Contents for IJSF Issue 5:4
| Week to Week Attendance and Competitive Balance in the National Football League, pp. 239-252 Authors: Dennis Coates and Brad R. Humphreys |
| Abstract:We examine the relationship between game day attendance, uncertainty of outcome, and team and facility quality in the National Football League. Based on results from a reduced form model of game day attendance at 5,495 regular season NFL games from the 1985-2008 seasons, we find weak evidence that attendance increases when fans expect the home team to win by a large margin, and strong evidence that attendance decreases when the home team is expected to lose, contrary to the predictions of the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis. |
| Does Athletic Success Generate Legislative Largess from Sports-Crazed Representatives? The Impact of Athletic Success on State Appropriations to Colleges and Universities, pp. 253-267 Authors: Donald Alexander and William Kern |
| Abstract:State supported universities have been investing considerable sums in intercollegiate athletics in the hope that such investments will pay off in terms of increased enrollments, improved student quality, and economic benefits such as revenues from ticket sales and bowl and tournament appearances. Does athletic success also yield returns in the form of greater state appropriations? This paper finds that there is some evidence to support this contention though the impact on state appropriations appears to be concentrated more heavily on the members of Division I-A with winning football or basketball programs. There appears to be little impact for schools that are members of Divisions I-AA, II, or III or on DI-A schools that fail to attain on-field success. It also appears that conference affiliation has little impact on appropriations as well. These findings call into question the benefit of continued investment in intercollegiate athletics by schools in these divisions or by schools with little chance of athletic success at the Division I-A level. |
| Shipping the Runners to the Race: A Sport Tourism Interpretation of the Alchian-Allen Theorem, pp. 268-279 Authors: Steven Cobb and Douglas J. Olberding |
| Abstract:This paper provides empirical support for the Alchian and Allen “shipping the good apples out” hypothesis. The hypothesis version tested here involves estimating the effect of travel cost on the quality of a weekend trip to Cincinnati, where travel cost is measured by time spent in travel and visit quality is measured by the amount of discretionary spending associated with the trip. Using linear regression analysis on data from race participants in the 2008 Flying Pig marathon and half marathon races, strong and robust evidence is found to support the validity of this hypothesis. Specifically, travel distance does indeed have a statistically significant positive but diminishing (with distance traveled) impact on discretionary spending for both marathon and half-marathon participants. The results provide support for this proposition, a variant of the “shipping the good apples out” hypothesis, and add empirical support to the diverse but relatively limited literature on this subject. |
| Franchise Values in North American Professional Sports Leagues: Evidence from the Repeat Sales Method, pp. 280-295 Authors: Brad R. Humphreys and Yang Seung Lee |
| Abstract:We develop a quality adjusted professional sports franchise price index for North America based on the repeat sale method and a hybrid method originally applied to house prices. For the repeat sale method, the index reflects trends in the general price of franchises holding market, facility and team quality constant. The constant quality constant assumption in the repeat sale model may affect the price index, so we also use a hybrid model as an alternative. The repeat sale method price index exhibits considerable volatility but no upward trend over time, unlike previous quality adjusted price indexes based on hedonic models. The lack of an upward trend in the index indicates that franchise quality drives observed increases in prices over the past 40 years. The hybrid method exhibits price index shows a steady increase beginning in about 1990. This difference can be explained by changes in market population and facility characteristics. |
| The Attraction of Baseball Games in a Small-Size League: Are the Effects of Outcome Uncertainties Really Important?, pp. 296-313 Authors: Wen-Jhan Jane, Nai-Fong Kuo, Jyun-Yi Wu, and Sheng-Tung Chen |
| Abstract:This paper investigates the determinants of game-day attendance in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) from 2001 to 2007. We include measures of league-level uncertainty and game uncertainty for two rivals at the same time in a quantile regression model. The results support the hypothesis of outcome uncertainties. Closer wins by the competing teams within a league and a smaller gap in terms of the winning percentage between two teams induces more outcome uncertainty, and consequently leads to higher attendance. Moreover, the results of the quantile regression show that these effects are especially enhanced in high box-office (high quantile) games. These results hold for different measures of competitive balance. Other factors such as the quality of play and the Derby effect also significantly influence game-day attendance. Moreover, the transportation cost of a game is less important in a league with a high density of stadiums. |
