Follow, follow, follow: analysing the motivations for attending small-scale events abroad

ABSTRACT Rationale/purpose: This research attempts to measure the motivation for football fans to travel abroad for short periods on multiple occasions to attend small-scale events. Design/methodology/approach: Fans of an English football team who travelled to away matches in the 2019/20 Europa League were surveyed (n = 235). A Sport Short Visit Tourism scale is developed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results and findings: The results found that there were 11 factors, measured by 31 variables, when considering the motivation to travel. Most notably, the results indicated that the experience of the trip was more important than the football match itself. Indeed, the fear of missing out was the most significant factor, particularly in those aged below 40. Research contribution: This study has expanded the current literature regarding sport tourism to cover a new context: fans of a club travelling for a short period to attend a specific small-scale event.


Introduction
Sport and tourism have long been interlinked. Tourists may travel specifically for sport, or partake in sport-based activities while travelling for other reasons (Gammon & Robinson, 2003). The type of engagement can also differ; tourists either spectate (Toudert & Bringas-Rábago, 2018) or participate in sport (Getz & Andersson, 2020). Much of the scholarly work regarding tourists travelling specifically for sport spectating is rooted in tourists travelling considerable distances to attend one-off, and often, mega-events (Reimers, Chao, & Speechley, 2018). There has, as yet, been fewer studies on sports fans travelling shorter distances to support their team in small-scale events on a more regular basis (Rocha de Oliveira, Tobar, & Capraro, & M, 2021).
Rather, the focus on levels of support for a team is primarily rooted within the consumption of sport (Funk, Mahony, Nakazawa, & Hirakawa, 2001Kahle, Kambara, & Rose, 1996;Sutton, McDonald, Milne, & Cimperman, 1997;Wann, 1995). There have been many attempts to combine the motivation to support a team and travel to watch that team. For example, Hoye and Lillis (2008) used a sport consumer motivation scale to measure sport tourism but ultimately disregarded elements of the scale that were not relevant to tourism. Nevertheless, two fundamental studies have considered these factors in a relevant context. Nishio, Larke, van Heerde, and Melnyk (2016) studied the motivations for Japanese tourists to attend sports matches across the world. However, Nishio et al.'s study subjects were tourists who happened to attend sport in a foreign country; it is unlikely that they had explicitly travelled to watch a particular team or event. Reimers et al. (2018) viewed fans of Australian rules football club St Kilda travelling to a domestic match in New Zealand. However, as this was the first-ever Australian Football League fixture to be played on foreign soil and played on ANZAC day, Reimers et al. found that the special nature of the event played a significant role in motivation to travel.
Therefore, this study seeks to utilise the methods employed by Nishio et al. (2016) but focus on sport tourists (Robinson & Gammon, 2004) for whom the sporting event is the primary motive for travel. The context for this study are fans of an English football club who have travelled abroad to watch a single football match in UEFA competition. The present study, therefore, provides a new context to studies regarding sport tourism, which have largely previously been restricted to one-off travel to large events. Any fan who wishes to travel to all matches in a European competition will need to make several individual trips. Teams who reach the group stage of European competition will play three away matches in different countries, with more should they qualify for the knock-out stages. For example, Rangers played eight away matches in their run to the 2022 Europa League final, all of which were played within the working week, placing significant constraints on travel.
The amount of football being played outside of domestic borders is unlikely to fall. CONMEBOL and UEFA have recently signed a memorandum of understanding which could see South American nations compete in UEFA's Nations League, while the European Super League proposals would have seen teams play nine group-stage away games in addition to any knockout games. UEFA themselves have increased the number of continental games; the introduction of the Europa Conference League saw the teams in European competition expand from 292 teams playing a total of 329 matches in 2020/2021, to 404 matches contested by 319 clubs in 2021/2022. This will increase again in 2024/2025, as the Champions League format moves to a 'Swiss model', doubling the total number of games played in the competition.
