ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we examined the various economic theories pertaining to sport, with particular emphasis on the areas of professional leagues, competitive balance, demand for attendance and the production function. We now turn our attention to the demand for the product and in so doing adopt a marketing stance. To understand the demand for a product we need to understand the nature of the commodity as much as its production. There are innumerable demand studies in sport but they are almost entirely limited to attendance as the measure. The vast majority is of the single equation type examining the demand for attendance at specific stadia, that is, for a given team, or for a given type of sport, relative to their sports. These include Schofield (1983) cricket; Bird (1982) Rugby League Football; Hart et al. (1975) Association Football and so on. Empirical work is consistent with the uncertainty of outcome being an important factor in demand (Noll, 1974; Jennett, 1984; Janssens and Kesenne, 1987; Knowles et al., 1992).
