Monday, October 11, 2010: 5:20 PM
The number of fans who chose to rate games on NFL.com is investigated to explore its determinants. Fans who take the time to go to the official league website and rate NFL games may represent high-demanders for the NFL, who could be more likely to purchase web-related content, NFL merchandise, etc. The margin of victory and combined score of both teams are shown to be significant determinants of the number of people ranking the game. This is useful information, as we observe that fans enjoy close games and high-scoring, but these attributes are known only after the game is actually played. Through information available in the NFL gambling (prediction) market, these determinants are also identifiable before the game is played. The number of fans who rated games on NFL.com was shown to be positively correlated with the volume of bets on a given game, suggesting that bettors are attracted to the same games as the NFL.com voters, who appear to be serious fans. The pointspread and total serve as good proxies for the margin of victory and combined points scored in a game, which affect the number of people who visit NFL.com to rate the games.