Thus, this research comes at an opportune time. At present, demand for away European tickets is typically greater than supply, but as the number of matches continues to increase, this may not necessarily still be the case. It is, therefore, important for clubs competing in continental football to understand the drivers that lead to attendance, and barriers that fans face.

Literature review
There have been several attempts to create a consistent scale to measure sport motivation. Wann's (1995) Sport Fan Motivation Scale (SFMS), comprised eight motivating factors; eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic, aesthetics, group affiliation and family. The SMFS was used to predict football participation (Cohen & Avrahami, 2005), and consider differences in motivation for different types of sport (Wann, Schrader, & Wilson, 1999 and gender differences (Wann et al., 1999). The following year, the Fan Attendance Motivation scale, consisting of seven categories was introduced (Kahle et al., 1996) before Milne and McDonald (1999) proposed the Motivation of Sport Consumer model (MSC), which considers the motives of both active participants and spectators. Two years later, Funk et al. (2001) developed the Sport Interest Inventory (SII), which was latterly refined (Funk, Ridinger, & Moorman, 2004).
The lack of information in the development of the scale items within the SMFS resulted in criticism of its content validity, while neither discriminant validity nor criterion validity were tested (Trail & James, 2001). Trail and James instead offer the Motivation for Sport Consumption (MSSC), identifying nine factors measuring the consumption behaviour of sport spectators: achievement, acquisition of knowledge, aesthetics, drama, escape, family, physical attraction, physical skills of players, and social interaction. The MSSC has been used to study differences in motivation by gender (Gencer, 2015) and age (Izzo et al., 2014).
Purely supporting a club does not fully explain why a fan may travel to individual away matches. Indeed, Hoye and Lillis's (2008) study using the MSSC to measure the motivations for Australian Football League fans to travel interstate led them to conclude eight of the factors in the scale 'should arguably be considered as generic motivators that drive fans' initial attraction to a sport, rather than specific consumptive behaviours such as high investment travel ' (2008, p. 19).
Therefore, it is prudent to consider the literature surrounding sport tourism. Gammon and Robinson (2003) identified 'sport tourism' as relating to those who travel for sport (as oppose to 'tourism sport', which relates to those travellers where sport is a secondary activity). Gibson (1998) further categorised event sport tourism, active sport tourism and nostalgia sport tourism. Several authors have studied event sport tourism. Many of these have been in the context of 'once in a lifetime trips' such as attending megaevents (Ferrari & Guala, 2017;Funk, Alexandris, & Ping, 2009;Kim & Chalip, 2004), Taiwanese fans travelling to the USA (Yu, 2010) or UK rugby fans travelling to New Zealand (Davies & Williment, 2008). The one-off nature of these events may result in them being exclusive to a particular demographic; Davies and Williment identified that the fans who travelled were typically affluent well-educated older males.
At the other end of the travel scale, domestic fans attending home games have been studied (Allan, Dunlop, & Swales, 2007;Johnstone, Southern, & Taylor, 2000;Musgrave, Jopson, & Jamson, 2021;Toudert & Bringas-Rábago, 2018). Of more note to this study, Mohan (2010) and Hoye and Lillis (2008) examined the motivation for fans travelling to domestic away games, with both papers finding that non-sport factors such as weather, cost, hospitality and social interaction are significant. Gibson, Willming, and Holdnak (2003) found that many fans would incorporate sightseeing into their visit and identify this as an area for potential tourist development. European football games would appear to be an opportunity to develop such a tourist plan, as most of these games take place between September and May, often the down-season for tourism (Rudkin & Sharma, 2020). However, it has been argued that many visiting fans face constraints in becoming active tourists, most notably due to time and cost limitations (Daniels & Norman, 2003;Nogawa, Yamaguchi, & Hagi, 1996;Toudert & Bringas-Rábago, 2018). Gibson, Willming, and Holdnak (2002) argue that sports fans who overcome the financial and time constraints of travelling large distances for sport demonstrate the characteristics of 'serious leisure' (Stebbins, 1982). The costs extend further when considering European football, which typically involves several different trips, all of which are mid-week and may mean that attendees need to take time off work. Given these constraints, and further restrictions placed on participants of this study (discussed in the methods), the respondents are likely to be considered as supporters (Giulianotti, 2002), fanatics (Tapp & Clowes, 2002), fanatical (Hunt, Bristol, & Bashaw, 1999), vested fans (Sutton et al., 1997) or die-hard fans (Wann & Branscombe, 1990).
