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This paper investigates the elements of fighter performance that lead an MMA bout to be considered the "best" of the night, using data on UFC Fight of the Night bonus award decisions over 15 years of events. Promoter preferences toward particular bout positions on the event card are also examined as well as the influence of crowds due to the exogenous shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest a meaningful difference between performance factors that generate entertainment value relative to those that tend to score points with the judges. They are also supportive of behavioral influences such as recency bias and crowd effects on promoter decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of past performance evaluations on future decisions involving judgment. I analyze the decisions of highly skilled and highly monitored referees regarding offensive fouls and violations in the National Basketball Association. After testing for equilibrium adjustments in player behavior, findings support a hypothesis of increased referee scrutiny on one team following a potentially questionable call on the opposing team. Results are inconclusive for subsequent changes in scrutiny toward the original violating team. The analysis provides a nonexperimental test of sequential bias on elite employees working under strict performance standards, and suggests a likely role for sequential judgment effects in other areas of economic activity. (JEL D03, L83, J44, M59), I. INTRODUCTION Many areas of economic activity involve an evaluator who must make subjective judgments. Often these judgments are made sequentially toward different individuals, with the intent that each judgment [...]

Comment on "Moving the Needle in MMA: On the Marginal Revenue Product of UFC Fighters" Antitrust, marginal revenue product, mixed martial arts (MMA), pay-per-view, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 5 Caves et al. mention the UFC's five-year, $1.5 billion deal with ESPN, but that particular agreement maintained variable content revenues for PPV main cards and also fell outside the sample period of my study: January 1, 2006 through March 3, 2018 ([5]). Keywords: antitrust; marginal revenue product; mixed martial arts (MMA); pay-per-view; Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) EN antitrust marginal revenue product mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 366 373 8 03/02/22 20220401 NES 220401 Caves, Tatos, and Urschel (Caves et al.) emphasize that I declined to share my dataset, but the context of that decision warrants further elaboration. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyzes fighter marginal products (MP) and marginal revenue products (MRP) for the largest component of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) revenues: content. Most bouts are fought in the presence of fixed content revenues, and most fighters go their entire careers without supplying labor services for variable revenue pay-per-view (PPV) main cards. After demonstrating that winning does not sufficiently explain variation in PPV buys, I estimate fighter MP and MRP using U.S. consumer search activity from Google Trends as a proxy for fighter popularity. Results suggest that a sizable percentage of UFC fighters generated little to no MRP, while a small number of PPV main card fighters were responsible for 75% of aggregate MRP. Other PPV main card fighters who did not drive the majority of MRP appeared to generate more than some compensation estimates. An apparent decline over time in the UFC's inframarginal consumer base is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates various types of bias and favoritism that may be present in the performance evaluations of state-licensed and state-selected judges for mixed martial arts (MMA) events. Using detailed fighter performance statistics collected from after-the-fact video analysis, I investigate live, round-by-round judging decisions for major MMA events held in Nevada and California from 2001 to 2012. Findings do not support hypotheses that judge favor titleholders or disfavor fighters given point deductions but do support bias toward larger betting favorites, those with insurmountable leads, and the fighter who won the previous round. Findings provide nonexperimental support for possible biases in a relatively opaque decision environment involving substantial complexity. The results also have strategic implications for MMA fighters and coaches as well as certified judge trainers the athletic commissions that license and oversee the judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the vast number of observations in a transparent environment, the interaction between players and referees in the National Basketball Association (NBA) provides a real-world laboratory that allows for observation and testing of implicit height-based biases (the so-called “Napoleon Complex”). Controlling for a plethora of referee-specific characteristics and including 4,463 regular season games from 2008 to 2012, we find that (i) more personal fouls are called when a relatively shorter three-person officiating crew is working and (ii) no more or fewer fouls are called when games involve relatively taller players. Such biases are probably not large enough to impact game outcomes but could affect gambling markets. Our findings support the conclusion that relatively shorter NBA referees officiate basketball games differently than their taller peers. The analysis spotlights an oft-suggested but rarely studied bias in a workplace where employees are heavily scrutinized and monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February of 2009 and 2010, President Obama made what some in the media and gaming industries construed as negative public statements regarding trips to Las Vegas. Some claimed these statements could easily be interpreted as a suggestion that companies and individuals avoid casino areas, thus doing additional harm to their surrounding economies during already tough times. In this paper, we use event study methodology to examine stock market reactions ofU.S. casino-related businesses to the president's statements. We find that President Obama's statements were followed by significant negative abnormal returns in the segment of companies targeted more towards conventions, trade shows, and tourism, and by significant positive abnormal returns for companies with more of a local/regional focus. Our findings suggest that the president's statements did not adversely affect all casino-related businesses, but they also were not benign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]