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The Designated Player Policy Rule and Attendance Demand in Major League Soccer

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  • Johan Rewilak

Abstract

Evidence suggests that Major League Soccer's designated player (DP) rule increased match-day attendance in its inaugural season leading to expansion of this policy. However, there is a need to examine whether these findings are robust. Therefore, this paper uses the DP rule as a natural experiment to identify its effect on match-day attendance using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy. In contrast to existing research, when using a difference-in-difference estimator, the statistically significant effect of DPs on attendance vanishes but may be recovered when omitting domestic DPs from the set of DPs.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Rewilak, 2023. "The Designated Player Policy Rule and Attendance Demand in Major League Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 475-496, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:24:y:2023:i:4:p:475-496
    DOI: 10.1177/15270025221134234
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