Friday, February 11, 2011

Beyond the Game : The Stephen Strasburg Effect


Stephen Strasburg, the man that saved the Washington Nationals. And of course, by saved, I mean made them relevant again. That of course until Bryce Harper came into the picture. The Nationals need to make money, because not only are they a business, but they spend a lot of money , more than they should. Regardless, they picked up an amazing pitcher who was going to get them into the playoffs. The sad things is that most teams that are bad really struggle to get out. However, the Nationals can afford a few loses with the change in attendance from this guy.

Below is a bar chart of the games Strasburg appeared in.

A few things to note about this. At the end, Strasburg was injured, so a lot of fans werent interested in coming if he wasnt going to pitching. Another note is that the Phillies always sell close to capacity, so it is hard for any given factor to increase attendance.

Attendance increase on average 38% when Strasburg came pitched. So although he is injured and may never play another game, it did show to the nationals that the city will come if you put great players on the mound!

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