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Unobserved Components in Competitive Balance and Match Attendances in the Australian Football League, 1945–2005: Where is all the Action Happening?

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  • LIAM J. A. LENTEN

Abstract

A structural time‐series model is estimated to investigate the relation between competitive balance, measured by the actual‐to‐idealised standard deviation ratio, and average match attendance in the Australian Football League from 1945 to 2005. The unobserved components approach allows the data to be modelled in ways new to the literature on this topic. A seemingly unrelated time‐series version shows much of the explanatory power of the data to be in the irregular (fast‐moving) component. An OLS regression produces robust goodness‐of‐fit and diagnostic results, and the coefficient estimates produce inferences in contrast to those of Schmidt and Berri (2001), with persistent shocks.

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  • Liam J. A. Lenten, 2009. "Unobserved Components in Competitive Balance and Match Attendances in the Australian Football League, 1945–2005: Where is all the Action Happening?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(269), pages 181-196, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:85:y:2009:i:269:p:181-196
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2009.00545.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Hogan & Patrick Massey & Shane Massey, 2013. "Competitive Balance and Match Attendance in European Rugby Union Leagues," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 44(4), pages 425-446.
    2. 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.
    3. Liam J. A. Lenten, 2017. "A Formal Test for Asymmetry in the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 253-270, April.
    4. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2010. "Organizational Differences between U.S. Major Leagues and European Leagues: Implications for Salary Caps," Working Papers 0035, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    5. Lenten, Liam J.A. & Smith, Aaron C.T. & Boys, Noel, 2018. "Evaluating an alternative draft pick allocation policy to reduce ‘tanking’ in the Australian Football League," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 315-320.
    6. John K. Wilson & Richard Pomfret, 2009. "Government Subsidies for Professional Team Sports in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 264-275, September.
    7. V. Masson & N. Sim & L. Wedding, 2014. "Did the AFL equalization policy achieve the evenness of the league?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(35), pages 4334-4344, December.
    8. Liam J.A. Lenten, 2011. "Long-run Trends and Factors in Attendance Patterns in Sport: Australian Football League, 1945–2009," Chapters, in: Samuel Cameron (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Leisure, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Ross Booth, 2009. "Sports Economics," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 377-385, September.
    10. Richard Pomfret & John K. Wilson, 2011. "The Peculiar Economics of Government Policy towards Sport," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 85-100.
    11. Lional Frost & Luc Borrowman & Abdel K. Halabi, 2015. "Stadiums and Scheduling: Measuring Deadweight Losses in Professional Sports Leagues, 1920-1970," Monash Economics Working Papers 07-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    12. Vincent (Vincent Peter) Hogan & Patrick Massey & Shane Massey, 2014. "Analysing Match Attendance in the European Rugby Cup," Working Papers 201412, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    13. Geoffrey N Tuck & Athol R Whitten, 2013. "Lead Us Not into Tanktation: A Simulation Modelling Approach to Gain Insights into Incentives for Sporting Teams to Tank," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-10, November.

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