Introduction
Sports are an essential part of the everyday life of millions of people. Nowadays, it seems that football is one of the most popular and profitable activities in the world (Benson, 2017). From a management perspective, it should be considered as a comprehensive and complex phenomenon. Services and goods (food, souvenirs, beverages) that are associated with football require a considerable amount of time, effort, and knowledge to provide them appropriately so that customers could be fully satisfied. Quality of customer experience is an essential indicator of how any good or service is given; the scope of the football industry is not an exception. People prefer to sit in a comfortable seat with a good view and have access to snacks during the whole match. It might be assumed that all the related events that take place at football stadiums imply the importance of the proper management of the mentioned aspect. This paper aims to prove the expediency of the latter statement, applying a relevant theoretical framework, and to describe the indicators of customer experience, questions of sustainability, and equity in this sphere.
Theoretical Background
To begin, it seems important to define the term “consumer experience quality” in the framework of the sports industry that will serve as a foundation for the whole discussion. Yoshida (2017, p. 430) determines it as “sports consumers judgment about the overall excellence or superiority of the total experience based on their direct and indirect interactions with a sports organization and other consumers across multiple touchpoints.” These touchpoints are perceived as sport, service, social, and communication encounters (Yoshida, 2017). It should be mentioned that Yoshida’s determination of the listed encounters, quality dimensions, and attributes in the sport will be utilized to investigate the phenomenon of the quality of customer experience in football. It might be suggested that this academician’s evaluation fits the targets of the research as it provides a solid rationale and ample space for a coherent theoretical argument with relevant links to practice.
It should also be noted that several significant models might be inappropriate for this investigation. For instance, Arslan (2017, p. 9) claims that the GAP model designed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry in 1985 “provides an essential framework for defining and measuring service quality.” However, it seems that this model has mostly a practical orientation – it can be easily applied by managers in any sports industry, but it contains concrete steps for assessing gaps to improve customer experience. At the same time, the approach presented by Yoshida (2017) is useful both for theoretical studies and real improvements. Thus, the GAP approach is not the best option to implement.
There is also another noticeable dimension of the service quality model called SERVQUAL. It evaluates five aspects to measure within the scope of the consumer experience – assurance, reliability, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness – that, at first approximation, maybe a proper theoretical framework for the issue. Even though scholars have developed several advanced variants of SERVQUAL, such as the 39-item TEAMQUAL by McDonald (Arslan, 2017), these variants are also rather practice-oriented. Moreover, the aspects of measuring in this model are overly subjective in comparison with Yoshida’s one. Hence, it seems rational to use Yoshida’s determination of the encounters, quality dimensions, and attributes in sport as the other theoretical foundation for this investigation.
Encounter Types and the Relevant Quality Dimensions and Attributes in Football
Four encounter types will be taken as a basis for further analysis. These are sports encounters, service encounters, social encounters, and communication encounters (Yoshida, 2017). In these encounters, the four common quality dimensions below are delivered to consumers, respectively. According to Yoshida (2017, p. 430), they “are identified as components of consumer experience quality in sport: core product quality, service quality, social network quality, and relationship investment quality.” At this point, it is reasonable to apply Yoshida’s findings to the football industry.
Sport Encounter
In the framework of the theme, sports encounters may be determined as customers’ interactions with a football competition that is the experience of spectator sport. In the latter, the performance of teams is scored to figure out a winner unpredictably. Yoshida (2017) claims that sports are associated with physical improvement, teamwork, and player performance. Within the scope of football, such definitions allow assuming the following.
For the customers related to this sport, it is essential to consume a high-quality football game. The latter depends on three attributes; first, it is team characteristics that, for example, includes a particular football club history and win/loss records. Rooting for a team for a long-term period creates a strong emotional connection that is an essential part of the spectator’s experience (Woods, 2016). Second, it is player performance – their skills and social media popularity. Third, it is outcome valence – significant and insignificant game outcomes Yoshida (2017, p. 431) rationally notices, “watching sporting events is an entertainment product that provides substantial information on teams, events, and individual athletes.” Thus, providers of such a product should possess a considerable volume of resources of various character – starting from qualified personnel and ending with media presence.
Service Encounter
Service encounters may be determined as customers interplay with frontline employees, services, and else self-service mechanisms of football facilities during the period when consumers are involved in a football event. It should be stated that service quality is visible through attributes of auxiliary services – starting from information signs and ending with cleanliness and stadium design (Clemes, Brush and Collins, 2011; Hill and Green, 2012 (as cited in Yoshida, 2017)). It is also crucial to mention Bitner’s theory which is concentrated on the design of the facilities and does not include the evaluation of processes or external promotion (Ballantyne, & Nilsson,2017). The purpose of this model is to measure the landscape design, the quality of air, décor, and equipment (Ballantyne and Nilsson, 2017). For example, the possibility to replace the natural turf with an artificial surface is an illustration of a carefully thought-over design provided by the specialists for Tottenham’s new stadium (Ravenscroft, 2019). Here, it seems essential to point out that these factors play a significant role for the customer as they influence the perception of the environment in general directly.
