PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SERVICES MANAGEMENT WASHINGTON D.C. NOV. 28-30, 2015 Impact of Prior Experience on Consumer Attitude and Variety Seeking Behavior in Meeting/Event Planners’ Venue Selection: Sport Stadiums as a Service Venue Seungwon “Shawn” Lee, PhD George Mason University 703-993-9915 / Email:slz@gmu.edu Charles Parrish, PhD Western Carolina University 828-227-8442 / Email: ctparrish@email.wcu.edu INTRODUCTION Meeting and event planners are increasingly seeking a wide variety of venues during the site selection process in an effort to meet hosting organizations’ and attendees’ desire for a one- of-a-kind experience. Many sports stadiums are marketed as unique meeting/event venues as stakeholders (including sports teams and stadium authorities) strive to maximize and diversify facility related revenue streams. This strategy is consistent with Mark Johnson’s (2010) perspective that business organizations, including event service providers, should identify and capitalize on new revenue separate from the core function of the existing business in order to achieve fiscal sustainability. In order to successfully position sports stadiums as host venues for meetings and events an understanding of the site selection process and identifying key factors influencing purchase decisions are critical. The literature on the key factors influencing meeting planner decision