Indeed, McManus (2020) describes these trips as an 'exceptional habit' and are identified by Green and Jones (2005) as a further step on the leisure career ladder (Pearce & Lee, 2005). It is possible that fans may attend these games specifically to move up the leisure career ladder, or to say they were 'there' to avoid the potential Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) (Moital, Bain, & Thomas, 2019). This is particularly the case for millennials (Yim, Byon, Baker, & Zhang, 2021). FOMO is perhaps more so for a sports event that few supporters can attend due to ticket restrictions. Frew and McGillivray (2008) have questioned whether a fan needs actually to be at the match itself or whether a similar social experience, such as watching the match in a pub with friends, could provide the same benefits as actually attending a match.
There is little literature regarding the specific context of football fans travelling to matches in European competitions. A recent study interviewed Fenerbahçe S. K. fans who travelled to Manchester United for a Europa League game (Ertas, Soyler, & Sel, 2019). Ertas et al. confirmed that travelling fans are sport tourists who would not have made the journey had the football match not occurred. Indeed, all the push and pull factors identified by Ertas et al. relate to the match itself rather than the destination. In agreement with Gibson et al.'s (2003) findings, several fans did build secondary tourism activities into their visit, albeit in London rather than Manchester.
As this literature review has demonstrated, sport and travel motivation have often been viewed separately. This was recognised by Nishio et al. (2016), who sought to combine the two scales into a single survey drawing on both areas. However, since the participants were Japanese tourists, typically attending sport in Europe or North America, these visits were likely to be one-off events. Thus, there appears to be a specific gap in the literature, which to date has largely focused on the motivations of sport fans attending home, domestic sport on a regular basis, or travelling large distances for one-off specific events. The present study seeks to move these studies to a specific context, that of short-term international travel, occurring on a regular basis.

Methods
Primarily based on Nishio et al.'s (2016) work, a survey was developed to identify the motivations for travelling to attend matches. This survey utilised the eight sport fan motivations and nine tourist motivations identified by Nishio et al. (2016). A total of 18 items based on the work of Beard and Ragheb (1983), Funk, Filo, Beaton, and Pritchard (2009), Kim and Chalip (2004), Mohan (2010), and Trail and James (2001) were selected to assess the dimensions of achievement, aesthetics, drama, entertainment, escape and relaxation, and the opposing team. Drawing on the work of Frew and McGillivray (2008), three more items were identified to assess the fear of missing out.
A further 23 constructs to measure motivation to travel were identified, based on the works of Hsu, Cai, and Li (2010), Kim and Chalip (2004), Lee and Crompton (1992) and Regan, Carlson, and Rosenberger (2012). These assess the tourist dimensions of kinships, escape, gourmet, learning, relaxation, socialisation and stimulation. Again, three items measuring the fear of missing out were added (Frew & McGillivray, 2008). Each construct was measured on a 5-point Likert scale, from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. An expert panel of six sport management and tourism academics were provided with the survey and aims of the study. Each academic ranked the constructs on a 5-point Likert scale. All items with a rating below four were removed (Polit & Beck, 2006). The complete survey, thus, used 47 different items to measure 15 constructs.
