Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The relationship between outcome uncertainty, the superstar effect, talent and live attendance at professional boxing matches is analyzed for forty-three contests. The implied probability the underdog will win (taken from bookmaker odds) is used to model outcome uncertainty, while the time-adjusted average number of Twitter Followers of the combatants in a given boxing match is employed as a proxy for the superstar effect and knockout percentage and possession of an Olympic medal in boxing serve as proxies for talent. Utilizing a log-log multivariate regression model (with live attendance as the dependent variable, explanatory variables of outcome uncertainty, the superstar effect, average knockout percentage and a dichotomous variable to capture if one or both combatants is an Olympic Medalist), we find only the superstar effect to have a statistically-significant impact on live attendance in professional boxing.