University of Michigan study shows it pays to have foreign Major Leaguers on roster
Trying to find financial success in America’s national pastime? Include less Americans.
That’s the recipe for the pocket books of owners, according to a recent University of Michigan study. Researchers found that for every international player added to a Major League Baseball team, ticket revenue increases by roughly half a million dollars.
The paper, “Discrimination and Demand: The Effect of International Players in Major League Baseball,” looked at the makeup of Major League rosters from 1985 to 2005. According to lead author Jason Winfree, fans once showed a preference for teams with less foreign players. In recent years the paradigm has shifted the other way.
“It looks like where there used to be this discrimination against foreign players, it’s basically reversed,” said Winfree, who is an assistant professor of sport management at U of M.
The study showed the benefit of foreign-born players peaked in 2000 when each additional international player added approximately $595,632 in ticket sales. That year, some teams fielded as many as 14 international players and others as few as seven, which translated into a $4 million difference in revenue. Since 2000, the trend has declined, but only slightly.
“It’s not clear whether teams should become more international or go the other way. Maybe if it was majority, it would be a different story, but it appears its not going to hurt them,” Winfree said.
Through multiple regression analysis, Winfree and co-author Scott Tainsky isolated the effect of foreigners on the roster apart from other determining factors, such as winning percentage, ticket prices and weather.
“Winning percentage, quality and how new a stadium is, those are always the big two,” Winfree said. “The difference compared to that is relatively small. We’re talking about 10,000 fans over the course of the season. There’s evidence that fans want more offense, so a team that scores more runs gets higher turnout, and that they don’t like turnover. (Having more international players is) comparable to that sort of thing.”
Winfree, who lives in Ypsilanti and has worked at the Michigan for seven years, said he enjoys baseball and the majority of his research is geared toward the sport, but not because of his fandom.
“Maybe that’s part of it, but it's just better data and there’s more of it,” Winfree said. “Like you couldn’t (study what effects attendance) in the NFL because they always sellout. With baseball there are more games and more variation in the data.”
“Discrimination and Demand” is set to appear in the March issue of the journal Social Science Quarterly.
Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com, or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
belboz
Wed, Feb 10, 2010 : 8:56 a.m.
Some uniformed people... Youth don't take to playing baseball as you did when you were a kid? There are more teams now than ever. Our leage has over 40 in the 11u category. Just because it isn't televised, or you don't know where to look, doesn't mean kids are not playing. They have so many more opportunities. I don't remember any travel baseball when I was a kid. As for foreign players. Please. El Detroit Tigres a couple years ago had 8 foreign nationals in the field at one time - back when Pudge was playing. Over 50% of players in the minor league are foreign nationals. By foreign nationals, I mean people who are not US Citizens, but play ball here. That is not good for the sport. That is not good for the kids in college who want to play. That is not good for the American Economy when such a large portion of the payroll makes it's way overseas. I don't see that in the study. And the lack of job growth that would have resulted if the money stayed here in America. Is that even a study? More like a 10 minute look at some numbers, drawing a very basic conclusing. Are you sure it wasn't a Michigan State study????????????????
Craig Lounsbury
Wed, Feb 10, 2010 : 7:31 a.m.
If the University faculty would like a list of infinitely more important things to study than how to assist millionaires and billionaires in selling their product to the unwashed masses they can e-mail me.
racerx
Wed, Feb 10, 2010 : 1:41 a.m.
@tater-good point. Especially since American children don't take to the ballfields and play baseball as often as I had when I was a youth. Shame too, it's a great sport.