Factors influencing Taiwanese Americans to attend professional team sport events

The purpose of this study was to determine the important factors influencing Taiwanese Americans to attend professional team sport events. Furthermore, the favorite professional team sport of attendees and television viewers among Taiwanese Americans and the reasons why Taiwanese Americans did not attend or watch professional team sport events on television were investigated.

Taiwanese American Professional Team Sport Attendance Paired Comparison Instrument (TAPTSAPCI) and Taiwanese American Favorite Professional Team Sport Event Paired Comparison Instrument (TAFPTSEPCI) were developed for this study. Of the 241 correctly completed questionnaires, 108 were professional team sport event attendees, 117 were professional team sport television viewers, and 16 did not attend professional team sport events or watch them on television.

Based on the results of this study, the most important factor influencing Taiwanese American professional team sport attendance was "Cultural identity with athletes (Taiwanese players)." These results also affirmed baseball was the favorite sport for both professional team sport event attendees and television viewers among Taiwanese Americans. Finally, the major reason for not attending a professional team sport event was they watched it on television. For Taiwanese Americans who neither attended nor watched professional team sport events, the main reason was simply that they were not interested in sport.

Because Taiwanese Americans continue to identify with their Taiwanese cultural background, professional team sport franchises might recruit and promote more elite Taiwanese players to maximize the paid attendance, television spectatorship, merchandise sales, and fan loyalty in both the United States and Taiwan.