American sports fans: What makes them tick, and sometimes explode, and what attributes of the arena contribute to fan incidents

This study of fan behavior at professional sporting events in select United States (U.S.) cities addresses three points: theoretical explanations of fan violence (from Europe and the U.S.); amount and type of fan violence/aggressive behavior occurring at professional sporting events and what characteristics of the arena contribute to incidents (examined across sport and city); and suggested measures for individual organizations and cities to combat the problem. In the U.S., fan violence is typified by a November 2004 incident during a National Basketball League game at the Auburn Hills Arena in Michigan that involved fans and players and led to multiple arrests and the suspension of some National Basketball Association players. This event is now commonly referred to as the "Basketbrawl." Yet, despite increased attention paid to fan behavior in the U.S., little research has been conducted on the behavior of spectators at professional sporting events. This study begins to fill this gap by examining the seriousness (assault versus non-assault) of arrests at sporting events in the U.S. Using a binary logistical regression model; the research shows that offender demographics are predictors of crime seriousness. However, the characteristics of the stadium, such as parking structure and whether the stadium was indoor or outdoor, were not. The research serves as a starting point to examine other attributes of the stadium and implement policies to keep incident numbers down and less serious.