opponents' fighting styles. MMA fans may be motivated to watch events in order to become more knowledgeable about the sport. In turn, they may enjoy anticipating results of matches by analyzing strategies and comparing strength and weakness of each fighting style (Trail & James, 2001).

Finally, none of the studies to date concerning the motives of MMA consumers have examined merchandise consumption as a dependent variable, even though it is often considered to be an important revenue resource for sport leagues. It seems that MMA promoters rely heavily on pay-per-view as their major revenue source and less attention has been devoted to merchandise sales. Merchandise sales could serve as an additional revenue source for MMA marketers and promoters to augment pay-per-view and ticket sales. Promoting organizationally linked merchandise in individual sports is particularly challenging given that individual athletes are often free to enter into apparel sponsorship agreements with private companies. For example, in the sport of tennis, athletes such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have apparel contracts with Nike, which undoubtedly hampers the ability of the men's tour organizers to promote their own ATP Tour apparel brand. Given this situation, the study explores predictors of merchandise consumption as well as media consumption to provide MMA managers with valuable consumer motivation data on which to focus strategic planning initiatives for merchandise sales. Consistent with past research (Fink et al., 2002; James & Ridinger, 2002; Kim et al., 2008; Robinson & Trail, 2005), gender is used as a customer segmentation variable since male and female spectators have shown different motives (Fink et al., 2002; Kim et al., 2008) and experiences in consuming sporting events (Gantz & Wenner, 1991). In addition, differentiated marketing strategies for each target group could maximize consumption behavior (Robinson & Trail, 2005).

Method

Sample

A total of 162 consumers at a professional MMA event volunteered to participate in the study. The event was managed by a professional promoter that has staged over 150 shows around the United States as well as four different countries (Canada, Australia, Singapore, and England). The event promoter presents between five and ten PPV shows a year, films all of the fights, and is said to have one of the largest MMA video libraries in the world. This professional promoter has a significantly larger media presence than the amateur organization studied by Kim et al. (2008). Participants were recruited prior to the event in conjunction with the event. While Kim and his colleagues (2008) utilized a spectator intercept method at the entrance of the facility, such a method does not necessarily ensure that the resulting sample is representative of all ticket pricing points within the arena. Therefore, in the current study, survey questionnaires of different colors were distributed to spectators in three different seating sections (reserve, front, and top) to ensure the respondents were representative of all ticket pricing levels. In the end, participants included 54 consumers (33.3%) in the reserve section, 37 (22.7%) in the front section, and 71 (43.8%) in the top section.

The sample consisted of 105 males (64.9%) and 57 females (35.1%). The 18-34 years old demographic, which is the major target market of MMA, comprised more than half of the sample (n = 88; 54.1%). More specifically, the youngest age-group (18-24) was most represented with 39 participants (24.0%), followed by the 25-29 age group with 35 participants (21.5%), and the 30-34 years old demographic was represented by 14 participants (8.6%). The average household income reported was approximately $68,000 a year, with 20% of the respondents reporting incomes of over $100,000 and 14% reporting incomes over $120,000. The level of education varied as 74 participants (45.9%) had a high school diploma, 53 (32.7%) had some college, and 30 (18.4%) had either an undergraduate or graduate degree.

Instrumentation

A 43-item questionnaire measuring demographics, motives, and merchandise and media consumption was developed for this study. The questionnaire incorporated a seven-point Likert scale to which consumers reported their level of motivation to attend a mixed martial arts event and their merchandise and media consumption (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree).

Demographics. Demographic information including gender, age, educational level, and annual household income were collected from participants.

Spectator Motives. Three items were adapted for each motive, resulting in a total of 27 items measuring nine unique motives. Drama/eustress, escape, aesthetics, vicarious achievement, socializing, and sport knowledge were selected for this study because prior studies supported the inclusion of these factors (Funk et al., 2002; Sloan, 1989; Trail & James, 2001; Wann, 1995). Furthermore, the motives of violence and adoration/hero worship were added from Kim et al.'s (2008) study of MMA spectator motives. In an attempt to better understand the unique motives for attending an MMA event, the factors of sport knowledge and crowd experience were included.

Merchandise and Media Consumption Behavior. To measure merchandise consumption, three items were adapted from Fink, Trail, and Anderson's (2002) study. The items were "I buy MMA clothing (T-shirts, caps, etc.)," "I wear MMA apparel on a regular basis," and "I wear MMA paraphernalia even when I'm not at a match." To measure media consumption, three items from Kim et al. (2008) were used. The items were "I read about MMA news over the Internet," "I watch MMA events on television," and "I watch MMA reality shows on television."

