Local Broadcast Viewership in Major League Soccer
Click name to view affiliation
Search for other papers by Hojun Sung 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 Michael Mondello in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This paper estimates determinants of local market television viewership demand for Major League Soccer (MLS). We examine the effects of team quality and outcome uncertainty and compare our estimates to recent work on the determinants of MLS attendance. We find that local viewership for MLS is not particularly sensitive to uncertainty over game outcomes. However, we do find effects of local team quality and visiting superstars on viewership levels. The results also exhibit evidence of pure substitution effects where viewership transfers to attendance demand as the season progresses, and in which viewership is substituted for attendance in the face of sellouts or poor weather conditions. Team strategy and league policy implications are discussed, along with directions for future research on MLS and local viewership demand.
Sung and Mills are with the Department of Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Mondello is with the Department of Marketing, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
© 2024 Human Kinetics