Sports Economics, Management and Policy – serie

Soccer has become "big business." The aggregated market value of the first and second division teams from the "Big 5" European Leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) is nearly €12 billion. Using systematic and anecdotal evidence from the "Big 5" and additional evidence from other European and some of the South American Leagues (Brazil and Argentina), this book explores the development of soccer as the world’s most important team sport and addresses competitive balance across the a large number of leagues. The book also provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the market for players, coaches and referees as well as the demand for soccer, both on TV, at the gate, and in the betting office. Finally, the economic implications of pertinent recent problems, such as hooliganism and racism, are addressed.Most of the discussion about player salaries, head coach dismissals, stadium subsidies, ticket prices and TV contracts is not very well informed andis based on prejudices. Assembling and interpreting the relevant and available information from an economic viewpoint provides the reader with a fresh new perspective on those subjects. Econometric evidence is presented in the form of graphs and figures instead of regression coefficients and is supplemented by anecdotal evidence. "Economic jargon" will be limited to a minimum in order to give readers a more intuitive understanding of the material.

This book focuses on the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to Major League Baseball (MLB). DEA is a nonparametric linear programming model that is used across academic disciplines. In sports economics, authors have applied the technique primarily to assess team and/or managerial efficiency. The basis for performance analysis is economic production theory, where it is assumed that baseball can be viewed as a production process whereby inputs (player quality measures) are transformed into outputs (wins, attendance). The primary advantage that DEA has over more traditional regression based approaches is the ability to handle multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Further, the approach is nonparametric and hence, does not require a priori specification of the production function.The book develops the theory of DEA in the context of a production environment. A focal point is the assessment of technical and cost efficiency of MLB teams. It is shown that previous frontier applications that measure efficiency provide biased results given that the outcome of a game is zero-sum. If a team loses a game due to inefficiency, another team wins a lost game. A corrected frontier is presented to overcome this problem. Free agent salary arbitration is analyzed using a dual DEA model. Each free agent's contract zone is identified. The upper and lower bounds, representing the player's and team's perspective of value, respectively, are estimated. Player performance is estimated using a modified DEA model to rank order players based on multiple attributes. This model will be used to evaluate current Hall of Fame players. We provide arguments for other players who are deserving of membership. We also use our measure of performance and evaluate age-performance profilers for many ball players. Regression analysis is used to identify the age of peak performance. The method is used to evaluate some of the all-time greats. We also use the method to analyze admitted and implicated steroid users. The results clearly show that performance was enhanced. This book will provide appropriate theoretical models with methodological considerations and interesting empirical analyses and is intended to serve academics and practitioners interested in applying DEA to baseball as well as other sports or production processes.>

This book lays down a marker as to the state of economists’ understanding of the National Football League (NFL) by assembling sophisticated, critical surveys of by leading sports economists on major topics associated with the league.  The book is divided into four parts.  The first three chapters in Part I provide an overview of the business of the NFL from an economist’s perspective.  Part II is a collection of surveys of the economics of the NFL’s most important revenue streams, including media, attendance, and merchandising.  The NFL’s labor economics is the focus of Part III, with chapters on player and coach labor markets, the draft, and contract structure.  Part IV includes essays on competitive balance, gambling, economic impacts of the Super Bowl, behavioral economic issues associated with the league, and antitrust issues.  This book will appeal to sports economists, sports management professionals, and policy-makers, and would be useful as a supplementary text for sports economics and management courses as well as a reference text.

