Fan experience

Designs the audience’s experience at a sports event or show: the venue, access, services and everything surrounding the game.

What problem it addresses

The score can’t be designed, but everything else can: getting there, entering, sitting, eating, seeing well and leaving.

The venue counts
The condition of the stadium influences the desire to stay and to come back.
Beyond the game
Parking, cleanliness, food and crowding are part of the experience.
Fandom weighs more
Loyalty to the team has a strong influence, but the setting adds up too.

Use it like this
Walk through the whole game day, from leaving home to getting back.
Avoid
Improving only the stands and forgetting entrances, lines and restrooms.
Don’t fall for it
Think about less loyal fans too: the setting weighs more in whether they come back.

1995
Kirk L. Wakefield and Hugh J. Sloan
Studied how team loyalty and stadium condition influence attendance.
1996
Kirk L. Wakefield, Jeffrey G. Blodgett and Hugh J. Sloan
Called the stadium’s physical setting the sportscape and created a questionnaire to measure it.
1992
Mary Jo Bitner
Had earlier proposed a framework for how a service’s physical setting influences customers and employees.

Wakefield, K. L., & Sloan, H. J. (1995). The effects of team loyalty and selected stadium factors on spectator attendance. Journal of Sport Management, 9(2), 153–172. View source: Wakefield, K. L., & Sloan, H. J. (1995)
Wakefield, K. L., Blodgett, J. G., & Sloan, H. J. (1996). Measurement and management of the sportscape. Journal of Sport Management, 10(1), 15–31. View source: Wakefield, K. L., Blodgett, J. G., & Sloan, H. J. (1996)
Bitner, M. J. (1992). Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. Journal of Marketing, 56(2), 57–71. View source: Bitner, M. J. (1992)

Last reviewed: October 25, 2026