From Arena to Screen: Experiential Drivers of Sport Consumption

Abstract

The present study examines how experiential factors influence overall customer experience in live attendance and home-based viewing contexts, and how these experiences relate to behavioral intentions. Drawing on the S-O-R framework and an experiencescape perspective, the study uses survey data from fans of a professional Swedish ice hockey club. The findings show that live experience was mainly shaped by social and symbolic elements, particularly staff, other fans and merchandise, while physical arena factors were not significant. In the home-based context, shared viewing, media presentation and media accessibility significantly influenced overall experience. In both contexts, overall experience had a strong positive relationship with behavioral intentions. The study contributes to sport consumer research by showing that live and mediated sport consumption should be understood as distinct but related experiences, shaped by different stimuli but connected through customer experience.