Sporting contests have provided mass entertainment throughout history, and today generate revenues of approximately $200 billion annually in the US alone.  Like in the entertainment industry, the modern sports industry’s revenues are based on the entertainment value of output and more entertaining sporting contests imply greater game-day attendance, television revenues and sales of merchandise. Research by economists has attempted to understand and explain behavior as it relates to sporting contests, showing that standard microeconomic theory used to explain consumer and producer behavior can also be applied to the behavior of fans, team owners, league executives and players. One commonality among many ancient and modern sports is the existence of violence and aggression in contests. Compare, for example, a modern NASCAR race with a Roman chariot race: Only the technology has changed. From the perspective of an economist, violence in sporting contests is an outcome of the forces of supply and demand, and the phenomenon exists because fans respond to it.  Spectator preferences for violence bid up the monetary return to this behavior, and the rational response is a more violent or aggressive output.  The optimum level of violent or aggressive play in sporting contests is an empirical issue and this book contains chapters on violence and aggression in sports, concentrating on the reasons for the existence and persistence of such behavior.  Following a chapter devoted to the history of violence and aggression in sports, subsequent chapters are designed to cover the breadth of international professional sports including American football, soccer, ice hockey, basketball, baseball, auto racing, and fighting sports. Each chapter will contain econometric analysis of violence and aggressiveplay in a given sport. The individual chapters will examine whether or not a given sports league or governing body should intervene to reduce violence, and where intervention is warranted, extent of appropriate interventions is evaluated.  In addition to academics and students concerned with the economics and history of sport, the book’s emphasis on policies at the league and governing-body levels means this book will also be of interest representatives of those institutions..

This book focuses on the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to Major League Baseball (MLB). DEA is a nonparametric linear programming model that is used across academic disciplines. In sports economics, authors have applied the technique primarily to assess team and/or managerial efficiency. The basis for performance analysis is economic production theory, where it is assumed that baseball can be viewed as a production process whereby inputs (player quality measures) are transformed into outputs (wins, attendance). The primary advantage that DEA has over more traditional regression based approaches is the ability to handle multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Further, the approach is nonparametric and hence, does not require a priori specification of the production function.The book develops the theory of DEA in the context of a production environment. A focal point is the assessment of technical and cost efficiency of MLB teams. It is shown that previous frontier applications that measure efficiency provide biased results given that the outcome of a game is zero-sum. If a team loses a game due to inefficiency, another team wins a lost game. A corrected frontier is presented to overcome this problem. Free agent salary arbitration is analyzed using a dual DEA model. Each free agent's contract zone is identified. The upper and lower bounds, representing the player's and team's perspective of value, respectively, are estimated. Player performance is estimated using a modified DEA model to rank order players based on multiple attributes. This model will be used to evaluate current Hall of Fame players. We provide arguments for other players who are deserving of membership. We also use our measure of performance and evaluate age-performance profilers for many ball players. Regression analysis is used to identify the age of peak performance. The method is used to evaluate some of the all-time greats. We also use the method to analyze admitted and implicated steroid users. The results clearly show that performance was enhanced. This book will provide appropriate theoretical models with methodological considerations and interesting empirical analyses and is intended to serve academics and practitioners interested in applying DEA to baseball as well as other sports or production processes.>

Sporting contests have provided mass entertainment throughout history, and today generate revenues of approximately $200 billion annually in the US alone.  Like in the entertainment industry, the modern sports industry’s revenues are based on the entertainment value of output and more entertaining sporting contests imply greater game-day attendance, television revenues and sales of merchandise. Research by economists has attempted to understand and explain behavior as it relates to sporting contests, showing that standard microeconomic theory used to explain consumer and producer behavior can also be applied to the behavior of fans, team owners, league executives and players. One commonality among many ancient and modern sports is the existence of violence and aggression in contests. Compare, for example, a modern NASCAR race with a Roman chariot race: Only the technology has changed. From the perspective of an economist, violence in sporting contests is an outcome of the forces of supply and demand, and the phenomenon exists because fans respond to it.  Spectator preferences for violence bid up the monetary return to this behavior, and the rational response is a more violent or aggressive output.  The optimum level of violent or aggressive play in sporting contests is an empirical issue and this book contains chapters on violence and aggression in sports, concentrating on the reasons for the existence and persistence of such behavior.  Following a chapter devoted to the history of violence and aggression in sports, subsequent chapters are designed to cover the breadth of international professional sports including American football, soccer, ice hockey, basketball, baseball, auto racing, and fighting sports. Each chapter will contain econometric analysis of violence and aggressiveplay in a given sport. The individual chapters will examine whether or not a given sports league or governing body should intervene to reduce violence, and where intervention is warranted, extent of appropriate interventions is evaluated.  In addition to academics and students concerned with the economics and history of sport, the book’s emphasis on policies at the league and governing-body levels means this book will also be of interest representatives of those institutions..

