An Analysis of National Hockey League Playoff Games and City-Level Crime Counts

Past research indicates that when professional sports games are played, crime increases. Yet, little is known about how playoff games affect crime. As many criminal events associated with sports games, such as riots, occur during playoff games, this is an important gap in the literature. Using data...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Block, Kristina (Author)
Contributors: Kaplan, Jacob
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Crime & delinquency
Year: 2023, Volume: 69, Issue: 11, Pages: 2194-2217
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:Past research indicates that when professional sports games are played, crime increases. Yet, little is known about how playoff games affect crime. As many criminal events associated with sports games, such as riots, occur during playoff games, this is an important gap in the literature. Using data from 15 National Hockey League (NHL) teams from 2013 through 2019, we examine how assault, disorder, and property crimes change when playoff games are played at home relative to when they are played away. We find that during home games there are 7% more disorder crimes and 4% more property crimes than during away games which suggests that city responses to playoff hockey games should prioritize crime reduction strategies to improve public safety.
ISSN:1552-387X
DOI:10.1177/00111287221118879