May increasing doping sanctions discourage entry to the competition?

This article shows that under certain circumstances, an increase in doping sanctions can decrease the number of participants in the competition. The model, which is based on a work of Haugen, is formulated as a two-stage game in which agents first decide whether to participate in a competition and second whether to use an illicit but effective drug when competing. If initially low sanctions are increased but do not prevent a certain overall level of doping, then the payoff for all athletes is reduced, which, in turn, reduces their willingness to participate in the competition.