A number of clubs in professional sports leagues exhibit winning streaks over a number of consecutive seasons that do not conform to the standard economic model of a professional sports league developed by El Hodiri and Quirk (1994) and Fort and Quirk (1995).

The aim of this book is to provide an overview of perspectives and approaches to sports development focusing on sport systems, sport participation and public policy towards sports. It includes twelve European countries covering all regions of Europe and eleven countries from around the globe. The objective is to present an overview of the diversity of approaches taken to sport development, focusing on the different sport systems and how sport is financed, the underlying applications of sport policy and how it is reflected in sport participation. This book takes a comparative approach which is reflected in each chapter following a similar structure. The diversity of sports systems in Europe and other continents and their (historical) context is shown. Thereby a range of policy approaches underpinning sport development around the world are presented, making it of interest to both academics and policy-makers concerned with sports economics and policy.

In 2012, over four billion people tuned in to watch the London Summer Olympics. As the single largest mega-event in the world, the Olympics has the power to captivate the global imagination. Long before athletes vie for a gold medal, however, competition between cities eager to host the Games kicks off with a rigorous bid process. The lengthy and expensive endeavor to host the Olympics is as high-stakes as any sporting event. Rather than encouraging cities to refrain from bidding, Bidding for Development takes a policy approach that challenges stakeholders to bid responsibly and strategically in pursuit of concrete outcomes. Every bid city has the potential to accelerate long-term transportation development through a strategic and robust planning process. This book concentrates on the phenomenon of repeat Olympic bids and the opportunities that may come from bidding, particularly for those cities that never win the Games. In this context, Bidding for Development explores the intersection between transportation infrastructure development, the Olympic bid process, and the resulting legacies experienced by bid losers. The findings address the central question: how can participating in the Olympic bid process accelerate transportation development regardless of the bid result? In response, this book presents a Bid Framework outlining how and when cities may use the bid to unite resources, align transportation priorities, and empower leaders to achieve urban development objectives in preparation for the Olympic bid. The Bid Framework is then applied to two case studies, Manchester and Istanbul, to examine each bid loser's effectiveness in using the bid process to catalyze transportation development. Concurrently, the book takes into consideration how the International Olympic Committee’s evolving bid regulations and requirements relate to urban development and positive social legacy. Bidding for Development delivers actionable recommendations for all Olympic stakeholders to improve the value of the bid process and transportation benefits beyond the Games.

This book explores the unique relationships between professional baseball teams and the unique ways professional baseball leagues are organized in North America with a primary focus on how proximity can and does impact consumer demand. Perhaps more than any other matter that arises in the business of baseball, proximity to other professional baseball teams is a concern that has uniquely shaped professional baseball leagues in North America.  It is this particular component in how professional baseball leagues are organized that suggests building a proximity-based approach to studying the economics of minor league baseball.  This book opens up new ways to study minor league baseball, specifically, and sports leagues more generally.  So even as advanced technology has eliminated some of the need for fans to be in close proximity to the teams they love to follow, there is still a need to understand more completely how proximity matters can impact the way professional baseball leagues are structured and how that structure can ultimately impact the quality of the games that entertain sports fans everywhere.  This book will be of interest to both sports economists and practitioners.

This book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to analyzing the nature of ‘competition’ and ‘competitive advantage’ within the U.S. pro sport industry. By many measures, the four major pro sports leagues in the U.S. – the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB) – are now some of the most successful business entities in the country. While these established leagues have generally been highly profitable throughout their respective existences, the past two decades have been particularly lucrative, with franchise values in all four leagues growing rapidly, and at levels well beyond market rates of return. Within this context, the book seeks to explore the nature of the competitive advantage that these leagues apparently possess. The purpose is to identify not only how these leagues have been able to get to where they are today, but also to examine the competitive threats and opportunities that these leagues face as they move forward. A key contribution of the book is that it analyzes these issues from a multi-disciplinary approach including a traditional economics perspective, public policy and public choice theory and strategic management, to provide a parallel explanation for the success of each of the four major leagues. It argues that no single conceptual approach can, in itself, adequately explain the full richness of the issue. Its stresses that these various approaches should generally be viewed as complements, rather than as being mutually exclusive, and that a full understanding of the issue requires one to adopt a multi-disciplinary perspective, making it of interest to scholars in strategic management, sport management, and economics. It can serve as an effective teaching tool in both graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses for students in these fields, and is particularly useful for faculties seeking to emphasize to their students theimportance of a multi-disciplinary, integrative, approach when analyzing business and management issues. The book may also be of interest to leaders within the sport industry itself, and will help to provide insight and perspective as leagues seek to enhance their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

