Intercollegiate athletic programs, university brand equity and student satisfaction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships among three primary variables: sports spectatorship of intercollegiate football, university brand equity and student satisfaction. The primary purpose is to understand the extent to which athletic programs influence campus culture, sense of community and the satisfaction of undergraduate students. A secondary purpose is to probe the factor structure, reliability and validity of a recently developed sports spectatorship scale. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data through an online survey of 419 undergraduate students enrolled at three separate Midwestern universities, using previously developed and validated survey scales. Findings Relationships between brand equity and student satisfaction suggest that athletic programs provide a benefit to universities by improving students’ psychological sense of community and emotional connection to the institution. Furthermore, correlations between sports spectatorship and brand equity measures suggest an internal advertising effect. Originality/value The results contribute to the understanding of the role of intercollegiate athletic programs, in this case from the perspective of enrolled undergraduate students. Additionally, the findings recommend ways that universities might maximize some of the benefits by emphasizing the emotional connection of the student body to the teams. The paper also contributes to the validation of the sports spectatorship scale as a tool for further research.