The authors use data that are collected from the 2007 season to study attendance at Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) games. Like Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, Japanese teams set price in the inelastic portion of the demand curve, but standard explanations for low prices do not apply. The authors also find some evidence that the visiting team’s fans play a greater role in NPB than in MLB. Games in domed stadiums or between teams in different leagues also draw more fans. Finally, attendance is greater at games between better teams and games that the home team is more likely to win.
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