Abstract

In this paper, we intend to estimate the impact that two professional sports leagues, the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), have on the attendance of Major League Baseball (MLB) games over an 11-year span when there are schedule conflicts. Overall, we observe that NHL and NBA games that have schedule conflicts with MLB games more significantly negatively impact the attendance on MLB games during the weekdays (in particular, Thursday and Wednesday) than on MLB games during the weekend. We also observe that MLB teams in high standings suffer less from negative substitution effects than MLB teams in low standings in the division. In particular, when MLB teams are in a losing streak, spectators show their deepest disappointments in their teams and avoid to attend MLB games in stadium when there are schedule conflicts.

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Substitution Effect in Sport Event Attendance

In this paper, we intend to estimate the impact that two professional sports leagues, the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), have on the attendance of Major League Baseball (MLB) games over an 11-year span when there are schedule conflicts. Overall, we observe that NHL and NBA games that have schedule conflicts with MLB games more significantly negatively impact the attendance on MLB games during the weekdays (in particular, Thursday and Wednesday) than on MLB games during the weekend. We also observe that MLB teams in high standings suffer less from negative substitution effects than MLB teams in low standings in the division. In particular, when MLB teams are in a losing streak, spectators show their deepest disappointments in their teams and avoid to attend MLB games in stadium when there are schedule conflicts.