This book lays down a marker as to the state of economists’ understanding of the National Football League (NFL) by assembling sophisticated, critical surveys of by leading sports economists on major topics associated with the league.  The book is divided into four parts.  The first three chapters in Part I provide an overview of the business of the NFL from an economist’s perspective.  Part II is a collection of surveys of the economics of the NFL’s most important revenue streams, including media, attendance, and merchandising.  The NFL’s labor economics is the focus of Part III, with chapters on player and coach labor markets, the draft, and contract structure.  Part IV includes essays on competitive balance, gambling, economic impacts of the Super Bowl, behavioral economic issues associated with the league, and antitrust issues.  This book will appeal to sports economists, sports management professionals, and policy-makers, and would be useful as a supplementary text for sports economics and management courses as well as a reference text.

By many measures, the four major pro sports leagues in the U.S. – the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB) – are now some of the most successful business entities in the country.

In 2012, over four billion people tuned in to watch the London Summer Olympics. As the single largest mega-event in the world, the Olympics has the power to captivate the global imagination. Long before athletes vie for a gold medal, however, competition between cities eager to host the Games kicks off with a rigorous bid process. The lengthy and expensive endeavor to host the Olympics is as high-stakes as any sporting event. Rather than encouraging cities to refrain from bidding, Bidding for Development takes a policy approach that challenges stakeholders to bid responsibly and strategically in pursuit of concrete outcomes. Every bid city has the potential to accelerate long-term transportation development through a strategic and robust planning process. This book concentrates on the phenomenon of repeat Olympic bids and the opportunities that may come from bidding, particularly for those cities that never win the Games. In this context, Bidding for Development explores the intersection between transportation infrastructure development, the Olympic bid process, and the resulting legacies experienced by bid losers. The findings address the central question: how can participating in the Olympic bid process accelerate transportation development regardless of the bid result? In response, this book presents a Bid Framework outlining how and when cities may use the bid to unite resources, align transportation priorities, and empower leaders to achieve urban development objectives in preparation for the Olympic bid. The Bid Framework is then applied to two case studies, Manchester and Istanbul, to examine each bid loser's effectiveness in using the bid process to catalyze transportation development. Concurrently, the book takes into consideration how the International Olympic Committee’s evolving bid regulations and requirements relate to urban development and positive social legacy. Bidding for Development delivers actionable recommendations for all Olympic stakeholders to improve the value of the bid process and transportation benefits beyond the Games.

A number of clubs in professional sports leagues exhibit winning streaks over a number of consecutive seasons that do not conform to the standard economic model of a professional sports league developed by El Hodiri and Quirk (1994) and Fort and Quirk (1995).

This book explores the unique relationships between professional baseball teams and the unique ways professional baseball leagues are organized in North America with a primary focus on how proximity can and does impact consumer demand. Perhaps more than any other matter that arises in the business of baseball, proximity to other professional baseball teams is a concern that has uniquely shaped professional baseball leagues in North America.  It is this particular component in how professional baseball leagues are organized that suggests building a proximity-based approach to studying the economics of minor league baseball.  This book opens up new ways to study minor league baseball, specifically, and sports leagues more generally.  So even as advanced technology has eliminated some of the need for fans to be in close proximity to the teams they love to follow, there is still a need to understand more completely how proximity matters can impact the way professional baseball leagues are structured and how that structure can ultimately impact the quality of the games that entertain sports fans everywhere.  This book will be of interest to both sports economists and practitioners.

