Sport Spectators' Experience-based Nostalgia and Involvement in Sport Spectatorship

What is Perceived as Nostalgia During COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

COVID-19 outbreak has forced sport spectators to keep social distancing in the stadium/arena, causing economic damage to sport organizations due to a lack of matchday revenue. However, the situation would arouse sport spectators' nostalgia for their past experiences in the sporting venue. Thus, the purpose of this study was to clarify whether nostalgia for spectating sport in the stadium/arena during the pandemic differed by involvement in sport spectatorship. In December 2020, an online survey of Japanese sports spectators (n = 728) was conducted. The result of confirmatory factor analysis explained that sport spectators' experience-based nostalgia during COVID-19 was engendered from memories of their favorite teams, stadiums, and social interactions in the stadium/arena. Mann-Whitney's U tests resulted that sport spectators with higher involvement in sport spectatorship perceived nostalgia stronger than those with lower involvement. Sports teams and leagues could benefit from the knowledge during the “with-corona” period.