Paul Skenes led his college team to a national championship, was the top overall draft pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023, and had an exceptional start to his Major League career. This article estimates a model of Pirates’ attendance over the 2022–2025 seasons. The results show a substantial increase in attendance for games Skenes starts. The results also indicate that bobblehead giveaways have large positive effects on attendance, but that LGBT “Pride Nights” have large negative effects on attendance.
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Koch et al. (2026) studied this question.
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