The aim of this book is to provide an overview of perspectives and approaches to sports development focusing on sport systems, sport participation and public policy towards sports. It includes twelve European countries covering all regions of Europe and eleven countries from around the globe. The objective is to present an overview of the diversity of approaches taken to sport development, focusing on the different sport systems and how sport is financed, the underlying applications of sport policy and how it is reflected in sport participation. This book takes a comparative approach which is reflected in each chapter following a similar structure. The diversity of sports systems in Europe and other continents and their (historical) context is shown. Thereby a range of policy approaches underpinning sport development around the world are presented, making it of interest to both academics and policy-makers concerned with sports economics and policy.

This book provides an overview of perspectives and approaches to the cultural meaning of sport volunteering in different countries. The main objective is to reflect on the diversity of meanings with regard to volunteering in different cultures and societies. Additionally, this book will shed light on volunteering practices and the impact of volunteering from both an economic and a sociological perspective.The book begins with an introductory section that gives an overview of the rationale of the text and the diversity of sport volunteers in general. From there, the book's 25 chapters each discuss a specific country case study provided by researchers from the respective country.  These studies provide a comprehensive overview of volunteering in each country, such as motivations of volunteers, satisfaction of volunteers, their perceived cost and benefits, and many other areas related to the overall study.  By having twenty-five different countries represented and a native of each country authoring the respective chapters, this book serves as a comprehensive and diverse review of sports volunteering around the world and can be incorporated into courses in economics - particularly those dealing with sports economics -  and can also be used as a reference for volunteer organizations and sports economists worldwide.

This book takes a closer look at the societal functions of sports clubs by using the broad range of empirical data of a comparative study. There is a limited amount of up-to-date knowledge on the functions of sports clubs and their potential to promote public health, social cohesion and democratic participation through volunteering and thus contribute to public welfare in European societies. Most of the existing studies are country-specific and therefore do not allow for making comparisons from a cross-national perspective. In light of this, the project ‘Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe’ (SIVSCE) collected, analysed and discussed comparable data and knowledge across ten European countries and disseminated this knowledge to politicians, sports professionals and sports volunteers in Europe.The SIVSCE project contains comparative data of clubs as well as of members in selected sports clubs. In each country chapter, the comparative data from the SIVSCE project is put together in a coherent way. Particularly, the data of the member survey give in-depth information about the fulfillment of the different functions of sports clubs (e.g. extension of democratic participation, social integration). Providing in-depth data related to policy issues, structure and management of clubs and individual member surveys, this book will be useful for students―particularly those in sports management programmes―as well as researchers and practitioners in social science and economics.

This book takes a closer look at the societal functions of sports clubs by using the broad range of empirical data of a comparative study. There is a limited amount of up-to-date knowledge on the functions of sports clubs and their potential to promote public health, social cohesion and democratic participation through volunteering and thus contribute to public welfare in European societies. Most of the existing studies are country-specific and therefore do not allow for making comparisons from a cross-national perspective. In light of this, the project ‘Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe’ (SIVSCE) collected, analysed and discussed comparable data and knowledge across ten European countries and disseminated this knowledge to politicians, sports professionals and sports volunteers in Europe.The SIVSCE project contains comparative data of clubs as well as of members in selected sports clubs. In each country chapter, the comparative data from the SIVSCE project is put together in a coherent way. Particularly, the data of the member survey give in-depth information about the fulfillment of the different functions of sports clubs (e.g. extension of democratic participation, social integration). Providing in-depth data related to policy issues, structure and management of clubs and individual member surveys, this book will be useful for students―particularly those in sports management programmes―as well as researchers and practitioners in social science and economics.

This book will be of interest to those studying sports economics, sports management, or applied microeconomic theory as well as professionals in the sports field: sports managers, agents, media experts, coaches, athletic directors and development leaders.

This book will be of interest to those studying sports economics, sports management, or applied microeconomic theory as well as professionals in the sports field: sports managers, agents, media experts, coaches, athletic directors and development leaders.