Data Analysis

Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate construct validity because new factors (crowd experience and sport knowledge) were added to the scale. Cronbach's internal consistency analysis for each construct was incorporated to measure inter-item reliability. Descriptive statistics were calculated to assess overall demographics and motives to attend and watch MMA events. A correlation analysis of the sport motivation factors was conducted to examine associations among the factors. One-way MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance) was used to examine gender differences in MMA fan motivation. Subsequent to the MANOVA, four separate backward deletion regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between MMA consumer motivations and merchandise and media consumption behavior for male and female groups. Such an analysis promotes a customer segmentation approach, which allows sport managers to develop more effective marketing strategies.

Results

Scale Validity/Reliability

The confirmatory factor analysis results for the consumer motives indicated acceptable measures of absolute fit (RMSEA = 0.071) and comparative fit (CFI = 0.97; NFI =0.94; NNFI = 0.97; RFI = 0.93) according to Steiger (1990) and Kelloway (1998). Factor loadings, standard errors, and average variance explained values for the nine motives are reported in Table 1. Cronbach's alpha scores for each motivational factor and a correlation matrix among the nine motives are reported in Table 2. Cronbach's alpha scores ([alpha]) were computed for merchandise consumption ([alpha] = .906), media consumption ([alpha] = .863), and each of the nine motivations to verify internal consistency. The range of Cronbach coefficients of the motivational factors was [alpha] = 0.761 (aesthetics) to [alpha] = 0.878 (social); therefore, all coefficients exceeded the recommended benchmark of .70 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).

Spectator Motives

Table 2 shows the correlations among motives and two consumption behaviors. Although most of the motivations and consumption behaviors were significantly correlated, the relationships between the drama factor and both consumption behaviors were not significant. Table 3 shows the means and standard deviations for motivations by gender. The overall means for each motive ranged from a low for social interests (M = 4.43) to a high for aesthetics (M = 5.63). Drama (M = 5.62) was the second most important factor influencing consumers to attend a MMA event, followed by escape (M = 5.34), vicarious achievement (M = 5.02), crowd experience (M = 4.94), violence (M = 4.92), knowledge (M = 4.84), adoration (M = 4.53), and social (M = 4.43). All of the motives were above the scale midpoint (M = 4.00), thus underlining their relevance in this MMA context.

Gender Differences for Motive and Merchandise and Media Consumption

To examine the presence of any gender differences among attendance motivations, a one-way MANOVA was calculated, and a significant gender difference was discovered with vicarious achievement [F (1, 157) = 5.242, p < .05]. Specifically, males reported a significantly greater motivation for attendance based on vicarious achievement. Separate equations regressing consumer motives on merchandise and media consumption were calculated for each gender to provide more specific information to sport marketers regarding the relevant motives for each gender (see Table 4).

In terms of male merchandise consumption, a backward deletion regression was conducted to remove non-contributing independent variables. Drama, vicarious achievement, crowd experience, and knowledge remained as significant predictors of merchandise consumption [F (4, 93) = 9.83, p < .001, Adjusted [R.sup.2] = .267]. The Standardized Coefficient (b) indicated that vicarious achievement ([beta] = .289) was the strongest predictor of merchandise consumption, followed by drama ([beta] = -.264), knowledge ([beta] = .256), and crowd experience ([beta] = .249). In terms of male media consumption, a backward deletion regression analysis revealed violence, aesthetics, drama, and knowledge were significant predictors of media consumption [ F (4, 88) = 15.78, p < .001, Adjusted [R.sup.2] = .391]. The Standardized Coefficient indicated that aesthetics ([beta] = .503) was the strongest predictor of media consumption, followed by knowledge ([beta] = .222), drama ([beta] = .203), and violence ([beta] = .198)

To explore the merchandise consumption factors for females, a backward deletion regression analysis was conducted to remove non-contributing independent variables. Adoration remained as the only significant predictor of merchandise consumption [F (1, 50) = 24.63, p < .001, Adjusted [R.sup.2] = .317]. The Standardized Coefficient indicated that adoration ([beta] = .574) was a strong predictor of merchandise consumption. To explore media consumption for females, a backward deletion regression analysis revealed knowledge, drama, and aesthetics were significant predictors of media consumption [F (3, 49) = 13.06, p < .001, Adjusted [R.sup.2] = .410]. The Standardized Coefficient indicated that knowledge ([beta] = .452) was the strongest predictor of media consumption, followed by aesthetics ([beta] = .451) and drama ([beta] = -.339).

