University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research 2016 The aM rquee effect : a study of the effect of designated players on revenue and performance in major league soccer Hannah Holub Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Holub, Hannah, "The aM rquee effect : a study of the effect of designated players on revenue and performance in major league soccer" (2016). Honors Theses. Paper 849. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Marquee Effect: A Study of the Effect of Designated Players on Revenue and Performance in Major League Soccer by Hannah Holub Honors Thesis Submitted to Department of Economics University of Richmond Richmond, VA April 28, 2016 Advisor: Dr. Jim Monks 1 Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Literature Review 7 III. Theoretical Model 12 IV. Econometric Models and Methods 16 V. Data 22 VI. Results 23 VII. Robustness 28 VIII. Conclusion 31 IX. Appendix 34 X. References 50 2 Introduction Since its formation in 1994 Major League Soccer (MLS) has slowly been gaining the momentum to reach a level of recognition similar to that of the top four sports leagues in the United States – the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball. Major League Soccer (MLS) is the top tier professional soccer league in the United States, one of only two leagues to reach that status and the only soccer league to sustain long term success.1 Made up of nineteen teams across the United States and Canada, the MLS is structured much differently than the other leagues both within the United States and internationally.