Syracuse University Basketball: To Renovate the Carrier Dome or Build a New Arena

摘要

This study looked at how Syracuse University basketball fans’ spectator motives impacted their preference on whether to renovate the Carrier Dome or to build a new arena. The purpose of this research was to find out if these Syracuse University basketball fans differed from prior knowledge regarding sport spectator motivation. It was known that fan enjoyment is influenced by convenience of concessions and restrooms (Wakefield, 1995). However, it was also known that fans’ team identification affected resistance to change (Wu, 2012) and sense of home had a positive impact on stadium satisfaction (Lee, 2012). The sample for this study consisted of 93 Syracuse University basketball fans that had access to on online survey through Syracuse University basketball Twitter pages. The results of this study showed that 85% of fans preferred to renovate the Carrier Dome. There were 6 aspects of fan importance and fan satisfaction with the Carrier Dome that had significantly different means between the groups “renovate” and “build new.” Although these aspects had significantly different means statistically, the greatest difference in means between the two groups practically was satisfaction with sense of home. When fans were asked why they preferred to renovate the Carrier Dome they used words such as unique, iconic, landmark, and tradition. These findings were important because it showed that Syracuse University basketball fans had an emotional attachment to the Carrier Dome and would prefer to renovate the facility and continue to have the team play there.