Analysis of Constraints and Motivators of the Presence of Spectators in Professional Football League in Iran (Case Study: Persepolis and Esteghlal Derby)

The aim of this study was to analyze the constraints and motivators of the presence of spectators in professional football league in Iran. The statistical population consisted of the Persepolis and Esteghlal spectators in 76th derby (N=100000). Based on Krejcie and Morgan Table, the size of statistical sample was calculated as 384 subjects who were selected randomly. To collect data, the Questionnaire of Behavior of Sports Spectators (Yu, 2010) was used. Face and content validity of the questionnaire (after translation) was achieved by the comments of sport management professors. The reliability of questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha test as (α=0.92). The research method was descriptive which was conducted as a field study. Descriptive statistics and Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Bartlett and Friedman statistical tests and path analysis in SPSS and EQS statistical software were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the internal motivators, external motivators, internal constraints, external constraints and behavioral measures had significant effects on the behavior of the spectators in the stadium. Their ranking from first to the fifth place was: internal motivators, internal constraints, external motivators, external constraints and behavioral measures.