Television viewership and rivalry in the National Football League

Abstract

Rivalry is competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. Sport is replete of rivalries between teams within region or division, offering a desirable living laboratory. Moreover, rivalry influences demand for sport, infusing significance to each match. Especially in the National Football League, the most watched league in the United States, divisional teams are considered to be in rivalrous relationships. However, relatively little attention have been paid to the rivalry effect in the television viewership, especially examining the within-game changes. Moreover, most of the studies in sport context have heavily focused on home market games. This thesis therefore investigates the effect of rivalry on sports viewership of out-of-market games to shed light on how sports fans may act when rival teams are involved.