nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2011‒01‒03
two papers chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
University of Beira Interior and Technical University of Lisbon

  1. The Red Mist? Red Shirts, Success and Team Sports By Marco Piatti; David A. Savaga; Benno Torgler
  2. Attendance of ice hockey matches in the Czech Extraliga By Lahvicka, Jiri

  1. By: Marco Piatti; David A. Savaga; Benno Torgler
    Abstract: Baron von Richthofen (the Red Baron) arguably the most famous fighter pilot of all time painted his plane the vividest of red hues, making it visible and identifiable at great distance, showing an aggressive pronouncement of dominance to other pilots. Can colour affect aggression and performance and if so is it observable within team sports? This study explores the effect of red on sporting performances within a team sports arena, through empirical analysis of match results from the Australian Rugby League spanning a period of 30 years. While the descriptive analysis reports a positive relationship, the multivariate analysis provides some mixed results once you control for team effects. Thus, more evidence at the team level is required to better understand whether teams in red do enjoy greater success controlling explicitly in a multivariate analysis for many factors that simultaneously affect performance.
    Keywords: impact of team colours; red; (Australian) rugby league; team sports
    JEL: A12 Z00
    Date: 2010–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2010-25&r=spo
  2. By: Lahvicka, Jiri
    Abstract: This paper uses data about 3,640 matches played in the seasons 2000/01-2009/10 to explain individual match attendance of the top Czech ice hockey competition – the Extraliga. Some interesting results are that fans decide whether to attend based on the detailed information about the home team, but use just the easily observable information about the away team; that a match having no impact on the final season outcome is much less attended; that televising a match decreases attendances of all matches played on the same day, but there is no negative next-day effect; that both very good and very bad weather decreases attendance; and that if two home matches are played in a short time period, their attendance is lower with likely higher impact on the second match. Substitution of ice hockey with soccer is investigated on several different levels – while ice hockey and soccer are definitely long-term substitutes, there are mixed results for same-day substitution. Modernization of ice hockey arenas is identified as the key factor behind the almost 20% attendance growth in the analyzed period. This paper also presents a new realistic method of modeling seasonal uncertainty based on Monte Carlo simulation that does not rely on ex post information.
    Keywords: attendance demand; ice hockey; Czech Republic; seasonal uncertainty; Monte Carlo
    JEL: D12 C15 L83
    Date: 2010–12–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:27653&r=spo

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