The Effect of Promotional Bundles on Purchase Intent for High, Medium, and Low Vested Sports Tourists Segments within the Context of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets

Sports tourism is defined as “a specific travel outside of the usual environment for either passive or active involvement in competitive sport where sport is the prime motivational reason for travel and the touristic or leisure element may act to reinforce the overall experience”. Sports tourists are those that “are in attendance at or participate in a particular sports activity”. Using segmentation theory, this paper seeks to understand what type of sports tourism promotional bundles different segments of sports tourists (diehard, focused and social) are more likely to purchase. Sports tourists attending a Charlotte Hornets (NBA) home game that took place in Greenville, S.C. were surveyed. The event took place approximately two hours from the team’s normal home court arena. An analysis using MANOVA was employed. The results suggest that diehard and focused sports tourists are most attracted to ticket packages that include tour and attraction elements while social sports tourists show low levels of intent to purchase any of bundles. Implications for academics and practitioners are discussed