Variations in NHL attendance: the impact of violence, scoring, and regional rivalries - Discrimination and The NHL

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, April, 2003 by Rodney J. Paul

Notes

(1.) Points are used in hockey to determine standings. Two points are given for a win, whether in regulation or in a five-minute sudden death frame. One point is given for a tie by the teams or to a team that loses a game in overtime.

(2.) See Appendix II for results for the league as a whole with penalty minutes instead of fighting used as the proxy for violence. The results are positive and significant, just not as strong as using fighting as the proxy.

(3.) Using dummies beyond the second round was not fruitful, as the only teams in the sample that would qualify were Buffalo and Toronto, since Dallas and Colorado, the other two third-round playoff teams, were excluded due to lack of variation of the dependent variable.

References

Diamond, D. (1998). Total Hockey. Total Sports Publishing.

Hausman, J. A., and G. K. Leonard. (1997). "Superstars in the National Basketball Association: Economic Value and Policy." Journal of Labor Economics 15 (4): 586-624.

Jones, J. C. H., D. G. Ferguson, and K. G. Stewart. (1993). "Blood Sports and Cherry Pie: Some Economics of Violence in the National Hockey League." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 52 (1): 87-101.

Jones, J. C. H., S. Nadeau, and W. D. Walsh. (1997). "The Wages of Sin: Employment and Salary. Effects of Violence in the National Hockey League." Atlantic Economic Journal 25 (2): 191-206.

Jones, J. C. H., K. G. Stewart, and R. Sunderman. (1996). "From the Arena into the Streets: Hockey Violence, Economic Incentives, and Public Policy." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 55 (2): 231-49.

The Hockey News Yearbook. Various years. Transcontinental Publishing.

Rodney J. Paul *

* The author is Assistant Professor of Economics at St. Bonaventure University, 229 Murphy Professional Building, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778.

[C] 2003 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.