An Assessment of Fans’ Willingness to Pay for Team’s Environmental Sustainability Initiatives

Abstract

The current study aims to understand if sport organizations can utilize environmental sustainability (ES) efforts to increase revenue in addition to saving money. To do this, fans of the Philadelphia Eagles were surveyed. Findings indicate fans were willing to pay an average of US$6.50 in the form of a sustainability fee to help the organization implement an environmental initiative. Furthermore, this study found that nearly none of the prevailing thoughts on predictors of fan behavior significantly positively predicted fans’ willingness to pay an environmental sustainability fee. The findings of the current study challenge the conventional theoretical thinking with respect to fan behavior. Furthermore, respondents in the current study were equally likely to financially support the sustainability efforts of their favorite team no matter their income, loyalty to the team, personal values, or conative loyalty associated with environmental sustainability. Theoretically, the current study advanced the triple bottom line theory, the Contingent Valuation Model, and the Model of Sport Fan Sustainability Behavior.

Willingness-to-Pay for Environmental Measures in Non-Profit Sport Clubs

“…The average WTP for environmental measures is lower than WTP of sport club members for other purposes in previous studies (e.g., [14,16,63]), but close to the amount what sport fans of professional teams are willing to pay for environmental sustainability initiatives [42]. The level of WTP is also similar to existing environmental research within Europe [36].…”

“…Moreover, differences in WTP can result from differences in response formats (open question vs. double dichotomous choice vs. payment card; [63]). On the contrary, different payment vehicles (i.e., extra fee in addition to ticket price in [42] vs. membership fee) did not yield material differences in WTP for similar goods which are both related to protecting the natural environment. Overall, respondents were willing to pay an additional amount of money that is equivalent to 10.6% of their current membership fee.…”

“…In another study, they investigated marathon runners' WTP for voluntary carbon offsetting [41]. In the context of professional team sports, Greenhalgh and Drayer [42] estimated fans' WTP for environmental initiatives. Huth and Kurscheidt [43] examined membership and green fees in German golf clubs and estimated the monetary value of an environmental certificate among golf club members using hedonic pricing.…”

“…With a Cronbach's alpha of 0.824, the scale can be considered reliable [68]. The survey finished with multiple questions assessing club members' socio-demographic characteristics similar to previous studies [14,42]. Respondents were asked to indicate their gender (What is your gender?…”

The Importance of Sustainability in Diving Tourism—The Case of German Speaking Diving Tourists

“…Furthermore, whether diving tourists are willing to pay a higher price for sustainable diving offers than for non-sustainable diving offers will be investigated. More recently, based on Trail's [74] "sports fan sustainability behavior" model, Greenhalgh and Drayer [75] demonstrated that fans of sports teams are willing to pay a fee for their team's environmental sustainability initiatives. If this were to apply to dive tourists as well, the question about which characteristics influence such behavior arises again.…”