Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • September 2023
  • Article
  • Economic Record

Consuming Contests: The Effect of Outcome Uncertainty on Spectator Attendance in the Australian Football League

By: Patrick Ferguson and Karim R. Lakhani
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:26
ShareBar

Abstract

Contests that non-contestants consume for entertainment are a fixture of economic, cultural and political life. We exploit injury-induced changes to teams' line-ups in a professional sports setting to examine whether individuals prefer to consume contests that have more uncertain outcomes. Studying data from the Australian Football League, we use an instrumental variables design to show that a one standard deviation increase in game outcome uncertainty causes, on average, an 11.2 per cent increase in attendance. When presented alongside ordinary least square's estimates, our results suggest that previous studies may heavily underestimate spectators' preferences for evenly balanced contests.

Keywords

Sports; Entertainment; Consumer Behavior

Citation

Ferguson, Patrick, and Karim R. Lakhani. "Consuming Contests: The Effect of Outcome Uncertainty on Spectator Attendance in the Australian Football League." Economic Record 99, no. 326 (September 2023): 410–435.
  • Read Now

About The Author

Karim R. Lakhani

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March–April 2025
    • Harvard Business Review

    Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise: How to Thrive When AI Makes Knowledge and Know-How Cheaper and Easier to Access

    By: Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li and Karim R. Lakhani
    • April 2025 (Revised April 2025)
    • Faculty Research

    JPMorganChase: Leadership in the Age of GenAI

    By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Karim R. Lakhani and David Lane
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise

    By: Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Charles Ayoubi, Hila Lifshitz, Raffaella Sadun, Ethan Mollick, Lilach Mollick, Yi Han, Jeff Goldman, Hari Nair, Stew Taub and Karim R. Lakhani
More from the Authors
  • Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise: How to Thrive When AI Makes Knowledge and Know-How Cheaper and Easier to Access By: Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li and Karim R. Lakhani
  • JPMorganChase: Leadership in the Age of GenAI By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Karim R. Lakhani and David Lane
  • The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI Reshaping Teamwork and Expertise By: Fabrizio Dell'Acqua, Charles Ayoubi, Hila Lifshitz, Raffaella Sadun, Ethan Mollick, Lilach Mollick, Yi Han, Jeff Goldman, Hari Nair, Stew Taub and Karim R. Lakhani
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.