The survey was distributed to Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) fans who attended matches in the 2019/2020 Europa League. Wolves, an English Premier League football club, entered the Second Qualifying Round of the tournament and played nine games outside of England to reach the quarter-final. Tickets for these games were limited. In the 2019/2020 season, Wolves had 22,500 season ticket holders, but as the away team in Europe, the total number of tickets available across six games was 9285 (three games were played behind closed doors with no fans allowed in the stadium). These scarce tickets were allocated according to previous purchases. This system effectively restricted attendance at European away games to fans with season tickets and a history of travelling to previous away fixtures.
Further to ticket availability, additional restrictions on attendance include the time between the fixture announcement and the match itself, the window for ticket purchases, and general travel constraints. For example, Europa League matches are typically played on a Thursday night, resulting in travelling fans needing to take at least two days of work to attend. Table 1 below provides a summary of these matches.
Initially, the survey was to be distributed at Olympiacos v Wolves in Athens, Greece, on 12th March 2020. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in this game being played behind closed doors. Therefore, the survey was distributed online in summer 2020, utilising Twitter and specialist Wolves' supporter Facebook groups. This attracted 241 respondents, of whom 235 lived in the UK and had travelled to watch Wolves in a European away game in 2019/2020. In addition to their motivations to travel and attend the match, participants were also asked for details of the last away European match, how they watched each of Wolves away European matches and demographic data. The demographic data is in Table 2.

Results
Exploratory Confirmatory Analysis was used to test the scale, using Amos 26. Seven fit indices were utilised (chi-square (χ 2 ), chi-square to its degrees of freedom (χ 2 /df), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and comparative fit index (CFI)). The results using all 47 items (χ 2 = 2039.557, χ 2 /df = 2.2, GFI = 0.735, TLI = 0.790, CFI = 0.820 and RMSEA = 0.071) demonstrated that the first model did not fit the data well, and thus this model was rejected. Further, five of the fifteen constructs scored composite reliability of below 0.7, while seven of the 47 variables had a factor loading of below 0.4. In order to refine the model, variables with low factor loadings and constructs with low composite reliabilities were reconsidered. First, three constructs were combined. The survey was divided into (a) motivations to attend the match and (b) motivations to travel. Thus there were several similar constructs, and so it was prudent to combine (i) escape and relaxation at the match, and escape and relaxation while travelling, (ii) fear of missing out on the match and fear of missing out on the trip itself, and (iii) entertainment and aesthetics were combined into a single entertainment construct. All variables remained at this stage. The refined model still did not fit the data well and so was rejected. Next, variables with low factor loadings were considered. First, eight variables with a factor loading of less than 0.4 were removed, followed by five variables with a factor loading of less than 0.5. Finally, three variables with factor loadings of less than 0.6 were removed from the newly created Escape and Relaxation construct to ensure that all constructs had an equitable number of variables. This refining of the model resulted in 31 variables measuring 11 constructs, with improved indices from the first attempt (χ 2 = 695.558 with a p-value of 0.000, χ 2 /df = 1.838, GFI = 0.845, TLI = 0.907, CFI = 0.934 and RMSEA = 0.06).
The χ 2 value is statistically significant, while TLI, CFI and RMSEA all meet the recommended criteria for an acceptable fit (Byrne, 2010, Hair et al., 2018. GFI of 0.845 remains slightly below the recommended value of 0.9 but is improved from the first model of 0.735. When taken into consideration with the other indices, this model is an acceptable foundation for measuring willingness to travel within this context. Furthermore, all variables have a significant p-value of <0.01 and factor loadings greater than 0.6. Each of the constructs was measured using composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted. All constructs scored above 0.7 in their composite reliability (ranging from 0.7 to 0.95), and AVE values ranged from 0.54 to 0.82, meeting the thresholds identified by Hair et al. (2018). The AVE values and squared-correlation tests of discriminant validity are found in Table 3. The Cronbach's Alpha of the overall scale is 0.900 (Table 4)

Discussion
This study has considered the motivations for football fans to travel to attend football matches in European football. Having started with 15 factors, this research has developed a Sports Short Visit Tourism Scale of 11 factors, measured by 31 variables.
