Title

Fan substitution between North American professional sports leagues

Authors

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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