| Abstract: |
This paper examines the demand for hockey game trips among metropolitan and
non-metropolitan residents of Alberta, Canada. Using data on both revealed and
stated preference game trip behaviour from a telephone survey conducted
throughout Alberta, we estimate the effect of ticket prices, team quality,
arena amenities, and capacity on the latent demand for NHL hockey. We find
that lower ticket prices, higher team quality and additional capacity
encourage attendance. The base case consumer surplus per game is $50 for those
who had attended hockey games and about 50% less for those who had not
attended games. Exploiting the stated preference data, we develop a number of
other consumer surplus estimates. We also include travel costs in the
estimation of the demand function and estimate the full value of the game trip
considering both ticket prices and travel costs. Sold out arenas in Calgary
and Edmonton generate annual consumption benefits of $40 and $35 million.
Considering the full price consumer surplus for the Calgary Flames of $103 per
game trip, the annual consumption benefits may be as high as $82 million. Key
Words: Hockey demand, revealed preference, stated preference, consumer surplus |