Fan substitution between North American professional sports leagues

    Authors

    B. M. Mills; J. A. Winfree; M. S. Rosentraub;E. Sorokina

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Econ. Lett.

    Keywords

    L83; L40; antitrust; market power; attendance demand; fan substitution; international trade; ATTENDANCE; CONCESSIONS; BASEBALL; LOCKOUT; Economics

    Abstract

    We use Canada-to-US border crossing data to estimate market penetration and fan substitution across sports leagues. We find that passenger car crossings into the US increase by more than 2000 when the National Football League's Buffalo Bills are playing a home game just across the border. This accounts for as much as 5% to 8% of Bills home attendance. Additionally, we find evidence of price competition, but not quality competition, between the Bills and Toronto-based teams in the three other major North American pro sports leagues. Given the exclusive market rights and antitrust privilege extended to professional sport in North America, these findings have important implications with respect to competition policies as they apply to major sports leagues.

    Journal Title

    Applied Economics Letters

    Volume

    22

    Issue/Number

    7

    Publication Date

    1-1-2015

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    563

    Last Page

    566

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000349800400010

    ISSN

    1350-4851

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