ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of star players on team performance and stadium attendance in Major League Soccer (MLS). On pitch performance and attendance were analyzed among four international renowned soccer players – Zlatan Ibrahimović, Kaka, David Villa, and Wayne Rooney. Although the impact of on field performance of these four players to the team winning was ambivalent, their influence on attendance for both home and away matches was generally positive. Considering their paychecks, which is usually a few times more than the whole salary cap of a team, it is doubtful that this is a good strategy to boost a team’s winning as well as to attract more spectators to the stadium. In spite of the short-term positive impact, signing a marquee player is not a viable option to gain competitiveness in the long-term. New strategic movement such as MLS 3.0, a tactic of signing young, exciting prospects, seems a better strategy to enhance the attractiveness and performance of MLS.
