Inside the NBA Bubble: How Black Players Performed Better without Fans
27 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2022 Last revised: 28 Oct 2022
Date Written: September 1, 2022
Abstract
In the NBA, predominantly Black players play in front of predominantly non-Black fans. Using the 'NBA bubble', a natural experiment induced by COVID-19, we show that the performance of Black players improved significantly with the absence of fans vis-\`a-vis White players. This is consistent with Black athletes being negatively affected by racial pressure from mostly non-Black audiences. We control for player, team, and game fixed-effects, and dispel alternative mechanisms. Beyond hurting individual players, racial pressure causes significant economic damage to NBA teams by lowering the performance of top athletes and the quality of the game.
Keywords: discrimination, harassment, racism, performance, basketball, NBA, COVID-19
JEL Classification: D91, J15, J71, Z22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation