Television Revenue and the Structure of Athletic Contests: The Case of the National Basketball Association
This study points out that changes in the format of the playoffs in the National Basketball Association have had the effect of lengthening the championship series and reducing the variance in the length of the series. These are valuable goals for the organization because they provide higher television ratings and revenues for the teams involved. Empirical evidence presented here suggests that viewership among 1.2 million additional households is at stake.
Television Coverage and Outcome Uncertainty in Sports: Empirical Evidence from the NBA and WNBA
In an important paper, Price, Remer, & Stone (2012) introduce one manifestation of referee bias called “close” bias – the idea being that because close games are more valuable, referees might officiate to keep games close. Using 990 observations from the 2011-12 National Basketball Association (NBA) season and 442 observations from the 2010 and 2011 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) seasons, we test conceptual models of the impact of television coverage on close bias. Our empirical results that the absolute score differential is about two points less for nationally televised NBA games and about three points less for nationally televised WNBA games, even after accounting for differences in team strength. Our results confirm and extend the earlier findings of Price, Remer, & Stone (2012). Resumen En un importante articulo, Price, Remer y Stone (2012) introducen una manifestacion del sesgo arbitral llamada sesgo de "proximidad", el cual se refiere a que, dado que los partidos con marcadores ajustados son mas valiosos, los arbitros podrian actuar intencionadamente para mantenerlos asi. En nuestro estudio, y tras el analisis de 990 partidos de baloncesto de la temporada 2011-12 en la NBA, y de 442 partidos de las temporadas 2010 y 2011 en la WNBA, testamos varios modelos conceptuales sobre el impacto de la cobertura televisiva sobre el sesgo de proximidad. Los resultados indican que la diferencia absoluta en el marcador entre los equipos es alrededor de dos puntos menor para los partidos televisados a nivel nacional en la NBA, y sobre tres puntos menor para la WNBA, considerando las diferencias de potencial entre los equipos. De este modo, nuestros resultados confirman y extienden los hallazgos de Price, Remer y Stone (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2014.03503 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- References/referencias Arkes, J. & Martinez, J. A. (2011). Finally, evidence for a momentum effect in the NBA. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 7 (3), Article 13. http://dx.doi.org/10.2202/1559-0410.1304 Buraimo, B. (2008). Stadium attendance and television audience demand in English League Football. Managerial and Decision Economics , 29, 513-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mde.1421 Buraimo, B. & Simmons, R. (2009). A tale of two audiences: Spectators, television viewers and outcome uncertainty in Spanish football. Journal of Economics and Business , 61, 326-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconbus.2008.10.002 Forrest, D.; Simmons, R., & Buraimo, B. (2005). Outcome uncertainty and the couch potato audience. 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Transmission of Oropouche virus from man to hamster by the midge Culicoides paraensis.
Oropouche virus (arbovirus family Bunyaviridae, Simbu serological group) was experimentally transmitted from man to hamster by the bite of the midge Culicoides paraensis. Infection rates and transmission rates were determined after the midge had engorged on patients with viremia. The threshold titer necessary to enable infection or transmission by the midges was approximately 5.3 log10 of the median lethal dose of the virus in suckling mice per milliliter of blood. Transmission was achieved 6 to 12 days after C. paraensis had taken the infective blood meal. This represents conclusive evidence of transmission of an arbovirus of public health importance to man by a member of the Ceratopogonidae family.