NFL Rule Changes Favor Offenses; But Don't Defenses Win Championships?

Author

Kipp Satterlee Ransome, Ursinus CollegeFollow

Submission Date

4-25-2024

Document Type

Paper

Department

Business & Economics

Adviser

Jennifer VanGilder

Committee Member

Amanda Cooper

Committee Member

Sheryl Goodman

Department Chair

Jennifer VanGilder

Project Description

The NFL's emphasis on favoring the offense through implementing new game rules is likely a significant factor in increasing a team's average points per game. Additionally, an increasing average points per game metric is likely a contributing factor to increasing real team revenue, as prior research indicates that higher-scoring games lead to higher fan satisfaction. Using game, team revenue, and rule implementation data from the 2002-2022 seasons, this author tests two new hypotheses that test whether specific rule changes targeting defenses or special teams increase a team’s average points per game and whether an increased points per game metric positively impacts real team revenue. As expected, certain rule changes positively impact average points per game, and an increase in average points per game leads to an increase in real team revenue.

Comments

A data set is included as a supplemental file.

Recommended Citation

Ransome, Kipp Satterlee, "NFL Rule Changes Favor Offenses; But Don't Defenses Win Championships?" (2024). Business and Economics Honors Papers. 55.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/bus_econ_hon/55