nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2017‒01‒08
four papers chosen by
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Universidade da Beira Interior

  1. Does diversity in the payroll affect soccer teams’ performance? Evidence from the Italian Serie A By Caruso, Raul; Carlo, Bellavite Pellegrini; Marco, Di Domizio
  2. Does Fair Play Matter? UEFA Regulation and Financial Sustainability in the European Football Industry By Ariela Caglio; Angelo D’Andrea; Donato Masciandaro; Gianmarco Ottaviano
  3. The Relative Age Effect Reversal among NHL Elite By Fumarco, Luca; Gibbs, Benjamin; Jarvis, Jonathan; Rossi, Giambattista
  4. Rating evaluation of sports development efficiency using statistical analysis: evidence from Russian football By Ilya Solntsev; Anatoly Vorobyev; Elnura Irmatova; Nikita Osokin

  1. By: Caruso, Raul; Carlo, Bellavite Pellegrini; Marco, Di Domizio
    Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the impact of diversity in wage levels of players on seasonal performances of teams in the top Italian soccer league, namely the Serie A . We explore the payroll of 32 professional football teams in the Italian Serie A to compute three measures of diversity and concentration in wage levels, namely the Gini, the Shannon and the Simpson indexes from season 2007/08 to 2015/16. We use the percentage of points achieved by teams as dependent variable, and then we employ panel data techniques estimating random and fixed effect models. We find that only the Simpson index is significantly associated with sport performance. In particular, it appears that sport performance improves as diversity in payroll decreases.
    Keywords: diversity in wage level, inequality, payroll and sport performance, Italian serie A
    JEL: L83 M52 Z1
    Date: 2016–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75644&r=spo
  2. By: Ariela Caglio; Angelo D’Andrea; Donato Masciandaro; Gianmarco Ottaviano
    Abstract: In 2009 the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) launched its Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFPR) aimed at preventing professional football clubs from overspending in the quest of sporting success to the detriment of their long-run financial sustainability. The rationale and the effectiveness of the FFPR have both been questioned, but only on theoretical grounds. We make a first attempt at bringing empirical evidence to this debate exploiting an original dataset covering 156 clubs playing in the top five European Leagues (those of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) in the period 2006-2015. We address two main questions: whether before 2009 there was indeed a problem of growing financial leverage for European football clubs, and whether after 2009 the financial leverage of European clubs has started decreasing. We find that the introduction of the FFPR is associated with changes in the financial sustainability of European football clubs that are consistent with the regulations’ intended effects. These changes are, however, rather weak and vary substantially across national leagues.
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp1638&r=spo
  3. By: Fumarco, Luca; Gibbs, Benjamin; Jarvis, Jonathan; Rossi, Giambattista
    Abstract: December 31 the first quarter of the year, most likely because they are relatively bigger than their younger counterparts born later in the year. As this Relative Age Effect (RAE) has been well-established in junior hockey and across other professional sports, we argue that the long- term impact of this phenomenon is still poorly understood. Using roster data on North American NHL players from 2008 to 2015, we examine the RAE in terms of birth month distribution and the extent that RAE is associated with points (i.e. goals plus assists) and player salaries. We find evidence of an RAE reversal—that players born in the second half of the year (July-December) score more points per season (29-50% more points) and command higher salaries (30%-50% more salary). Among elite players—the highest scoring and highest paid athletes—the scoring gap ranges between 14% and 26% more points for players born in the second half of the year—whereas the salary gap ranges between 18% and 50% greater salary. We argue that results partly support an “underdog” effect in NHL that is greatest among elite players.
    Keywords: relative age effect, hockey, performance outcomes, quintile regression
    JEL: J24 J31 J71 L83 M53
    Date: 2016–12–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75691&r=spo
  4. By: Ilya Solntsev; Anatoly Vorobyev; Elnura Irmatova; Nikita Osokin
    Abstract: Increasing investments into various dimensions of sports draw a significant amount of attention to the way these resources are being managed and which organizations achieve development goals with higher efficiency. This paper reviews the methodology of designing an efficiency rating model for assessing sports entities, focusing on the experience of Russian football. The Russian Regional Efficiency of Football Development model aims to evaluate the regional federations of the Football Union of Russian via 5 dimensions. The scoring method of the model is based on the three-sigma rule of distribution. Support factors in the form of population density and climate were also included, since Russian regions significantly differentiate in these aspects. The findings of this paper showcased that not a single region was able to achieve a maximum 5- star rating, while regions set to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup did not score better compared to others. In conclusion the authors provide various suggestions on further developing and implementing rating models within global sports organizations.
    Date: 2016–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1612.07543&r=spo

This nep-spo issue is ©2017 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.