The demand for cricket: the case of the John Player League

Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate attendance functions (1976 and 1977) for the John Player League, one of the one-day competitions in English top-class cricket. Likely determinants of attendance are grouped according to whether they are economic, locational, team performance, player attraction, seasonal and residual preference factors. The results suggest implications for the management of the game in respect of pricing strategy, scheduling, the structure of competition, player qualification rules, payment scales and television policy.