The purpose of this paper was to develop a demand model that determined if a relationship existed between the variation in team payroll and spectator attendance at Major League Baseball (MLB) games. A secondary purpose was to determine if the presence of star players was related to MLB attendance. Our findings suggest that if a star player does not contribute to an increase in the team’s on-field performance, the player has little influence on attendance. Additionally, the assumption that an increased team payroll will result in additional attendance is usually correct, yet incomplete....Read more
