The Economic Impact of NFL Franchise Relocations
Open Access
- Author:
- Alexander, Wesley
- Area of Honors:
- Finance
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Robert Alexander Novack, Thesis Supervisor
Brian Spangler Davis, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- NFL
National Football League
Franchise Relocations
Metropolitan Economics
Regression Model
Economic Indicators - Abstract:
- This paper aims to determine the impact NFL franchise relocations have on the economies of both their new and former host cities, as well as the influence key economic and team-dependent variables play in these events. Overall, the goal is to build a regression model that analyzes the statistical significance of key variables against per capita income throughout a relocation event. The directionality and magnitude of any variables deemed significant were then further analyzed by determining the variable’s linear relationship with change in per capita income growth following relocation. The scope of analysis was defined as the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of the city in question and was limited to a seven year period for each case, including the relocation year and the three years immediately before and after. Data was collected from a variety of sources, including the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and various official team and league websites. Ultimately, It was determined NFL franchise relocations do have a statistically significant impact on per capita income, with franchise departures being economically beneficial and franchise additions being economically adverse. The magnitude of this impact was influenced by the relative success of the departing franchise and a “dilution effect” based on the number of other professional franchises present in the MSA.