IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jospec/v20y2019i4p580-602.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Football Spectator No-Show Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Dominik Schreyer
  • Sascha L. Schmidt
  • Benno Torgler

Abstract

In this article, we aim to contribute to the ever-growing economic literature on the determinants of football stadium attendance by exploring the increasingly important yet underresearched phenomenon of spectator no-show behavior. More specifically, we analyze a panel data set containing unique information on no-show behavior observed in the stadiums of 25 Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs. Our results suggest that no-show behavior is primarily shaped by explanatory factors related to a football games’ quality aspects (e.g., an appearance by superstars, an away team rich in tradition, and geographical derbies). Interestingly, these effects seem to significantly differ across Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.

Suggested Citation

  • Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2019. "Football Spectator No-Show Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(4), pages 580-602, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:20:y:2019:i:4:p:580-602
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002518784120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1527002518784120
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1527002518784120?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heath McDonald & Adam J. Karg & Andrea Vocino, 2013. "Measuring season ticket holder satisfaction: Rationale, scale development and longitudinal validation," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 41-53, January.
    2. Baimbridge, Mark & Cameron, Samuel & Dawson, Peter, 1996. "Satellite Television and the Demand for Football: A Whole New Ball Game?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 43(3), pages 317-333, August.
    3. Tim Pawlowski & Georgios Nalbantis, 2015. "Competition format, championship uncertainty and stadium attendance in European football - a small league perspective," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(38), pages 4128-4139, August.
    4. Stephen Morrow, 1999. "The New Business of Football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37174-3, September.
    5. Jeffery Borland, 2003. "Demand for Sport," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(4), pages 478-502, Winter.
    6. Dobson,Stephen & Goddard,John, 2011. "The Economics of Football," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521517140, November.
    7. Schreyer, Dominik & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Torgler, Benno, 2016. "Against all odds? Exploring the role of game outcome uncertainty in season ticket holders’ stadium attendance demand," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 192-217.
    8. Stephen Morrow, 1999. "Rich Man, Poor Man — Players in the New Business of Football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The New Business of Football, chapter 2, pages 30-57, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. David Forrest & Rob Simmons, 2006. "New Issues in Attendance Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(3), pages 247-266, August.
    10. Marco Di Domizio & Raul Caruso, 2015. "Hooliganism and Demand for Football in Italy: Attendance and Counterviolence Policy Evaluation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 16(2), pages 123-137, May.
    11. Bruce Walker, 1986. "The Demand for Professional League Football and the Success of Football League Teams: Some City Size Effects," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 23(3), pages 209-219, June.
    12. David Forrest & Robert Simmons & Babatunde Buraimo, 2005. "Outcome Uncertainty And The Couch Potato Audience," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 52(4), pages 641-661, September.
    13. Regina Madalozzo & Rodrigo Berber Villar, 2009. "Brazilian Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(6), pages 639-650, December.
    14. Nicolas Scelles & Christophe Durand & Liliane Bonnal & Daniel Goyeau & Wladimir Andreff, 2013. "Competitive balance versus competitive intensity before a match: Is one of these concepts more relevant in explaining attendance? The case of the French football Ligue 1 over the period 2008-2011," Post-Print halshs-00874478, HAL.
    15. Babatunde Buraimo, 2008. "Stadium attendance and television audience demand in English league football," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 513-523.
    16. N. Scelles & C. Durand & L. Bonnal & D. Goyeau & W. Andreff, 2013. "Competitive balance versus competitive intensity before a match: is one of these two concepts more relevant in explaining attendance? The case of the French football Ligue 1 over the period 2008--2011," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(29), pages 4184-4192, October.
    17. Young H. Lee, 2018. "Common Factors in Major League Baseball Game Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 583-598, May.
    18. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys & Li Zhou, 2014. "Reference-Dependent Preferences, Loss Aversion, And Live Game Attendance," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(3), pages 959-973, July.
    19. William Putsis & Subrata Sen, 2000. "Should NFL blackouts be banned?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(12), pages 1495-1507.
    20. Peel, David A & Thomas, Dennis A, 1988. "Outcome Uncertainty and the Demand for Football: An Analysis of Match Attendances in the English Football League," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 35(3), pages 242-249, August.
    21. Peel, David A & Thomas, Dennis A, 1992. "The Demand for Football: Some Evidence on Outcome Uncertainty," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 323-331.
    22. Buraimo, Babatunde & Simmons, Rob, 2009. "A tale of two audiences: Spectators, television viewers and outcome uncertainty in Spanish football," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 326-338, July.
