Television viewership and rivalry in the National Football League

Sung, Ho Jun

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Description

Title

Television viewership and rivalry in the National Football League

Author(s)

Sung, Ho Jun

Issue Date

2014-09-16

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Tainsky, Scott

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• sport economics
• National Football League (NFL)
• rivalry
• out-of-market games
• intra-game ratings
• schadenfreude

Abstract

Rivalry is competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. Sport is replete of rivalries between teams within region or division, offering a desirable living laboratory. Moreover, rivalry influences demand for sport, infusing significance to each match. Especially in the National Football League, the most watched league in the United States, divisional teams are considered to be in rivalrous relationships. However, relatively little attention have been paid to the rivalry effect in the television viewership, especially examining the within-game changes. Moreover, most of the studies in sport context have heavily focused on home market games. This thesis therefore investigates the effect of rivalry on sports viewership of out-of-market games to shed light on how sports fans may act when rival teams are involved.

Graduation Semester

2014-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50414

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Hojun Sung

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