| Corona and the limitations of football fans: Motivations and barriers to attending with an emphasis on virtual reality |
| Paper ID : 1153-SSRC-13TH |
| Authors |
|
vahid saatchian * imam reza international university, sport science department. |
| Abstract |
| Background and Aim: The prevalence of Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the sports industry, from which professional football has not been immune. As the community of football fans as the most important resources of clubs in this period have faced many limitations that by examining the motivations and obstacles to their presence, while paying attention to their needs, can provide the desired management. Methods: For this purpose, while interviewing a wide range of football fans across the country, 21 people were interviewed with fans of popular teams (Esteghlal, Persepolis, Sepahan and Traktorsazi). Based on the quality strategy based on Glaser method, fans were purposefully asked for in-depth interviews without structure to express their motivations (in the form of factors and obstacles) to reappear in the country's stadiums while improving the corona situation in the country. The process of conducting interviews and collecting data continued until the stage of theoretical saturation of categories. Results: The results showed that in the section of effective motivations, health, personal, economic, facilities (technology), cultural, occupational and leisure factors were identified as the main categories. Also in the section of barriers to the presence of extracted categories, geographical, cognitive, media (technology), interpersonal, psychological and marketing are mentioned. generally, the role of technology can be emphasized as the most significant feature, which was emphasized by the fans in both sections. Conclusion: Due to the problems caused by Corona and the lack of "real" sports, society is relatively well prepared for the growth of virtual technologies. Today, sports leagues around the world use e-sports to keep fans interested and competitive during the holidays, which is a new way to attract fans and generate revenue. Versatile technology can enable fans to experience games live without physical presence. Therefore, in the current situation, by creating the virtual infrastructure of virtual reality in clubs, the benefits of the presence of fans for the football sport of the country can be used. |
| Keywords |
| football fans, sports clubs, sports marketing, virtual reality. |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Oral Presentation) |
