Sport Fans’ Price Sensitivity Based on Loyalty Levels: A Case of Korean Professional Baseball League

Abstract

For the sustainable development of the Korean Professional Baseball League (a.k.a., KBO League), it is critical to propose profitable and efficient pricing strategies for each team in the KBO League. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand KBO League fans’ perceptions of price sensitivity. More specifically, this study explored how fans’ perceptions of price sensitivity and latitude of price acceptance vary between different loyalty groups. A total of 213 valid responses were recruited from KBO League fans by using a convenience sampling approach. As a result, based on the levels of attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, fans were classified into four categories: loyal fans, latent fans, spurious fans, and indifferent fans. Moreover, loyal fans were found to be less sensitive to the ticket price increase of different levels (i.e., 10%, 20%, and 30%), followed by latent fans, spurious fans, and indifferent fans. Meanwhile, loyal fans have the highest level of the latitude of price acceptance, followed by latent fans, spurious fan, and indifferent fans. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of sport fans’ responses to the change of ticket price and their perceptions of the accepted price range. Meanwhile, this study offers practical implications for marketers of KBO League teams to develop tailored pricing strategies for their fans by considering different loyalty levels.