Discussion

Given the dearth of research on mixed martial arts and the exponential growth of the sport, it is important to understand why people are attending these events and what is driving them to consume the sport through media and merchandise. Findings from this study add insight into why MMA consumers are attending events and associates those motives with media and merchandise consumption behaviors.

Similar to findings from prior studies, participants rated drama and aesthetics as the two most important motives to attend MMA events. The fact that consumers rated drama so highly in each study indicates that people desire close fights with uncertain outcomes regardless of the level of competition. In recent years, boxing has often been criticized for staging mismatches in order to build fighters' records in an attempt to create stars. While MMA promoters may be tempted to stage mismatches, findings from this study suggest otherwise. The UFC has benefited from this strategy. Rather than building fighters' records they have chosen to focus on good match-ups. In fact, UFC 68, UFC 69, and UFC 70 all featured an upset in the main event. Some even argue this "anything can happen" style of booking fights is driving the growth of UFC (Chiappetta, 2007). Regarding the violence motive, contrary to the beliefs regarding combat sports, violence was not an overwhelmingly strong motive for attending MMA events. This could be due to the large percentage of consumers at the events who were familiar with the sport and could be classified as highly identified MMA fans. Consumers who might be highly identified with MMA might recognize fighting based on highly polished skills and techniques as beauty rather than violence. The finding that the aesthetics motive was rated as the highest motive along with drama in the study could be explained by the assumption.

In addition, this study found that crowd experience and sport knowledge were two important motives for attending events. The fact that spectators rated crowd experience as a strong motive for attendance indicates that MMA spectators appreciate the impact of the "crowd experience" at an event. MMA promoters should continue to capitalize on opportunities to increase fan involvement (e.g., dramatic introductions) and use audio-visual technologies (e.g., exciting music, lights, etc.) to orchestrate reactions from the spectators. The importance of consumer knowledge also adds considerable insight into the growth of the sport. Whereas consumers in many countries have grown up with various martial arts ingrained within their culture, those in the United States are less likely to know about the rules, strategies, and techniques associated with the sport. The results from this study suggest many people attend to increase their knowledge of the sport and fulfill their desire to learn.

When comparing this study to prior research, the results suggest some differences in motivation between consumers of amateur and professional events. For example, consumers at the professional event rated escape much higher than socializing, whereas the opposite was true of the amateur event (Kim et al., 2008). This finding suggests consumers at the professional fight see the event as a chance to get away; therefore, marketers of these events should add to the spectacle and entertainment aspects of the event. Further, vicarious achievement was rated in the top five motives for attendance at the professional event. This difference may be explained by the fact that consumers at the professional event most likely possessed more knowledge of the individual fighters and had developed allegiances for certain fighters. Consumers at amateur events, on the other hand, most likely have not had any prior exposure to fighters, thus preventing them from developing any sense of connection with a specific fighter. Although many of the findings were similar among the two groups, these findings indicate there are differences between amateur and professional MMA consumers, and marketers should develop appropriate marketing strategies according to the level of competition.

In terms of merchandise consumption, four prominent motives emerged. Consumers who were there for the crowd experience and to increase their knowledge of the sport were more likely to buy merchandise, which illustrates the value of attending the live event. Another interesting finding was that vicarious achievement was positively correlated with merchandise consumption, and drama was a negative predictor of merchandise consumption. Taken together, these findings suggest consumers who purchase MMA paraphernalia are drawn toward fighters who are dominant and win because the individual can experience a personal sense of accomplishment through vicarious achievement. Therefore, it would follow that a close or dramatic match would not provide a large return in merchandise sales of those involved. However, if a fighter went into a match evenly matched, and the fighter dominated, one should see an increase in consumption of merchandise related to the dominant fighter.

With regard to media consumption behavior, aesthetics, knowledge, and drama were common motives that predicted media consumption behavior for both male and female consumers, while violence only predicted male consumers' media consumption behavior. Interestingly, the influence of drama on media consumption behavior was very different compared to past research concerning an amateur MMA event (Kim et al., 2008). In the present study, drama was a negative predictor of media consumption for both groups, whereas Kim et al. (2008) found drama was not a significant predictor for males and was a positive predictor for females. The differences between these two events provide important information for MMA promoters who schedule matches. Perhaps the previous findings based on an amateur event were not applicable to the present study due to the high-profile nature of the event studied. Based on the findings from the present study, media consumption of professional events can be enhanced by scheduling matches whereby dominant fighters are able to assert their dominance on competitors with less skill. Such dominating performances often serve to build the reputation of the superior fighter, who may later become a point of attachment for devoted fans (Robinson & Trail, 2003). Violence was the third most important motive for media consumption for male spectators, but the motive did not predict media consumption for females.

