320 ◾ Sports Finance and Management
When teams in the same league leave an area, there is a very slight eect on
attendance; the remaining franchise, on average, had a 2-percent increase in atten-
dance. Removing the Raiders to blunt the eect of the 1982 season and the use of
replacement players, the increase jumps to 7 percent. ere are too few examples
to make a strong claim, but it does appear that reducing the competition elevates
attendance. Table9.7 shows this same eect when the team leaving is from another
league (sport).
Again there are only a few examples of teams leaving within the past 10 years,
but there does appear to be a slight boost when teams leave, even if they are in
a dierent league. It should be noted, however, that ...