This book outlines the impacts of small scale sport tourism events on local sustainable development in different countries. Using half marathons organized in small and medium sized cities as an example, the chapters are robust case studies, applying a unified methodology in order to provide a clear overview of the sport tourism system in each country. The book begins with a description of the methodologies used and an overview of the countries studied. The country chapters focus on several dimensions of sport tourism in each city, including but not limited to the history of past sport tourism events in the municipality, the characteristics of the city hosting the event, the demographic profile of participants in the event, and the quantifiable economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts of the event. Each chapter concludes with analysis and policy recommendations for holding future events that contribute to local sustainable development. The book concludes by summarizing and comparing the main results across different countries, and presenting main conclusions and overarching recommendations.Written by international experts in sports tourism, this book is geared towards academic researchers and students, interested in sport tourism, sports economics, management, and sustainable development, as well as policy makers and professionals tasked with bringing such events to their cities.

This book outlines the impacts of small scale sport tourism events on local sustainable development in different countries. Using half marathons organized in small and medium sized cities as an example, the chapters are robust case studies, applying a unified methodology in order to provide a clear overview of the sport tourism system in each country. The book begins with a description of the methodologies used and an overview of the countries studied. The country chapters focus on several dimensions of sport tourism in each city, including but not limited to the history of past sport tourism events in the municipality, the characteristics of the city hosting the event, the demographic profile of participants in the event, and the quantifiable economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts of the event. Each chapter concludes with analysis and policy recommendations for holding future events that contribute to local sustainable development. The book concludes by summarizing and comparing the main results across different countries, and presenting main conclusions and overarching recommendations.Written by international experts in sports tourism, this book is geared towards academic researchers and students, interested in sport tourism, sports economics, management, and sustainable development, as well as policy makers and professionals tasked with bringing such events to their cities.

By discussing the existing research and complementing it with the newest concepts, ideas and data on professional road cycling, this book sets an agenda for further academic research while providing insights for all stakeholders in cycling: governments, cycling's governing bodies, team managers, race organizers, sponsors, media.

This volume brings together current academic research and knowledge on the economics and management of professional road cycling. Each chapter treats a particular economic aspect of the sport, from organizational structure to marketing, finance, media coverage, labor, strategic behavior, and competitive balance. By discussing the existing research and complementing it with the newest concepts, ideas and data on professional road cycling, this book sets an agenda for further academic research while providing insights for all stakeholders in cycling: governments, cycling's governing bodies, team managers, race organizers, sponsors, media. Furthermore, the unique characteristics of the sport of cycling explored within this text inform broader management and industrial organization research, as they extend analyses of team labor, broadcast revenue generation, and sponsorship financing models.  Revised and updated for the second edition, this volume includes new chapterson women’s professional road cycling, the economic impact of hosting major cycling events, and the willingness to pay for professional road cycling events. This book is equally of interest to academic researchers, students studying sports economics, and policy makers, such as race organizers, team managers, and sponsors.

In Major League Sports and the Property Tax, Geoffrey Propheter thoroughly examines the common practice of removing sports venues from local tax rolls, which results in millions of dollars in forgone tax revenue that is often not reported in the public accounting of costs.

In Major League Sports and the Property Tax, Geoffrey Propheter thoroughly examines the common practice of removing sports venues from local tax rolls, which results in millions of dollars in forgone tax revenue that is often not reported in the public accounting of costs.

This edited volume discusses the economic impact of sports facilities, franchises, and events on local economies. Written in honor of Robert Baade upon his retirement, the book provides a state-of-the-art of current research on the economic impact of sports, and recognizes the seminal contributions that Dr. Baade has made to this topic.The analysis of the economic impact of spectator sports is a vital public policy topic as $75 billion has been spent on stadium construction since 1990 in the US alone, with nearly $35 billion of this coming from taxpayer subsidies. True public cost of sports franchises is much higher than this as this figure excludes facilities outside the Big 5 domestic leagues (like NASCAR track, NCAA facilities, minor league baseball, and the Canadian Football Leagues), public subsidies for major events like the Super Bowl or Olympic Games, and excludes sports subsidies outside of direct stadium construction subsidies.Including contributions from many of the most notable researchers studying the economic impact of sports, topics include impacts of stadiums and franchises on local economies, labor markets, and tax collections, the effect of sports franchises on property values, and changes in the public and academic discourse on sports subsidies over time. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students of sports economics, management, public policy, and public finance.