Food and beverage outlets are a very important component of spectator comfort on match days, as well as a significant source of income for the stadium operator. These items are usually located in different locations throughout the ring gallery, on each floor. To avoid queues at certain points and make sure that fans are not going shopping too far, such items are to be distributed appropriately (Knowles and Edwards, 2019). Ideally, food outlets should be located along the aisles leading to the stands for quick access by visitors. Managers are to take into account a plethora of aspects.
What is more, the design of the stadium should consider the space required for large gatherings of visitors and the areas for queuing near food points. Serious attention must also be paid to an assortment of hot and cold dishes. Food outlets must serve fans quickly and efficiently without compromising quality. Any point of sale of food, where hot meals are prepared, must meet special safety requirements and also should follow the stadium’s fire strategy.
Stadium operators aim to maximize merchandise revenue and are moving sales outside of main stores by organizing retail through small kiosks at stadium galleries. These additional points of sale may not have a complete range of products but should offer prominent items (Diss, 2018). Gallery kiosks are usually aimed at spontaneous shoppers among viewers who may not visit the main club store before and after matches, but suddenly decide to buy right on the way to their seats.
Then, some of the most important public areas in the stadium are the toilets. Usually, they are placed near the main galleries, moreover, in such a way as to simplify access to them from spectator seats as much as possible. The calculation of the number and size of toilets should be based on the latest UEFA and local government regulations (UEFA, 2019). These toilets should be designed to be used intensively at short intervals, as most visits occur during pre-match, in-between, and after the final whistle.
The stadium’s design should be created so that cleaning and maintenance issues are as simple and efficient as possible. Little things like the folding seats at the spectator seats and the spacious open areas make cleaning with special equipment much easier. It reduces the time and costs required for maintaining the main areas of the stadium (Knowles and Edwards, 2019). All of the listed aspects within the scope of service quality imply a considerable amount of work and qualification of managers who are responsible for the provision of these services.
Social Encounter
Social encounters are perceived as a peer-to-peer interaction in which football spectators are socialized into customer roles via communicating during the engagement in football consumption actions. Creating the atmosphere at the stadium is a complex and challenging issue that requires the participation of specialists in design, marketing, and services. The quality of the social network is displayed in attributes of societal interactions among football customers. These are social interplay ties, shared culture, and reciprocity rules (Yoshida, 2017). The described phenomena provide an essential basis for consumers’ willingness to attend football events and give vital support to their team, as well as make financial contributions to the industry’s prosperity.
It is important to maintain significant social encounters so that customers could have aspirations to be loyal and dedicated to their football team’s history and culture. There are many notable examples of football clubs that adhere to this principle. In the framework of English football, almost every club implements various online and TV activities to strengthen its culture shared among fans – the primary consumers. Official websites and social media presence of Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, and many other teams prove the latter statement (Manchester United, no date; Arsenal, no date; Manchester City FC, no date; Chelsea, no date). Internationally, there are also many prominent examples – starting from Real Madrid and ending with PSG.
Communication Encounter
Communication encounters may be determined as customer-organization interplays that are implemented to communicate with these customers via various channels and create lasting relationships with a series of notifications and transactions. Relationship investment quality is visible via attributes of relationships marketing – straight mails, preferential attitude, and other communication with consumers (Yoshida, 2017). It might be assumed that these encounters are vital to improving the football industry’s state of the art by obtaining constant feedback, luring new customers and fans, and maintaining the financial stability of a club. Hence, it seems that the four investigated dimensions cannot be perceived separately when it comes to high-quality management.
Importance of Management of Quality Customer Experience in Football
Given the discussion above, the importance of quality customer experience and its proper management might be justified as follows. First, the explored encounters are intersected and interconnected to a significant extent, which implies the momentousness of an in-depth understanding of their peculiarities. If managers are acquainted with them appropriately and sufficiently, they can meet the highest customers’ expectations and give the best services and products. Second, it was stated that the quality experience of consumers leads to stable financial inflows. These inflows are the primary foundation for the advanced and coherent functioning of football facilities – stadiums, in particular – as well as the industry as a whole. Customer experience can be measured by the use of the GAP model, which is beneficial in terms of objective analysis of the spectator’s expectations. Finally, due to an immense number of services and aspects related to football, quality customer experience cannot be provided without consistent and outstanding management.
Conclusion
To conclude, the importance of quality consumer experience management in the framework of football was proven. To achieve this, Yoshida’s determination of encounter types and the relevant quality dimensions and attributes in sport was applied. These encounters, dimensions, and attributes served as the main theoretical background of this study. It was found that in football, there is a plethora of factors and aspects that managers should take into account when it comes to customer experience. Then, three arguments regarding the importance of management within the scope of the issue were provided. First, the encounters are intersected – thus, responsible persons should manage them coherently. Second, quality customer experience implies stable profit margins – such perspective always involves a great level of organization. Third, there are too many points within the issue to consider, so clients’ experience cannot be poor-managed.
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