The Fans’ Perception of Competitive Balance and Its Impact on Willingness-to-Pay for a Single Game

Abstract

The economics literature related to the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis reopens the discussion of whether the fans’ perceptions of competitive balance (CB) are in line with Rottenberg’s and Neale’s theory. This article contributes to the literature by analyzing the effect of fans’ perceptions of suspensefulness on their willingness-to-pay for a single-game ticket and evaluating monetarily the (un)importance of CB. Results suggest that fans’ notions of competitiveness influence their spending behavior, rising as perceived balance rises, at least up to high levels of competitiveness.