nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2013‒12‒20
two papers chosen by
Joao Carlos Correia Leitao
Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa
  1. Make or buy? Human capital accumulation strategies in European club football By Yusuf Emre Akgunduz; Marcel van den Berg
  2. Player Salaries, Player Mobility and the Invariance Principle: Evidence from the National Hockey League By Philippe Cyrenne
  1. By: Yusuf Emre Akgunduz; Marcel van den Berg
    Abstract: When it comes to discussing club football emotions tend to get heated quite easily across the globe. This heterogeneity in likes and dislikes is not only reflected in name or financial possibilities, but also in the clubs approach to building a team. We analyze whether clubs' strategies regarding buying or cultivating players have a discernable effect on their success on the pitch. For the analysis we employ match level data covering five seasons of play in top-flight Dutch and English club football leagues. The results suggest that players' tenure has a positive and significant effect on the probability of winning, but only in the English Premier League. The positive effect we find for the Premier League aligns with theories of firm specific human capital. We hypothesize the lack of significant effects in the Dutch league to be tied to clubs' inability to keep successful players with the club or buy replacements of equal quality on the transfer market, because the club-specific human capital component takes time to accumulate.
    Keywords: Football, human capital, tenure, winning probability
    JEL: D22 J24 L83
    Date: 2013–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1317&r=spo
  2. By: Philippe Cyrenne
    Abstract: This paper develops a bargaining model of wages and contract length as applied to a professional sports league. Using data based on the recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners in the National Hockey League, I examine the effect of restrictions on player contracting on both the mobility and salaries of players over the period 2005-2010. Using a variety of estimators both for player mobility and salary determination, I find some evidence that a player’s free agency status effects both mobility and player salaries, but significantly less than might be expected. A key result is that mobility needs to be taken into account when developing models of wage determination in professional sports.
    JEL: L1 L2 L4 L83
    Date: 2013–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:win:winwop:2013-04&r=spo
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