This article uses television ratings from the 2006 and 2007 National Football League (NFL) seasons to estimate viewer demand in large markets without local teams. The factors that are found to be statistically significant and positively related determinants of television ratings are: team...

Previous research estimating demand for sporting events has focused largely on professional baseball and European football (soccer), using attendance as a proxy of demand. This article estimates demand for National Football League games using television broadcast ratings, permitting the...