March 18, 2013 -
PRLog -- Previous research in the realm of professional sports has largely embraced the team sport context, to the exclusion of individualistic sports. To address this we examine the rise in popularity of an individualistic sport, mixed martial arts--arguably the world’s fastest growing sport. This study used generalized linear models to estimate demand for UFC pay-per-view purchases. Among the significant factors in determining pay-per-view demand is a complement of fighter characteristics including weight class, star fighter status and appearance on the popular reality television series
The Ultimate Fighter. Moreover, our measures of outcome uncertainty tailored for the individualistic sport setting support fan preference for match uncertainty as well as increased interest in fight cards featuring longer-tenured champions. We posit that decreased interest in certain individualistic sports may be attributable in part to intricate ranking schemes lacking true championship matches and discuss how the centrality of fan identification in sports should dictate divergent emphases in media promotions and programming choices in the individualistic and team sport contexts.
Authors: Scott Tainsky, University of Illinois; Steven Salaga, Florida Institute of Technology; Carla Almeida Sangos, University of Illinois
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