The significant rating of the crowd experience motive confirms the initial findings of James et al. (2004) that one aspect of the entertainment is being part of a crowd at an exciting event. As discussed, the crowd experience motive seems to relate in part to being part of a crowd, fulfilling a need for belonging. At the same time, the experience is more than just being part of a group. The excitement and energy of the crowd have an appeal that can draw consumers. Since the motive was rated consistently by males and females, this result would suggest that promotions of MMA, and potentially other spectator sports, can develop one campaign to emphasize the excitement and energy of the crowd experience, which has the potential to motivate males and females.

Future Research

Whereas this study provides a profile of people attending a North American professional MMA event, future research should expand to examine the sport in different areas of the world because motivation factors may influence consumers differently in other countries (Kim et al., 2009). For example, studies could examine the difference between professional MMA events in the United States, England, Australia, and Canada.

And finally, future research should be conducted to understand the various segments of MMA fans. For example, contrary to the general beliefs regarding combat sports, violence was not an overwhelmingly strong motive to attend an MMA event. As discussed earlier, this could be due to the large percentage of consumers at the event who are familiar with the sport and can be classified as highly identified MMA fans. It is possible that fans with low levels of fan identity could have higher motives for violence. A better understanding of this concept is needed in order to delineate differences between high- and low-level fan identification and how to effectively market to both groups.

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Damon P. S. Andrew, PhD, is the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Troy University. His research interests include human resource management and organizational behavior/theory in sport.

Seungmo Kim, MS, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Exercise, Sport, & Leisure Studies at the University of Tennessee. His research interests include human resource management and organizational behavior/theory in sport.

Nick O'Neal, MS, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee sport management program and is the Director of Sponsorship and Advertising at King of the Cage. His research interests include the marketing and management of Mixed Martial Arts events.

T. Christopher Greenwell, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Health and Sport Sciences at the University of Louisville. His research interests include customer service and customer satisfaction.

Jeffrey D. James, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Sport and Recreation Management at Florida State University. His research interests include sponsorship, sport consumer behavior, and consumers' psychological connection to sport products.

Table 1.

Factor Loadings ([beta]), Standard Errors (SE), and Average
Variance Explained Values (AVE) for the Nine Motive Scale of Mixed
Martial Arts.

Motives and Items
I was motivated to attend this Mixed Martial [beta] SE AVE
Arts event because...

Crowd Experience

...I feed off the excitement of the crowd. 1.31 1.53 0.53
...the crowd energy I feel at the event gets 1.46 1.01 0.68
 me pumped up.
...there is something special about being in a
 crowd. 1.49 1.49 0.60

Escape

...it provides an escape from my day-to-day 1.31 1.13 0.61
 routine.
... I can get away from my everyday life. 1.49 0.90 0.71
.it provides a distraction from my everyday 1.62 0.80 0.77
 activities.

Drama

...I enjoy fights where the outcome is not 1.06 2.32 0.32
 decided until the very end
...I enjoy a close fight more than a one-sided 1.07 1.36 0.46
 fight.
...I enjoy the drama of close fights. 1.41 0.52 0.79

Adoration

...when a fighter appears to be unbeatable, he 1.46 1.72 0.55
 becomes a hero to me
...MMA fighters are my role models because of 1.54 1.49 0.61
 their highly advanced skill
...I watch MMA fights to witness individual 1.30 1.13 0.60
 greatness.

Socializing

...of the opportunity to interact with other 1.39 1.59 0.55
 fans.
...of the chance to socialize with other fans. 1.67 0.88 0.76
....of the possibility of talking with other 1.74 0.58 0.84
 fans at the event.

Vicarious Achievement

...I feel like I have won when my favorite 1.42 1.13 0.64
 fighter wins.
...I feel a personal sense of achievement when 1.55 1.22 0.66
 my favorite fighter does well
...I feel proud when my favorite fighter does 1.50 1.15 0.66
 well.

Aesthetics

...MMA is a form of art. 1.05 1.70 0.39
...watching a well-executed athletic performance 0.96 0.79 0.54
 is something I enjoy.
...of the graceful agility displayed by MMA 1.29 0.70 0.71
 fighters.