    23. António Miguel Martins & Susana Cró, 2018. "The Demand for Football in Portugal," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 473-497, May.
    24. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Game Outcome Uncertainty and Television Audience Demand: New Evidence from German Football," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 19(2), pages 140-161, May.
    25. R. A. Hart & J. Hutton & T. Sharot, 1975. "A Statistical Analysis of Association Football Attendances," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 24(3), pages 308-308, November.
    26. Grant Allan & Graeme Roy, 2008. "Does Television Crowd Out Spectators?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(6), pages 592-605, December.
    27. Roger G. Noll, 2002. "The Economics of Promotion and Relegation in Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(2), pages 169-203, May.
    28. Men‐Andri Benz & Leif Brandes & Egon Franck, 2009. "Do Soccer Associations Really Spend On A Good Thing? Empirical Evidence On Heterogeneity In The Consumer Response To Match Uncertainty Of Outcome," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(2), pages 216-235, April.
    29. Dominik Schreyer & Daniel Däuper, 2018. "Determinants of spectator no-show behaviour: first empirical evidence from the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(21), pages 1475-1480, December.
    30. McDonald, Heath & Karg, Adam J. & Vocino, Andrea, 2013. "Measuring season ticket holder satisfaction: Rationale, scale development and longitudinal validation," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 41-53.
    31. Kazim Topuz & Hasmet Uner & Asil Oztekin & Mehmet Bayram Yildirim, 2018. "Predicting pediatric clinic no-shows: a decision analytic framework using elastic net and Bayesian belief network," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 263(1), pages 479-499, April.
    32. Georg Stadtmann & Dirk Czarnitzki, 2002. "Uncertainty of outcome versus reputation: Empirical evidence for the First German Football Division," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 101-112.
    33. Barry Reilly, 2015. "The Demand for League of Ireland Football," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(4), pages 485-509.
    34. Jaume García Villar & Plácido Rodríguez Guerrero, 2009. "Sports attendance: A survey of the Literature 1973-2007," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 5(2), pages 111-151, Settembre.
    35. Jennett, Nicholas I, 1984. "Attendances, Uncertainty of Outcome and Policy in Scottish League Football," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 31(2), pages 176-198, June.
    36. Adam Cox, 2018. "Spectator Demand, Uncertainty of Results, and Public Interest," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(1), pages 3-30, January.
    37. Jean-Marc Falter & Christophe Perignon, 2000. "Demand for football and intramatch winning probability: an essay on the glorious uncertainty of sports," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(13), pages 1757-1765.
    38. Stefano DellaVigna & Ulrike Malmendier, 2006. "Paying Not to Go to the Gym," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 694-719, June.
    39. N. Scelles & Christophe Durand & L. Bonnal & D. Goyeau & W. Andreff, 2013. "Competitive balance versus competitive intensity before a match: is one of these two concepts more relevant in explaining attendance? The case of the French football Ligue 1 over the period 2008–2011," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02111054, HAL.
    40. Jaume García & Plácido Rodríguez, 2002. "The Determinants of Football Match Attendance Revisited," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(1), pages 18-38, February.
    41. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2012. "Game Attendance and Outcome Uncertainty in the National Hockey League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(4), pages 364-377, August.
    42. Horst Rottmann & Franz Seitz, 2008. "Wer und was bestimmen die Zuschauerzahlen in der Fußballbundesliga?," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 128(2), pages 291-306.
    43. Farai Jena & Barry Reilly, 2016. "Testing the uncertainty outcome hypothesis using data from second tier soccer in Ireland," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(18), pages 1257-1260, December.
    44. John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), 2014. "Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14821, December.
    45. Aaron J. Chastain & Stephan F. Gohmann & E. Frank Stephenson, 2017. "Beer Availability and College Football Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(6), pages 592-600, August.
    46. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Predicting season ticket holder loyalty using geographical information," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 272-277, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4882-4901, September.
    2. Johan Rewilak, 2023. "The Designated Player Policy Rule and Attendance Demand in Major League Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 475-496, May.
    3. Dmitry Dagaev & Sofia Paklina & J. James Reade & Carl Singleton, 2024. "The Iron Curtain and Referee Bias in International Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(1), pages 126-151, January.
    4. Minnich, Aljoscha, 2022. "Do fans’ emotions influence charitable donations? Evidence from monetary and returnable cup donations in German soccer stadiums," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    5. Chan, Ho Fai & Ulrich, Fabian & Altman, Hannah & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schreyer, Dominik & Torgler, Benno, 2022. "Beyond performance? The importance of subjective and objective physical appearance in award nominations and receptions in football," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 271-289.
