Competitive balance and match attendance in European rugby union leagues

Arbeitspapier

The paper analyses the impact of the relatively belated move to professionalism in Rugby Union. We use data on match attendance for 3,667 fixtures in European club Rugby over 15 seasons to estimate the effect of competitive balance on attendance. We find that (short- and medium-term) competitive balance has a large and statistically significant effect. However, this effect is smaller in magnitude than the effect brought about by the other aspects of the fixture with the strength of the home team being the single most important influence on attendances.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series ; No. WP12/26

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ; Firm Behavior: Theory ; Firm Organization and Market Structure ; Organization of Production ; Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
• Subject: Professional team sports ; competitive balance ; league structures ; revenue sharing ; salary caps ; consumer demand

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hogan, Vincent ; Massey, Patrick ; Massey, Shane
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University College Dublin, UCD School of Economics
• (where): Dublin
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/72218
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET