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How outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality affect stadium attendance in Dutch professional football

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  • Besters, Lucas M.
  • van Ours, Jan C.
  • van Tuijl, Martin A.

Abstract

We investigate stadium attendance in the highest level of Dutch professional football for the seasons 2000/01–2015/16 focusing on outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality. We find that for individual football matches, attendance is related to reference-dependent preferences with loss aversion dominating the preference for uncertain outcomes. Furthermore, team quality is an important determinant of stadium attendance. Towards the end of the season, outcome uncertainty regarding the final ranking becomes important. For this seasonal uncertainty, we find a positive and stable, but rather small impact of the introduction of a unique and large end-of-season play-off scheme for the qualification for European football.

Suggested Citation

  • Besters, Lucas M. & van Ours, Jan C. & van Tuijl, Martin A., 2019. "How outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality affect stadium attendance in Dutch professional football," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 117-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:72:y:2019:i:c:p:117-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2019.03.002
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    Cited by:

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    3. J. James Reade & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "Consumer Perceptions Matter: A Case Study of an Anomaly in English Football," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2024-03, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    4. Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp, 2023. "Sports teams' home market size in the digital age: Analyzing social media drawing power," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 175, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    5. 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.
    6. Jan C van Ours, 2021. "Common international trends in football stadium attendance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, March.
    7. J. James Reade & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "Consumer perceptions matter: A case study of an anomaly in English football," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-023/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    8. Fatas, Enrique & Restrepo-Plaza, Lina, 2022. "When losses can be a gain. A large lab-in-the-field experiment on reference dependent forgiveness in Colombia," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Stadium attendance; Professional football; Outcome uncertainty; Loss aversion; Play-offs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z20 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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