Previous studies have considered sport and travel motivation factors. However, these are often taken separately and measure either motivation to attend local sport (Allan et al., 2007;Johnstone et al., 2000;Musgrave et al., 2021;Toudert & Bringas-Rábago, 2018) or specialist 'once in a lifetime' travel (Ferrari & Guala, 2017;Funk, Alexandris, et al., 2009;Kim & Chalip, 2004). This study differs in that respondents travelled long distances multiple times for short periods. The mean travel requirements per match were over 1000 miles, while on average, each respondent attended two matches, staying for 2.5 nights per trip. Further, the nature of this study means that all respondents can be considered fanatical (Hunt et al., 1999), vested fans (Sutton et al., 1997) or die-hard fans (Wann & Branscombe, 1990). Respondents identified the cost and time involved as the most significant constraints; the average cost of each visit was £590, while the midweek nature of European football resulted in 'work commitments' being the single most significant constraining factor. Further, the limited number of tickets available for each match ensured that only fans with a history of attending Wolves matches were eligible to purchase a ticket.
This research found that the most significant factors for motivation to attend a European match for this group of fans were Fear of Missing Out, Entertainment, Escape and Relaxation, Gourmet, Stimulation and Learning. Of these factors, only entertainment relates directly to the experience of attending the actual football match. Further, while 'Achievement', which links directly to the performance of the Wolves team, is included in the scale, it was viewed as being less significant than seeing an entertaining or dramatic match or even watching particular opposition players. Indeed, of the 31 variables ultimately included in this model, 'Wolves Win' had the third-lowest standardised regression weight. There was no significant difference in the importance of Wolves success across any of the demographic factors included in this study. Conversely, the factor with the highest composite reliability was 'Fear of Missing Out'. To the best of the author's knowledge, this factor has not previously been included in scales concerning fan motivations to attend football matches. Crucially, when considering individual variables, it was a fear of missing out on the trip rather than the match itself that was the most significant. This factor saw significant differences terms of age, particularly between the 18-29 and 30-39 age groups and those over 50. For those aged 18-29, Fear of Missing Out was the single most significant factor for attendance; this aligns with Yim et al.'s (2021) finding that FOMO is a crucial factor for millennial fans' sports consumption. However, this finding may result from this specific case study, as 2019 was the first time Wolves had played in UEFA competitions since 1981. As such, it is not a surprise that those aged below 40, who had never previously known Wolves play European football, had a fear of missing out. Similarly, it is possible that those over 50 had experienced supporting Wolves in a European match previously and had less concern regarding missing out on the experience. Fans of a club such as FC Barcelona, who have played in UEFA competitions every season since 1955, may well not experience FOMO in the same way as Wolves fans who may never experience this again.
These results do not fully agree with the findings of Ertas et al. (2019), who found that 'the primary goal and travel motivation for fans are to participate in the soccer match'. Instead, these findings are more aligned with that of McManus (2020), whose ethnographic study found that motivations to travel go beyond the sport itself. While the match is likely the 'hook' that provides the reasons for the trip, fans are often seeking a more rounded experience than just attending a football match.
The lack of importance of the match is highlighted further when comparing the demographic data. There was no significant difference between the motivations for male and female attendance at away Europa League football matches, and little difference when considering levels of education or employment status. However, there were significant differences in age, most notably in Escape and Relaxation, Fear of Missing Out and Kinship. Specifically, attendees over the age of 60 were more motivated by the idea of escape and relaxation and kinship. This is further demonstrated by the fact that this group of attendees was the only group to average more than three nights away, indicating that attendees over the age of 60 treated the experience as a holiday rather than just a sports match. Further, while there was no significant difference in terms of the overall cost of the trips, accommodation costs differed. Those aged 18-29 spent £102.60 on accommodation, compared to those over the age of 60 who spent an average of £198.97.
