A Fall Classic? Assessing the Economic Impact of the World Series

Victor Matheson and Robert Baade ()
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Robert Baade: Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College

No 501, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: An empirical analysis of the economic impact of the Major League Baseball’s postseason on host-city economies from 1972-2001 suggests that any economic benefits from the playoff are small or non-existent. An examination of 129 playoff series finds that any increase ineconomic growth as a result of the post-season is not statistically significantly different than zero and that a best guess of the economic impact is $6.8 million per home game. As a general method of economic development, public support of a baseball team’s attempt to reach the World Series should be seen as a gamble at best.

Keywords: baseball; impact analysis; World Series; sports; mega-event (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 R53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2005-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, Volume 3, Number 4, July 2008, Pages 319-334.

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https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC0501-Matheson-Baade_WorldSeries.pdf Revised version, 2005 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0501

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