Major League Baseball Attendance and the Role of Fantasy Baseball

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 494-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd M. Nesbit ◽  
Kerry A. King-Adzima
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Major League ◽  
Fantasy Baseball ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Game Attendance

Many explanations exist for the resurgence of the Major League Baseball (MLB) fan base following the 1994-1995 strike. The most prevalent explanations include the 1998 McGuire-Sosa homerun race and Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive games record. While such explanations certainly impacted fan interest in the sport, it is remiss to ignore the impact of online fantasy baseball leagues, which surfaced in 1997. This article examines the extent to which participating in a fantasy baseball league influences the MLB game attendance. The results strongly suggest that fantasy baseball participation positively influences MLB game attendance.

scholarly journals Does Bat Day Make Cents? The Effect of Promotions on the Demand for Major League Baseball

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark McDonald ◽  
Daniel Rascher
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Professional Sport ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Marginal Impact ◽  
Major League ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Game Attendance

A primary objective of sport marketers in the professional sport setting is to develop strategies to increase game attendance. Historically, one of the strategies to accomplish this goal has been the utilization of special promotions. This paper studied the impact of promotions on attendance at professional sport games. Specifically, this research examines (a) the overall effect of promotions on attendance, and (b) the marginal impact on attendance of additional promotional days. Using a data set containing 1,500 observations, we find that a promotion increases single game attendance by about 14%. Additionally, increasing the number of promotions has a negative effect on the marginal impact of each promotion. The loss from this watering down effect, however, is outweighed by the gain from having an extra promotion day.

The Lure of the Pitcher: How The Baseball Betting Market Is Influenced By Elite Starting Pitchers

2013 ◽  
pp. 193-209
Author(s):  
Rodney J. Paul ◽  
Andrew P. Weinbach ◽  
Brad R. Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Volume Percentage ◽  
Baseball Game ◽  
Betting Market ◽  
Major League ◽  
The Impact

This study explores the impact of elite starting pitchers on the Major League Baseball betting market. Starting pitchers are the key defensive element of a baseball game, and their value is generally reflected in the market odds on baseball games. This study uses highly detailed and previously unavailable data to examine the role of elite starting pitchers on game betting volume, percentage bet on the favorite and the underdog, and percentage bet on the “over” and the “under” in the baseball totals market. Not surprisingly, games involving an elite pitcher see significant differences in betting percentages and play a key role in the determination of betting volume. In addition, the star-player nature of elite pitchers being of a defensive, rather than offensive, nature leads to bettors wagering significantly more on the under in games involving elite starting pitchers.

scholarly journals The Impact of Temperature on Major League Baseball

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Lee D. Koch ◽  
Anna K. Panorska
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cold Weather ◽  
Baseball Game ◽  
Batting Average ◽  
Warm Weather ◽  
Major League ◽  
National League ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Major League Baseball is played from the beginning of April through the end of October each year, encompassing three of the four meteorological seasons: spring, summer, and fall. The 30 teams play in cities across the United States and Canada in many types of weather. This work studies the impact of temperature on a Major League Baseball game by examining the association between temperature and several Major League Baseball game statistics, including runs scored, batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, home runs, walks, strikeouts, hit-batsmen, stolen bases, and errors. Data from 22 215 games, spanning the 2000–11 regular seasons, were studied. Temperature was categorized as “cold,” “average,” and “warm.” Analyses were performed on the following populations: all Major League Baseball games, games played in the National League, games played in the American League, and games played in 23 different stadiums that are currently being used by Major League Baseball teams. Home and away teams' performances were analyzed separately for each population of games. The results of this study show that runs scored, batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and home runs significantly increase while walks significantly decrease in warm weather compared to cold weather.