    6. Dominik Schreyer & Benno Torgler, 2021. "Football spectator no-show behavior in Switzerland: Empirical evidence from season ticket holder behavior," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-06, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    7. Morten Kringstad & Tor-Eirik Olsen & Tor Georg Jakobsen & Rasmus K. Storm & Nikolaj Schelde, 2021. "Match Experience at the Danish Women’s Soccer National A-Team Matches: An Explorative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Anthony Macedo & Marta Ferreira Dias & Paulo Reis Mourão, 2023. "European Men's Club Football in the Eyes of Consumers: The Determinants of Television Broadcast Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 579-623, June.
    9. Holzmayer, Florian & Schmidt, Sascha L., 2020. "Dynamic managerial capabilities, firm resources, and related business diversification – Evidence from the English Premier League," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 132-143.
    10. Nicolas Frevel & Dominik Schreyer, 2020. "Behavioral responses to terrorist attacks: empirical evidence from professional football," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 244-247, February.
    11. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2020. "Using reminders with different reward opportunities to reduce no-show behavior: Empirical evidence from a large-scale field experiment in professional sport," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-19, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schreyer, Dominik & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Torgler, Benno, 2016. "Against all odds? Exploring the role of game outcome uncertainty in season ticket holders’ stadium attendance demand," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 192-217.
    2. Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4882-4901, September.
    3. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Game Outcome Uncertainty in the English Premier League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(5), pages 625-644, June.
    4. Besters, Lucas, 2018. "Economics of professional football," Other publications TiSEM d9e6b9b7-a17b-4665-9cca-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Raul Caruso & Francesco Addesa & Marco Di Domizio, 2019. "The Determinants of the TV Demand for Soccer: Empirical Evidence on Italian Serie A for the Period 2008-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 25-49, January.
    6. Alexander John Bond & Francesco Addesa, 2020. "Competitive Intensity, Fans’ Expectations, and Match-Day Tickets Sold in the Italian Football Serie A, 2012-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(1), pages 20-43, January.
    7. Schreyer & Torgler Benno & Schmidt Sascha L., 2018. "Game Outcome Uncertainty and Television Audience Demand: New Evidence from German Football," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 140-161, May.
    8. Christian Gjersing Nielsen & Rasmus K. Storm & Tor Georg Jakobsen, 2019. "The impact of English Premier League broadcasts on Danish spectator demand: a small league perspective," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(6), pages 633-653, August.
    9. Marco Di Domizio & Raul Caruso, 2015. "Hooliganism and Demand for Football in Italy: Attendance and Counterviolence Policy Evaluation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 16(2), pages 123-137, May.
    10. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2017. "Game Outcome Uncertainty and the Demand for International Football Games: Evidence From the German TV Market," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 31-45, January.
    11. Hojun Sung & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2023. "Disaggregated Attendance Demand: Comparing Daily Ticket Purchasers and Season Ticket Holders in K-League 1," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 717-736, August.
    12. Tim Pawlowski, 2013. "Testing the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis in European Professional Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(4), pages 341-367, August.
    13. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Predicting season ticket holder loyalty using geographical information," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 272-277, February.
    14. Dominik Schreyer & Benno Torgler, 2018. "On the Role of Race Outcome Uncertainty in the TV Demand for Formula 1 Grands Prix," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(2), pages 211-229, February.
    15. Dominik Schreyer & Daniel Däuper, 2018. "Determinants of spectator no-show behaviour: first empirical evidence from the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(21), pages 1475-1480, December.
    16. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & J. James Reade, 2023. "The Impact of Uncertainty on Fan Interest Surrounding Multiple Outcomes in Open European Football Leagues," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    17. Dorian Owen, 2014. "Measurement of competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 3, pages 41-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Farai Jena & Barry Reilly, 2022. "Are spectator preferences weaker for cup compared to league competitions? Evidence from Irish soccer," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(9), pages 835-841, May.
    19. Luc Arrondel & Richard Duhautois, 2019. "Are French Football Fans Sensitive to Outcome Uncertainty?," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 513, pages 5-26.
    20. Nicholas King & P. Dorian Owen & Rick Audas, 2012. "Playoff Uncertainty, Match Uncertainty and Attendance at Australian National Rugby League Matches," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(281), pages 262-277, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:20:y:2019:i:4:p:580-602. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.