Location
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
Start Date
30-4-2015 9:00 AM
End Date
30-4-2015 10:55 AM
Project Type
Poster
Description
Competitive balance is an important issue for Major League Baseball (MLB). If there is too much separation between the best and worst teams it is believed that games become uninteresting because the season-end result is predictable. If there is too little separation fans may be uninterested because the regular season result appears to be simply luck based. The MLB offices have made strides to increase competitive balance by implementing a revenue sharing system and by adding additional playoff spots. The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of competitive balance in baseball on league wide attendance. Previous papers have examined competitive balance on a per season basis. In this paper we seek to examine the effect competitive balance on cumulative attendance at a game-by-game level. Our hypothesis is that increased competitive balance (measured as the inverse of standard deviation of team winning percentages) will lead to higher league wide attendance totals. Data for this paper will come from retrosheet.org, a database of game-by-game (and event by event) baseball statistics. Retrosheet offers data on every Major League game played and includes attendance. We can use this data to calculate day by day winning percentages while also controlling for potentially significant factors such as temperature and day of the week. The findings of this paper will be relevant in determining whether or not Major League Baseball, a multi-billion dollar industry, should aggressively try to influence competitive balance and in what direction.
Faculty Sponsor
Daniel LaFave
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. Economics Dept.
CLAS Field of Study
Social Sciences
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
1152
Included in
Competitive Balance and Attendance in Major League Baseball
Parker-Reed, SSWAC
Competitive balance is an important issue for Major League Baseball (MLB). If there is too much separation between the best and worst teams it is believed that games become uninteresting because the season-end result is predictable. If there is too little separation fans may be uninterested because the regular season result appears to be simply luck based. The MLB offices have made strides to increase competitive balance by implementing a revenue sharing system and by adding additional playoff spots. The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of competitive balance in baseball on league wide attendance. Previous papers have examined competitive balance on a per season basis. In this paper we seek to examine the effect competitive balance on cumulative attendance at a game-by-game level. Our hypothesis is that increased competitive balance (measured as the inverse of standard deviation of team winning percentages) will lead to higher league wide attendance totals. Data for this paper will come from retrosheet.org, a database of game-by-game (and event by event) baseball statistics. Retrosheet offers data on every Major League game played and includes attendance. We can use this data to calculate day by day winning percentages while also controlling for potentially significant factors such as temperature and day of the week. The findings of this paper will be relevant in determining whether or not Major League Baseball, a multi-billion dollar industry, should aggressively try to influence competitive balance and in what direction.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2015/program/7