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Common Factors in Major League Baseball Game Attendance

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  • Young H. Lee

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Young H. Lee, 2018. "Common Factors in Major League Baseball Game Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 583-598, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:19:y:2018:i:4:p:583-598
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002516672061
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
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    8. Seung C.Ahn & Young H. Lee, 2014. "Major League Baseball Attendance: Long-term Analysis Using Factor Models," Working Papers 1402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    9. Seung C. Ahn & Young H. Lee, 2014. "Major League Baseball Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(5), pages 451-477, October.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gregory A. Falls & Paul A. Natke & Linlan Xiao, 2022. "College football attendance in the long run: The Football Championship Subdivision," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2172-2183, September.
    3. Adam C. Merkle & Catherine Hessick & Britton R. Leggett & Larry Goehrig & Kenneth O’Connor, 2020. "Exploring the components of brand equity amid declining ticket sales in Major League Baseball," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(3), pages 149-164, September.
    4. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2019. "Football Spectator No-Show Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(4), pages 580-602, May.

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