IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wvu/wpaper/17-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effect of Superstar Players on Game Attendance: Evidence from the NBA

Author

Listed:
  • Brad Humphreys

    (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

  • Candon Johnson

    (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

Abstract

Economic models predict that "superstar" players generate externalities that increase attendance and other revenue sources beyond their individual contributions to team success. We investigate the effect of superstar players on individual game attendance at National Basketball Association games from 1981/82 through 2013/14. Regression models control for censoring due to sellouts, quality of teams, unobservable team/season heterogeneity, and expected game outcomes. The results show higher home and away attendance associated with superstar players. Michael Jordan generated the largest superstar attendance externality, generating an additional 5,021/5,631 fans at home/away games.

Suggested Citation

  • Brad Humphreys & Candon Johnson, 2017. "The Effect of Superstar Players on Game Attendance: Evidence from the NBA," Working Papers 17-16, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    • Handle: RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1228&context=econ_working-papers
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. Berri & Martin B. Schmidt & Stacey L. Brook, 2004. "Stars at the Gate," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 33-50, February.
    2. Adler, Moshe, 1985. "Stardom and Talent," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 208-212, March.
    3. Amemiya, Takeshi, 1973. "Regression Analysis when the Dependent Variable is Truncated Normal," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(6), pages 997-1016, November.
    4. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, 2005. "Novelty Effects Of New Facilities On Attendance At Professional Sporting Events," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(3), pages 436-455, July.
    5. Joseph Price & Brian P. Soebbing & David Berri & Brad R. Humphreys, 2010. "Tournament Incentives, League Policy, and NBA Team Performance Revisited," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(2), pages 117-135, April.
    6. Wen-Jhan Jane, 2016. "The Effect of Star Quality on Attendance Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(4), pages 396-417, May.
    7. Claudio Lucifora & Rob Simmons, 2003. "Superstar Effects in Sport," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 4(1), pages 35-55, February.
    8. Egon Franck & Stephan Nüesch, 2012. "Talent And/Or Popularity: What Does It Take To Be A Superstar?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 202-216, January.
    9. MacDonald, Glenn M, 1988. "The Economics of Rising Stars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 155-166, March.
    10. David J. Berri & Martin B. Schmidt, 2006. "On the Road With the National Basketball Association's Superstar Externality," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(4), pages 347-358, November.
    11. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-858, December.
    12. Michael Lewis & Yeujun Yoon, 2018. "An Empirical Examination of the Development and Impact of Star Power in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(2), pages 155-187, February.
    13. Hausman, Jerry A & Leonard, Gregory K, 1997. "Superstars in the National Basketball Association: Economic Value and Policy," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(4), pages 586-624, October.
    14. Brian P. Soebbing & Brad R. Humphreys, 2013. "Do Gamblers Think That Teams Tank? Evidence From The Nba," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(2), pages 301-313, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Angelini & Massimiliano Castellani, 2019. "Cultural and economic value: a critical review," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 173-188, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brad R. Humphreys & Candon Johnson, 2020. "The Effect of Superstars on Game Attendance: Evidence From the NBA," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(2), pages 152-175, February.
    2. Chmait, Nader & Robertson, Sam & Westerbeek, Hans & Eime, Rochelle & Sellitto, Carmine & Reid, Machar, 2020. "Tennis superstars: The relationship between star status and demand for tickets," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 330-347.
    3. Scott M. Kaplan, 2022. "Putting a price on popularity: Evidence from superstars in the National Basketball Association," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1357-1381, July.
    4. Daniel Högele & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2012. "The Influence of Superstars on Organizational Identification of External Stakeholders: Empirical Findings from Professional Soccer," CREMA Working Paper Series 2012-18, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Michael R. Ward & Alexander D. Harmon, 2019. "ESport Superstars," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(8), pages 987-1013, December.
    6. R. Todd Jewell, 2017. "The Effect of Marquee Players on Sports Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 239-252, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Leif Brandes & Egon Franck & Stephan Nüesch, 2008. "Local Heroes and Superstars," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(3), pages 266-286, June.
    9. Alex Bryson & Giambattista Rossi & Rob Simmons, 2014. "The Migrant Wage Premium in Professional Football: A Superstar Effect?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 12-28, February.
    10. Egon Franck & Stephan Nüesch, 2005. "Talent, Past Consumption and/or Popularity - Are German Soccer Celebrities Rosen or Adler Stars?," Working Papers 0005, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA), revised 2006.
    11. Leif Brandes & Egon Franck & Stephan Nuesch, 2006. "Local Heroes and Superstars - An Empirical Analysis of Star Attraction in German Soccer," Working Papers 0007, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA), revised 2007.
    12. Rachel Scarfe & Carl Singleton & Paul Telemo, 2021. "Extreme Wages, Performance, and Superstars in a Market for Footballers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 84-118, January.
    13. Budzinski, Oliver & Feddersen, Arne, 2015. "Grundlagen der Sportnachfrage: Theorie und Empirie der Einflussfaktoren auf die Zuschauernachfrage," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 94, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    14. Wen-Jhan Jane, 2016. "The Effect of Star Quality on Attendance Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(4), pages 396-417, May.
    15. Daniel H. Weinberg, 2016. "Talent Recruitment and Firm Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(8), pages 832-862, December.
    16. Scott D. Grimshaw & Jeffrey S. Larson, 2021. "Effect of Star Power on NBA All-Star Game TV Audience," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(2), pages 139-163, February.
    17. Kotrba, Vojtěch, 2019. "Direct preferences of sports fans: Is there a superstar effect in the fantasy league?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 89-97.
    18. Franziska Prockl, 2018. "The Superstar Code - Deciphering Key Characteristics And Their Value," Working Papers Dissertations 38, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    19. Budzinski, Oliver & Feddersen, Arne & Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp, 2022. "Demand for TV broadcasts of UEFA Champions League games in Danish television - The impact of uncertainty of outcome, stardom, and local heroes," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 165, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    20. Michael Lewis & Yeujun Yoon, 2018. "An Empirical Examination of the Development and Impact of Star Power in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(2), pages 155-187, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    superstar effect; attendance demand; censored normal estimator;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z2 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Feng Yao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewvuus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.