Much of the previous research has focused on fans attending foreign sports events that could be considered to be one-offs, such as mega-events (Reimers et al., 2018). Therefore, the present study adds to the current literature by considering a new context; the motivations for fans to travel to a foreign country for a short period to attend a football match. This is a context that has relatively little research (McManus, 2020), and so adds a new dimension to the current literature; (1) all respondents have a strong relationship with the team, (2) respondents travelled significant distances for a short period, (3) fans had very little time in which to organise the travel, and so face constraints that other studies have not considered, (4) fans were travelling to attend a small-scale event, and (5) fans made these trips on multiple occasions over seven months.
From a practical perspective, these results should be of note to those sporting organisations who are seeking to globalise via playing more matches outside of the domestic market. Should a European Super League-type tournament ever replace domestic leagues, then playing matches in foreign countries may become more prevalent. In this case, travel may become the expected norm, and so the fear of missing out, a key motivator identified in this study, may reduce, potentially resulting in fewer fans wishing to travel. This finding should be of interest to those stakeholders who wish to expand continental competitions.
While at present, 'legacy' fans may be disregarded and their presence assumed (Devlin, 2021), there may come a point where sport clubs need to develop strategies to encourage fans to travel abroad to watch football matches. As this research has indicated, the sport itself is not the necessarily the key motivating factor, and so clubs and travel companies could adapt their marketing strategies to different demographics. Elder fans stayed away for more nights and spent nearly twice as much on accommodation. Therefore, organisations could run specific travel options for the fans who wish to turn these visits into a more extended holiday. However, these fans were not immune to the constraint of time; even those who are retired will likely wish to attend domestic matches during the weekends before and after the European matches. As such, these fans could be offered tailored travel plans that allow them to spend longer in the location, while not missing domestic matches.
For younger fans who fear missing out, with less disposable income and more barriers in terms of time, clubs and travel companies may wish to offer different alternatives. For example, these fans may favour a travel plan that minimises time away. For example, schedules that allow fans to travel on the morning of the match and return immediately after the final whistle may be of interest. These could also be considered for fans who are not attending the match itself. Fans who travel to the region and watch the game in prearranged locations could still experience 'being there'. While events such as the World Cup and European finals often offer fan parks, these could be expanded to more normal games in the tournament.

Limitations and future research
As with any research, this study is not without limitations. First, while a critical facet of this research was to study travel to foreign football matches that would not be considered 'one-off', the nature of the case used means that this is not necessarily the case. The fixture against Crusaders FC in August 2019 was the club's first match in UEFA competitions since 1981 and so would likely have been viewed as a special event for the participants of the study. This could have created a carnival-type feeling of celebration amongst the fans, lowering the need for on-pitch success. The researchers had planned a second stage of data collection by surveying fans of a club who have participated in European football on a more regular basis and are likely to be more demanding in terms of footballing success (for example, Manchester United). However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent ban on fans attending matches prevented this from occurring. Now that a degree of normality has returned, this is a future avenue for research. Further, this research focuses on hardcore fans travelling considerable distances to attend a small scale event. There is little reason that this should be restricted to sport, and so the model could be developed further by considering different contexts such as fans of bands and musicians following a tour.
A second limitation is the period in which the data was collected. The survey was intended to be administered at a single Europa League match. This would have ensured consistency in the context of data collection. However, restrictions placed on travel due to COVID-19 prevented this from taking place, and data was collected online instead. Respondents were asked to consider the motivation for the last match attended, which was not uniform across all respondents. Each match took place in a different country, at a different time of the year and at a different competition stage, so there may be different underlying motivations for attending each. Further, the survey was administered in summer 2020, potentially nearly 12 months after a fan had last attended a European match, and so motivations for attending may have changed in hindsight.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).