Official Journal of NASSM www.JSM-Journal.com ARTICLE 356 Journal of Sport Management, 2014, 28, 356-375 http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2013-0133 © 2014 Human Kinetics, Inc. George Foster is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Manage- ment at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Norm O’Reilly is the Richard P. and Joan S. Fox Professor of Management in the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University. Carlos Shimizu and Neal Khosla are with the Graduate School of Management at Stanford University. Ryan Murray is with the School of Human Kinetics (Sport Manage- ment) at the University of Ottawa. Address author correspon- dence to Norman O’Reilly at oreillyn@ohio.edu. Determinants of Regional Sport Network Television Ratings in MLB, NBA, and NHL George Foster Stanford University Norm O’Reilly Ohio University Carlos Shimizu, Neal Khosla Stanford University Ryan Murray University of Ottawa This paper examines the determinants of live game Regional Sport Network (RSN) average annual ratings in three major North American professional sport leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL). A conceptual model of the determinants of club RSN ratings is constructed based on a marketing management framework. Five categories of determinants are identifed: Product-Club, Product-Player, Brand-Club, Brand-Player, and Place. Data were collected over a 12-year period (1999–2011) for a total of 46 independent variables. The list of independent variables was reduced to 16 factors and a proxy variable for each of the factors identifed. Univariate and multivariate analy- ses were undertaken. Strong support for the each of the fve categories in the conceptual model was found for the pooled sample of all three leagues. Results at the individual league level revealed league differences in the relative importance of individual variables. Implications for future research and practice are presented. Keywords: professional sport, RSN television ratings, club management, marketing, product, brand, MLB, NBA, NHL The television ratings of live sports are of high inter- est to many constituents. These include broadcasters, leagues, teams, players, advertisers, sponsors, fans, and marketing agencies. There is regular commentary in the business, broadcast, and sports media about television ratings and the often large differences across sporting leagues, clubs, and games. However, systematic research or analysis of the reasons for these differences is minimal. Although previous research does exist about the determi- nants of TV audiences for sport broadcasts, the available commentary about sporting club ratings differences is often based on anecdotes. Interest in better understanding of rating differences is increasing as sports programming remains one of the few areas of television where high ratings are still occurring on a regular basis. The purpose of this research is to examine the deter- minants of average annual regular season Regional Sport Network (RSN) ratings of United States-based clubs in Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL). The analysis excludes ratings for the Canadian clubs in each league and the National Football League (NFL) who do not telecast games on RSNs.