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How Success and Uncertainty Compel Interest in Related Goods: Playoff Probability and Out-of-Market Television Viewership in the National Football League

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  • Scott Tainsky
  • Jie Xu
  • Brian Mills
  • Steven Salaga

Abstract

Professional sports league franchises are both on-field competitors and business partners. In this paper, we examine whether local franchise characteristics are associated with the consumption of goods that are produced by other franchises within the same league. Specifically, we investigate how uncertainty over whether the local market team reaches the postseason affects interest in out-of-market National Football League broadcasts. We find that consumers possess a conditional interest in other league contests depending on the degree to which the local franchise is in the race to reach the playoffs. This effect increases at a diminishing rate and reaches a maximum when local franchise playoff probability is approximately 60 %. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Tainsky & Jie Xu & Brian Mills & Steven Salaga, 2016. "How Success and Uncertainty Compel Interest in Related Goods: Playoff Probability and Out-of-Market Television Viewership in the National Football League," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 48(1), pages 29-43, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:48:y:2016:i:1:p:29-43
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-015-9479-7
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