Variables affecting crowd behavior at basketball games in the Southwest Conference

Abstract

While the main purpose of this study was investigate factors related to crowd behavior at basketball games, its ultimate purpose is to make the findings useful through their application to specific situations to improve basketball crowd behavior in the Southwest Conference. The specific objective were: 1. To identify variables related to crowd behavior at basketball games in the Southwest Conference. 2. To explore the possibility of developing a technique for predicting crowd behavior during basketball games before the contest begins. 3. To draw up recommendations for purposes of controlling crowd behavior at basketball games. Data were collected by the personnel in the Southwest Conference executive secretary's office and basketball personnel from the Athletic Department of Texas A&M University. Included in the data were 53 of the possible 56 games of the 1974 Southwest Conference championship play. A correlation analysis was performed on the 83 independent variables to determine their correlation to the dependent variable, crowed activity. The variables that were significant beyond the .01 level were: attendance; visiting team booed during introduction; visiting coach booed during introduction; number of players fouled out (visiting team); number of "stars" (1st or 2nd team, All Conference) fouled out (home team); attendance as a proportion of capacity of field house. ...