Measuring Fan Avidity Can Help Marketers Narrow Their Focus

The sports industry is one of the 10 largest and fastest growing business sectors in the United States. The size of the industry in 2008 was estimated to be approximately $213 billion, more than twice the size of the U.S. auto industry and seven times the size of the movie industry.A sizable proportion of these revenues are attributed either directly or indirectly to the sports fans. And, like any business, it depends principally on its most loyal and dedicated (avid) consumers/sports fans. Researchers define fan avidity as the level of interest, involvement, passion, and loyalty a fan exhibits to a particular sports entity (i.e., a sport, league, team, and/or athlete). Indeed, avid sports fans have a much stronger emotional connection to the sports entity