Comparison of gen Y and gen Z sports consumers from the perspective of sports marketing

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate sports consumers of Y and Z generation in terms of sports marketing components (mix). The necessary "Ethics Committee Permission" was obtained from Hitit University NonInterventional Research Ethics Committee prior to the study. A written consent was signed by the sports consumers who voluntarily participated in the research. For the statistical analysis SPSS 22.0 for Windows was used and Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests were applied to test normality and homogeneity. Mann-Whitney U was used between groups comparisons, Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for among groups comparisons. Percentages and frequencies were also given as the descriptive statistics. The form used in the research consists of "Sports Consumer Profile", which includes the demographic characteristics of the participants, and "Sports Marketing Components (mix)" scale developed by Doğru (2003). In order to determine the demographic characteristics of sports consumers participating in the research, the data collection form prepared by researchers consists of 22 questions. The population consists of sports consumers who participate in exercise and sports programs in the center that provides sports services in Gym Club Olympia (Samsun) in 2022. The sample consists of 262 (189 men and 73 women) who voluntarily participated in exercise and sports programs in the center that provides sports services in Gym Club Olympia (Samsun) in 2022. As a result, when the averages of sports marketing components (mix) are examined, the averages are in the "neither important nor unimportant" and "very important" range. It is thought that the findings obtained from sports marketing components (mix) will be beneficial for sports managers and the findings will be important for sports centers that implement sports marketing strategies. The findings of this study should be considered as a whole. It is thought that it would not be appropriate to concentrate on a specific/unique variable. It is possible to consider today as the transition period from Y generation to the Z generation. Considering that Y generation sports consumers will be replaced by Z generation in the near future, it is thought that the businesses providing fitness services should consider this generation transition in the social structure and design their market segmentation, sports marketing components (mix) in accordance with the process and create their strategies.