Shared Market Competition and Broadcast Viewership in the National Football League
Click name to view affiliation
Search for other papers by Michael Mondello in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Brian M. Mills in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Scott Tainsky in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This work evaluates the cross-quality elasticity of related products in the context of Nielsen Local People Meter ratings of all regular season broadcasts from 2010 through 2013 from six National Football League teams in three shared markets. Using a fixed effects panel regression, we do not uncover evidence that viewers are swayed by the success of a rival market team in their aggregate viewership patterns, contrary to what has been found in Major League Baseball. In addition, when within-market rivals play one another, we find that viewership levels increase but in a way that indicates considerable overlap of viewership and possible substitution choices made by consumers. We expand upon the implications of this work for demand estimation in sports economics research as well as the importance of our findings to sport management-related policy.
Mondello is with the Department of Marketing, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. Mills is with the Department of Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Tainsky is with the Department of Management and Information Systems, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.
© 2023 Human Kinetics