Common Factors in Major League Baseball Game Attendance

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young H. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Data Model ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Common Factors ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Capita Gross Domestic Product ◽  
Major League ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Game Attendance ◽  
Modern Era

This article applies a panel data model with observed common factors to Major League Baseball (MLB) data from 1904 to 2012 to analyze attendance. In particular, it aims to identify common factors. The empirical results suggest that MLB fan preferences were simple in the early years (1904-1957) with respect to common factors and then became multifaceted in later years (1958-2012), because the number of significant common factors increased from four to seven. Time trends and per capita gross domestic product were significant over the whole sample period, but outcome uncertainties and offensive performance, such as slugging performance, became newly significant common factors influencing attendance in later years. This indicates that fans consider not only their home team’s characteristics but also the characteristics of the away teams; then, in the modern era, it became critical for the league to implement elaborate business measures to promote competitive balance and slugging performance.

scholarly journals The Effect Of Promotions On Attendance At Major League Baseball Games

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Barilla ◽  
Kathleen Gruben ◽  
William Levernier
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Multivariate Regression ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Multivariate Regression Model ◽  
Major League ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Game Attendance

The determinants of attendance at professional sporting events come from a variety of team- specific, game-specific, and stadium-specific factors. Using data from the 2,431 major league baseball games played during the 2005 season, this study employs a multivariate regression model to determine the effect that the previously mentioned factors have on game attendance. The focus of the study is on the effect that promotions, such as product giveaways, have on attendance. The findings of this study indicate that having a promotion at a game increases attendance by about 1,532 fans. The findings also indicate that both the timing of a promotion and the type of promotion is important. Specifically, promotions held on weekends have a much smaller impact on attendance than promotions held during the week, with promotions held on Friday or Sunday having a particularly small effect. In terms of the type of promotion, this study finds that bobblehead giveaways have by far the largest impact on attendance and that several types of giveaways actually have no effect on attendance.

Quantile Insights on Market Structure and Worker Salaries: The Case of Major League Baseball

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1066-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Fort ◽  
Young Hoon Lee ◽  
Taeyeon Oh
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Marginal Revenue ◽  
Total Revenue ◽  
Marginal Revenue Product ◽  
Major League ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Do So ◽  
Revenue Product

The vast majority of the empirical investigation of player marginal revenue product (MRP) and monopsony exploitation rates (MER) implicitly assumed that MRP is constant across the revenue distribution of teams. The few works that do attempt to capture the impact of revenue variation across teams do so via independent variable specification. We bring quantile estimation to bear that allows MRP to vary across the entire revenue distribution in Major League Baseball. Completely in keeping with economic common sense, MRP increases as total revenue rises (to higher and higher quantiles). As with past findings, there is interesting MER dispersion over the length of player tenure in the league and between star and mediocre players. Heretofore unexplored, we also find interesting dispersion in MRP and MER between larger revenue and smaller revenue markets. Our results suggest that independent variable specifications overstate MRP and MER for smaller revenue teams and understate the same for larger revenue team.

Managerial Quality, Team Success, and Individual Player Performance in Major League Baseball

ILR Review ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Team Success ◽  
Management Literature ◽  
Major League ◽  
Individual Player ◽  
Player Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Managerial Quality

This paper uses 1969–87 major league baseball data to investigate the impact of managerial quality on team winning and individual player performance. Managerial quality and player performance are measured as predicted pay based on salary regressions; these market-based measures permit conclusions about costs and benefits of managerial quality. There are two major findings. First, when player inputs are controlled for, higher-quality managers lead to higher winning percentages. Second, players tend to play better, relative to their prior performance levels, the higher the manager's quality. These findings suggest that, as emphasized by the human resource management literature, the quality of management makes an important difference in the performance of organizations.

Individual Team Incentives and Managing Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues: An Empirical Analysis of Major League Baseball

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Programming Model ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Revenue Sharing ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Structural Dynamic ◽  
Local Revenue ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sports Leagues ◽  
The Impact

Major League Baseball and other professional sports leagues have long been concerned with competitive imbalances caused by differences in local revenues. The fear is that in the absence of salary caps or other regulatory mechanisms, smaller-market teams will be unable to remain competitive. This research uses a structural dynamic programming model to analyze ownership's payroll investment decisions. This model estimates the relationship between optimal payrolls and local-market populations and the influence of long-term customer equity dynamics on payroll investments. In addition, the author analyzes the impact of a recent policy intervention that implemented revenue transfers from high-local-revenue markets to low-local-revenue markets. The statistical results indicate that market population has a significant impact on the value of a team's payroll investments. For example, optimal payrolls double as the population increases from 2.5 million to 7.5 million. Furthermore, rather than improving competitive balance, the adoption of revenue sharing has decreased the incentives for small-market teams to remain competitive. The author uses the estimation results to evaluate alternative approaches to managing competitive balance. Specifically, the results suggest that basing revenue-sharing payments on local-market population and (higher) attendance rates reduces payroll dispersion.

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