ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE VIEWERSHIP AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON LOCAL LEAGUE ATTENDANCE: A SURVEY OF PORT HARCOURT RESIDENTS
Keywords:
English Premier League (EPL), Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), Sports Viewership, Local League Attendance, Selective Exposure TheoryAbstract
This study examines Port Harcourt city viewership of the English Premier League
and its implications on the local league attendance in Nigeria. The objectives were to: identify the
percentage of those who prefer to watch the English Premier League compared to those who watch
the Nigeria Premier League; find out if they derive certain benefits by watching the EPL; ascertain
the implications of the EPL on viewership of local league football. The selective exposure theory
was selected for this work. The Survey research method was adopted for this investigation while
the population of the study was 3,793780. The survey method was employed, with 400
questionnaires distributed and 380 successfully filled retrieved from the respondents. The
weighted mean score and simple percentage were used for data presentation. Based on the
objectives, this paper was able to establish that: Port Harcourt city residents prefer the EPL to the
NPL; Nigerians derive certain benefits by watching the EPL; the EPL has an effect on the match
attendance of the local league matches. Based on the findings, the following recommendations
among others were suggested: There should be incentives for media broadcasters willing to
transmit local league matches live.