Knowledge

...I can learn about the technical aspects of 1.42 1.61 0.56
 MMA.
...I increase my understanding of MMA strategy 1.38 1.39 0.58
by watching an MMA event.

...I increase my knowledge about MMA. 1.63 0.82 0.76

Violence

...I like MMA because it has more violence than 1.56 2.07 0.54
 other sports.
...I enjoy the brutality of MMA. 1.47 1.44 0.60
...I like an MMA event more when the fights get 1.64 1.30 0.68
bloody.

Table 2.

Correlations among Motives and Consumption Behaviors and Cronbach
Alphas

Factors Crowd Escape Drama

Crowd ([varies] =.815)
Escape .538 ** ([varies] =.868)
Drama .386 ** .481 ** ([varies] =.772)
Ador. .582 ** .542 ** .413 **
Social. .583 ** .618 ** .502 **
Vic. .580 ** .521 ** .488 **
Aesth. .447 ** .480 ** .454 **
Know. .501 ** .499 ** .462 **
Vio. .437 ** .429 ** .243 **
Merch. .447 ** .298 ** .145
Media. .386 ** .293 ** .110

Factors Ador. Social. Vic.

Crowd
Escape
Drama
Ador. ([varies] =.805)
Social. .609 ** ([varies] =.878)
Vic. .646 ** .536 ** ([varies] =.849)
Aesth. .655 ** .481 ** .525 **
Know. .570 ** .592 ** .423 **
Vio. .510 ** .367 ** .335 **
Merch. .477 ** .355 ** .426 **
Media. .511 ** .312 ** .281 **

Factors Aesth. Know. Vio.

Crowd
Escape
Drama
Ador.
Social.
Vic.
Aesth. ([varies] =.761)
Know. .546 ** ([varies] =.833)
Vio. .260 ** .370 ** ([varies] =.819)
Merch. .416 ** .416 ** .269 **
Media. .491 ** .491 ** .290 **

Factors Merch. Media.

Crowd
Escape
Drama
Ador.
Social.
Vic.
Aesth.
Know.
Vio.
Merch. ([varies] =.906)
Media. .635 ** ([varies] =.863)

Note: Crowd = Crowd Experience, Ador. = Adoration, Social. =
Socializing, Vic. = Vicarious Achievement, Aesth. = Aesthetics, Know.
= Knowledge, Vio. = Violence, Merch. = Merchandise Consumption, and
Media = Media Consumption * p < .05. ** p < .01.

Table 3.

Means and Standard Deviations of Motivations by Gender

 Total Male Female

 M SE M SE M SE

Aesthetics 5.63 1.73 5.69 1.23 5.51 1.20
Drama 5.62 1.38 5.54 1.45 5.78 1.25
Escape 5.34 1.56 5.35 1.62 5.32 1.44
Vicarious Achievement 5.02 1.61 4.80 1.69 5.40 1.39
Crowd Experience 4.94 1.56 4.97 1.62 4.89 1.45
Violence 4.92 1.72 4.96 1.68 4.82 1.80
Knowledge 4.84 1.61 4.91 1.64 4.71 1.55
Adoration 4.53 1.55 4.54 1.55 4.51 1.59
Socializing 4.43 1.69 4.36 1.75 4.55 1.60

Table 4.

Impact of Motivations on Merchandise and Media Consumption Behaviors

Merchandise B SE B B

 Male
 Crowd Experience * .316 .140 .249
 Drama * -.377 .153 -.264
 Vicarious Achievement * .354 .138 .289
 Knowledge * .321 .137 .256
 Female
 Adoration *** .701 .141 .574

Media B SE B B

 Male
 Drama * -.224 .105 -.203
 Aesthetics *** .664 .127 .503
 Knowledge * .213 .103 .222
 Violence * .187 .087 .198
 Female
 Drama * -.548 .214 -.339
 Aesthetics ** .758 .241 .451
 Knowledge ** .604 .182 .452

Merchandise [R.sup.2] Adj. [R.sup.2] F

 Male .297 .267 9.832
 Crowd Experience *
 Drama *
 Vicarious Achievement *
 Knowledge *
 Female .330 .317 24.627
 Adoration ***

Media [R.sup.2] Adj. [R.sup.2] F

 Male .418 .391 15.785
 Drama *
 Aesthetics ***
 Knowledge *
 Violence *
 Female .444 .410 13.057
 Drama *
 Aesthetics **
 Knowledge **

Note. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.