Can Sports Teams Really Have Momentum?

ESPN commentators will often insist that such-and-such team has such-and-such “momentum,” so really, there’s not much of a question when it comes to tonight’s game.

Behavioral economists have long attempted to figure out whether this clichéd concept that sports fans have long endeared themselves to can actually, statistically, be a predictor of a team or player’s success. …

Kevin M. Kniffin, a researcher at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and his assistant Vince Mihalek, a recent graduate and four-year player on the school’s hockey team, have added yet another entry into the empirical sports momentum literature by analyzing the results of 458 collegiate two-game hockey series (916 games total) played in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). CONT.

Ryan Jacobs, Pacific Standard

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