nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2016‒01‒29
three papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Balls and Bargaining: Evaluating Trade Unions in Professional Sports in Europe and the United States By Sébastien Avanzo; Ilan Tojerow
  2. Many Happy Returns? The Pro-Bowl, Mega-events, and Tourism in Hawaii By Robert Baumann; Victor Matheson
  3. Rio de Janeiro Além de 2016: um projeto para a nova geração de infraestrutura em transportes By Rosane S. Lourenço

  1. By: Sébastien Avanzo; Ilan Tojerow
    Abstract: This study analyses the role of sport trade unions in labour relations taking basketball as a case study. It explains, in part, why unions organizing athletes have developed significantly in recent years while traditional unions overall are in decline. Historically, employer-employee relationships in sport were based on employment rules that stood outside the scope of labor law, in both American and European contexts. This reality has been altered over the last 20 years by an increase in the involvement of the justice sector within sport regulation. This change can be observed through the challenges to employment rules that athletes have brought before courts and successful attempts to modify (or even suppress outright) rules deemed too constraining. Interestingly, athletic associations have benefited from these individual actions and their judicial outcomes which have combined to increase their (collective) power and their ability to conclude collective agreements. Although these new collectivized settings have resulted in an improvement of working conditions across the spectrum of organized sports, the unions represent an instrument rather than a direct force by which judicial decisions regarding individual cases can be expanded to cover the entire unionized collective. Finally, this specificity could explain why these collective agreements were often associated with a significant increase in the wages of the most talented athletes and, hence, wage dispersion.
    Date: 2016–01–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:2013/224079&r=spo
  2. By: Robert Baumann (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross)
    Abstract: We use daily airplane arrival data from 2004 to 2015 from Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to determine the net change in arrivals around a variety of sporting events. We find only one event generates a positive and significant net impact on arrivals: the Honolulu Marathon, which generates roughly 3,900 additional arrivals. No other sporting events result in a measurable increase in tourist arrivals including, notably, the NFL’s Pro Bowl, which receives a large subsidy from the state’s tourism authority.
    Keywords: sports, stadiums, franchises, impact analysis, mega-event, tourism
    JEL: O18 R53
    Date: 2015–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:1505&r=spo
  3. By: Rosane S. Lourenço
    Abstract: A progressiva visibilidade internacional proporcionada pelos megaeventos esportivos sediados pelo Rio de Janeiro tem exposto os gestores públicos aos extremos da arte de administrar. Se, por um lado, o fato oferece os meios determinantes para o crescimento econômico e o alcance da desejada produtividade, por outro, representa um desafio na superação de antigas disfunções, como a vagarosa mobilidade e a desagradável poluição. A forma pela qual os gestores escolheram responder à questão tem sido decisiva e merece ser estudada nas nuances que modelam o desenvolvimento futuro. As inovações proporcionadas pela infraestrutura de transporte e pelo arranjo institucional correspondente prenunciam transformar o perfil da região e favorecer o ritmo saudável de vida da população. A conjugação de crescente urbanização com desenvolvimento sustentável é crível, desde que a atenção seja focada nas interdependências, com a ocupação do solo, a geração de energia limpa e o uso de tecnologia da informação e comunicação. The progressive international visibility provided by mega sports events hosted by Rio de Janeiro has exposed public managers to extremes of the art of managing. If on the one hand, the fact provides the means for determining the economic growth and the achievement of the desired productivity, on the other, represents a challenge in overcoming old dysfunctions as the slow mobility and unpleasant pollution. The way in which the managers chose to answer the question has been decisive and deserves to be studied in nuances that shape the future development. The innovations offered by the transportation infrastructure and the corresponding institutional arrangement foreshadow transform the profile of the region and encourage the healthy pace of life of the population. The combination of increasing urbanization with sustainable development is credible, since attention is focused on the interdependencies with the occupation of the soil, the generation of clean energy and the use of information and communication technology.
    Date: 2015–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipe:ipetds:2164&r=spo

This nep-spo issue is ©2016 by João Carlos Correia Leitão. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.