nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2022‒10‒24
five papers chosen by
Humberto Barreto
DePauw University

  1. Should organizing premier-level European football be a monopoly? And who should run it? - An economists' perspective By Budzinski, Oliver; Feddersen, Arne
  2. Home Advantage and Crowd Attendance: Evidence from Rugby during the Covid 19 Pandemic By Fernando Delbianco; Federico Fioravanti; Fernando Tohmé
  3. Ganhando no grito: análise do impacto da pressão social nas decisões da arbitragem em partidas de futebol By Igor Viveiros; Henrique Rizzo
  4. The Relevance of the Specification Assumptions when Modelling the Correlates of Physical Activity: an Analysis across Dimensions By Jaume Garcia-Villar; María José Suarez
  5. College Consumption Amenities, Academic Performance, and Donation Behavior By Joshua M. Hyman; Isaac McFarlin Jr.

  1. By: Budzinski, Oliver; Feddersen, Arne
    Abstract: The controversy around the breakaway European Super League, set to conquer the UEFA Champions League, and the surrounding antitrust proceedings revive the academic discussion about the monopoly power of sport-internal governing bodies (like the UEFA), the justification for and limits of their powers, and potential abuses of their power. Against this background, we discuss how much monopoly is unavoidable in premier-level European football and how its powers can be limited and, thus, scope and incentives for power abuse may be reduced. We particularly find that championship management can be periodically assigned to third-parties (like the Super League organizers) by tender procedures, thus, creating a periodical competition for the market, fueling innovation incentives and strengthening the influence of fans' preferences.
    Keywords: sports economics,Super League,UEFA Champions League,monopoly,marketpower,sport associations,rival leagues
    JEL: D02 D42 D47 K21 L12 L30 L40 L83 Z20
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:166&r=
  2. By: Fernando Delbianco (Universidad Nacional del Sur/CONICET); Federico Fioravanti (Universidad Nacional del Sur); Fernando Tohmé (Universidad Nacional del Sur)
    Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic forced almost all professional and amateur sports to be played without attending crowds. Thus, it induced a large-scale natural experiment on the impact of social pressure on decision making and behavior in sports fields. Using a data set of 1027 rugby union matches from 11 tournaments in 10 countries, we find that home teams have won less matches and their point difference decreased during the pandemics, shedding light on the impact of crowd attendance on the home advantage of sports teams.
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:180&r=
  3. By: Igor Viveiros (CEDEPLAR/UFMG); Henrique Rizzo (UFMG)
    Abstract: This works aims at understanding the role that social pressure plays in the decision making of referees in football matches. Like Garicano; Palacios-Huerta; Prendergast (2001) we try to understand how the social pressure exerted by the crowd in football matches affects referee’s decisions. In our work we use data from matches without audience due to sanitary measures imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis is based on data consisting of matches from the national leagues of five European countries: England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. We proposed controls to consider the tactics and quality of the teams involved in the matches to better observe the impact of social pressure. We’ve observed, in agreement with the existing literature, that the lack of a crowd and, therefore, social pressure tends to make referees’ decision making more unbiased.
    Keywords: Football, Social Pressure, COVID-19, Applied Economics
    JEL: D91 L83 Z20
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td648&r=
  4. By: Jaume Garcia-Villar; María José Suarez
    Abstract: There is a widespread economics literature on the determinants of sports participation and frequency, but the empirical evidence on the robustness of results to changes in the specification assumptions is still scarce. The goal of this paper is to contribute to fill this gap. To this end, we discuss and estimate different models – most of them previously applied in the literature – to check whether the econometric model, the functional form and the definition of physical activity (participation, time, frequency or intensity) condition the results. In particular, we study the probability of exercising, the frequency of participation in the previous week (days of practice), the number of minutes allocated and the intensity of exercise, with different econometric models and functional forms, using a data set from Mexico, where information about these four dimensions of practice of physical activity is available.
    Keywords: sports participation, frequency, time, intensity, econometric modelling
    JEL: Z29 C25 C52
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1296&r=
  5. By: Joshua M. Hyman; Isaac McFarlin Jr.
    Abstract: Colleges compete to attract students by investing in amenities such as athletics, dormitories, and student activities. We examine the effect of student consumption of postsecondary amenities on academic achievement and future donation behavior in the context of Big-Time college sports. We resolve the selection issue using data from a large, public university with a highly-ranked men’s basketball team, where student season tickets are awarded by lottery. Game attendance has small negative effects on academic performance but no impact on donation behavior. Negative academic effects are concentrated at the bottom of the achievement distribution and driven by in-state students and students attending during seasons when the team reaches the postseason tournament. We uncover no evidence of spillover effects to roommates. Our results suggest that certain postsecondary amenities may hinder academic performance, with little upside from future giving.
    JEL: I2 I23
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30481&r=

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