Contents for IJSF Issue 5:2
| On the Edge of Your Seat: Demand for Football on Television and the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis, pp. 75-95 Authors: Kevin Alavy, Alison Gaskell, Stephanie Leach, and Stefan Szymanski |
| Abstract:This paper examines the relationship between the demand for English football on television and outcome uncertainty. It tests the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis by using minute-by-minute television viewership figures which avoids the problems encountered when estimating demand using match attendance. We find that although uncertainty matters, it is the progression of the match which drives viewership and as a draw looks increasingly likely, viewers are likely to switch channels. Games that end in victories have a higher average viewership than games that end in stalemates. |
| Does Gender Affect Compensation Among NCAA Basketball Coaches?, pp. 96-106 Authors: Stacy L. Brook and Sarah Foster |
| Abstract:Due to significant salary differences between male and female employees, NCAA institutions have been accused of gender compensation discrimination. However, we hypothesize that some of these compensation differences may be a result of market forces as opposed to overt discrimination. To test this hypothesis, we created a statistical model incorporating variables affecting NCAA school revenues and coaching performance, and use a linear regression to estimate the statistical impact each variable has on compensation. Our empirical findings do not find employer discrimination of NCAA basketball coaches in 2004-2005. |
| An Introduction to Papers from the European Conference in Sports Economics, p. 107 Authors: Wladimir Andreff |
| Abstract:A first European Conference in Sports Economics (ECSE) had been convened at the Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne of the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, September 14-15, 2009. Out of about 60 submitted papers, 32 had been selected and sampled into eight topics and sessions: the economics of professional team sports leagues; economic dimensions of sport participation; sport financing and governance; professional sports and markets; the economic impact of sport mega-events; labor market in professional sports; sport efficiency; and regulation and competitive balance in professional sports leagues. I am grateful, as the conference organizer, to the International Journal of Sport Finance for having called the best papers to be submitted for publication. A few of them applied, of which three have been successfully screened by peer reviewers |
| Private Firm, Public Corporation or Member’s Association Governance Structures in European Football, pp. 108-127 Authors: Egon Franck |
| Abstract:Based on the analysis of the specific environment in which football clubs compete, this paper presents a comparative institutional analysis of three paradigmatic structures of football club governance: privately owned football firms, public football corporations (stock corporations with dispersed ownership) and members’ associations with an own legal personality (Verein). Against the background that “spending power” is the main driver of competitive advantage for clubs in the overinvestment environment of European football, the governance structure of the privately owned football firm exhibits superior abilities to tap sources of funding and channel them into playing talent. The results of the analysis are applied to current developments in German and English football and to recent initiatives of the Football Governing Bodies. |
| The Determinants of Betting Volume for Sports in North America: Evidence of Sports Betting as Consumption in the NBA and NHL, pp. 128-140 Authors: Rodney J. Paul and Andrew P. Weinbach |
| Abstract:The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) are studied to ascertain the determinants of betting volume on an individual game-to-game basis. Actual betting volume was obtained and aggregated across three on-line sportsbooks for the 2008-09 season. Independent variables such as the quality of teams, television coverage by network, day of the week, time of day, month of the season, etc. are included in a regression model to determine the factors that influence betting volume. The results reveal betting behavior is much like fan behavior as key fan-attributes, such as the quality of teams and the availability of television coverage, are shown to have a positive and significant effect on betting volume. The results imply that consumption plays a major role in the decision to gamble on sports. Pure investment-based gambling appears to be the exception, rather than the norm. The implication of this result as it relates to models of sportsbook behavior is explored. |
| Hosting Mega-Sporting Events: Which Decision-Making Rule?, pp. 141-162 Authors: Eric Barget and Jean-Jacques Gougout |
| Abstract:An economic impact assessment alone cannot justify public support for hosting mega-sporting events. A cost-benefit analysis in order to measure the net social utility for the population is also relevant. Nevertheless, if there is always a high demand of economic impact studies by public authorities before hosting an event, the cost-benefit studies are never made, so there is a high risk to make decisions that are not rational. In this paper, to take into account simultaneously the economic impact and the social utility of mega-sporting events, we propose a legitimacy test we illustrate with the example of the Rugby World Cup 2007 in France. |
