Abstract:

As technological innovation continues to redefine the sport industry, sport management programs must provide students with analytical skills and digital literacy relevant to emerging fan engagement technologies. This study introduces an experiential, course-embedded learning initiative that incorporates biometric tools—including eye-tracking, facial expression analysis, and physiological measures—into the sport consumer behavior curriculum. The instructional design centered on a project titled A Comparison of Sport Viewing Experiences in VR versus Traditional Media, which enabled students to investigate how contemporary spectators respond to immersive and non-immersive sport media environments.

The primary objective of this pedagogical innovation was to enhance students’ understanding of sport consumer cognition, emotion, and media engagement. Using biometric tools, students analyzed spectators’ visual attention, emotional activation, and engagement patterns while comparing VR and 2D viewing conditions. Drawing upon established biometric research protocols, students investigated how immersive features, interface design, and sensory cues influence spectators’ perceptions, flow states, and overall experience quality. This inquiry-driven framework allowed students to connect theoretical concepts such as telepresence, media richness, affective response, and fan behavior to empirical behavioral data.

The project generated several educational benefits. First, it exposed students to advanced methodological tools increasingly used in sport marketing and consumer analytics. Second, it promoted higher-order thinking by requiring students to interpret multimodal biometric data and relate their findings to consumer behavior theories. Third, it cultivated strategic insight, as students identified how VR and other emerging media platforms can enhance fan engagement and inform sport organizations’ digital content strategies.

Overall, this pedagogical approach illustrates the value of integrating biometric technologies into sport management education. By equipping students with hands-on research experience and an applied understanding of digital sport media environments, the initiative aligns academic preparation with industry expectations and supports students’ readiness for technologically advanced roles in sport marketing, analytics, and digital fan engagement.

Keywords:

Biometric tools, Experiential learning, Sport consumer behavior.