Competitive Balance in Individual Sports: An Empirical Evidence of Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis
| Author: | Bc. Václav Berčík |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2021 - summer |
| Leaders: | PhDr. Radek Janhuba M.A., Ph.D. |
| Consultants: | |
| Work type: | Bachelors |
| Language: | English |
| Pages: | 56 |
| Awards and prizes: | |
| Link: | https://ckis.cuni.cz:443/F/?func=direct&doc_number=002448239&local_base=CKS01&format=999 |
| Abstract: | Beach volleyball is a fast-growing modern sport that is struggling with popularity despite being one of the most attractive-to-watch sports when directly compared to others at the Olympics. This thesis studies what drives fans’ demand for watching professional beach volleyball. We use viewership data from YouTube live streaming of FIVB World Tour event – 2021 Katara Cup. In this thesis, we investigate the effect of uncertainty of outcome and both long and short-term determinants of team quality on fans’ behaviour. The uncertainty is proxied by difference in odds, the long-term team quality is determined by teams’ tournament seedings and short-term quality by recent winning records. The dynamics of fans behaviour according to the progress of the game are also studied. We are specifically interested in the effect of in-game uncertainty and surprising results on demand. Results of the work show evidence that beach volleyball fans prefer games with uncertain outcomes, care more about short-term team quality than long-term, and change behaviour in-game according to the development of uncertainty. |
