Catching a draft: on the process of selecting quarterbacks in the National Football League amateur draft

The reverse order college draft gives the worst teams in the National Football League (NFL) the opportunity to hire the best amateur talent. For it to work effectively, teams must be able to identify the “best” talent. Our study of NFL quarterbacks highlights problems with the draft process. We find only a weak correlation between teams’ evaluations on draft day and subsequent quarterback performance in the NFL. Moreover, many of the factors that enhance a quarterback’s draft position are unrelated to future NFL performance. Our analysis highlights the difficulties in evaluating workers in the uncertain environment of professional sports.     

An Application of the Capability Maturity Model for Evaluating Attraction Websites in Mainland China

This paper extends the applicability of the Capability Maturity Model to attraction website evaluation. Based on input by 120 respondents from four groups, including tourists, tourism academics, attraction managers, and IT professionals in Mainland China, an attraction website maturity model (AWMM) with six key performance areas and 48 key criteria was developed. To validate the applicability of the model, the AWMM was used to evaluate 357 websites of 4A‐level attractions in Mainland China. Empirical findings revealed that the development of the China's attraction websites was at an infancy stage, while eCommerce in China has been adopted rapidly. Major improvements are required in relation to the interaction and commerce functions of these websites. Implications of the results of such improvements, as well as future research, are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Uncertainty of Outcome or Star Quality? Television Audience Demand for English Premier League Football

This paper presents new evidence on the relevance of uncertainty of outcome for demand for sports viewing. Using television viewing figures for eight seasons from the English Premier League, we show that uncertainty of outcome does not have the hypothesised effect on television audience demand. Separating uncertainty of outcome effects by season, the results show that, at best, uncertainty of outcome had imprecise effects on audiences in earlier seasons, but zero effects in later seasons. Television audiences have evolved to exhibit preferences for talent. We suggest that the notion of a pure sporting contest in which uncertainty of outcome matters is no longer relevant and more important is the extent to which sports teams and leagues can increase the quality of the talent on show.