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on Sports and Economics |
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Issue of 2007‒05‒04
seven papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao University of the Beira Interior |
| By: | Robert Baade (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College); Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | Prior to 2005, New Orleans had struggled to retain its NFL franchise. The Saints remained in the city, despite an outdated stadium and small media market, only through generous direct public subsidies to the team. Paradoxically, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 actually improved the short-term viability of the franchise by spurring an outpouring of local support for the team and by making relocation of the Saints politically untenable for the league. The long-term outlook for the team, however, appears grim. Already a small market, New Orleans’ population and business community has declined considerably due to Katrina. The NFL’s G-3 loan program for stadium construction is tapped out. Finally, the financial success of other NFL franchises has both raised the cost of fielding a competitive team and increased the value of the Saints as a target of relocation. |
| Keywords: | sports, NFL Governance, New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, football |
| JEL: | L83 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0709&r=spo |
| By: | Babatunde Buraimo (University of Central Lancashire); David Forrest (University of Salford); Robert Simmons (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates potential bias in awards of player disciplinary sanctions, in the form of cautions (yellow cards) and dismissals (red cards) by referees in the English Premier League and the Bundesliga. Previous studies of behaviour of soccer referees have not adequately incorporated within-game information. Descriptive statistics from our samples clearly show that home teams receive fewer yellow and red cards than away teams. But biases may be wrongly identified where the modeller has failed to include within-game events such as goals scored and recent cards issued. What appears as referee favouritism may actually be excessive and illegal aggressive behaviour by players in teams that are behind in score. We deal with these issues using a minute-by-minute bivariate probit analysis of yellow and red cards issued in games over six seasons in the two leagues. The significance of a variable to denote score difference at the time of sanction suggests that excessive effort, induced by a losing position, is an important influence on award of yellow and red cards. Controlling for a number of pre-game and within-game variables, we find evidence of home team favouritism in Germany as home teams with running tracks in their stadia attract more yellow and red cards than teams playing in stadia with separation of fans from pitch. This is indicative of referee response to social pressure. Separating the competing teams in matches by favourite and underdog status, as perceived by the betting market, yields further evidence, this time for both leagues, that the source of home teams receiving fewer cards is not just that they are disproportionately often the favoured team. Rather, there appears to be pure referee bias in relative treatments of home and away teams. |
| Keywords: | Soccer, football, referee, sports |
| JEL: | L83 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0707&r=spo |
| By: | Nicolas Büttner (University of Hamburg); Wolfgang Maennig (University of Hamburg); Marco Messner (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This study uses the example of the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany to examine whether any systematic relationships exist between infrastructure investments on the one hand and investments in the respective stadium on the other. Particular attention is paid to an examination of whether the relative infrastructure costs in the case of newly-built stadia differ from those relating to stadia that have been reconstructed or extended. Such systematic relationships, or “rules of thumb”, could be used in the future to simplify the prediction of the expected volume of necessary infrastructure measures for major sporting events (other soccer World Cups, the Olympic Games, etc.) on the basis of the investment required for the sports venues. Our study makes use of a cluster and discriminance analysis and concludes that such general rules cannot be derived from the 2006 World Cup in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure investments, sport stadia costs, cluster analysis, discriminance analysis. |
| JEL: | L83 R42 R53 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0704&r=spo |
| By: | Malte Heyne (University of Bremen); Wolfgang Maennig (University of Hamburg); Bernd Süssmuth (Munich University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests the hypothesis that a nation’s hosting of a mega-sporting event is an experience good for its residents. Applying data from an ex-ante and ex-post query based on contingent valuation methods, we use the Soccer World Cup 2006 as a natural experiment. The significant ex-post increase in valuation is shown to be due to adventitious citizens requiring an involving experience, rather than to an updating of a-prior assessment. |
| Keywords: | Experience goods, contingent valuation method, World Cup |
| JEL: | L83 Q26 H49 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0706&r=spo |
| By: | Gabriel Ahlfeldt (University of Hamburg); Wolfgang Maennig (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a hedonic price model explaining standard land values in Berlin. The model assesses the impact of three multifunctional sports arenas situated in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg which were designed to improve the attractiveness of their formerly deprived neighbourhoods. Empirical results confirm expectations about the impact of various attributes on land values. Sports arenas have significant positive impacts within a radius of about 3000 meters. The patterns of impact vary, indicating that the effective impact depends on how planning authorities address potential countervailing negative externalities. |
| Keywords: | Stadium Impact, Land Gradient, Hedonic Regression, Spatial Autocorrelation, Berlin |
| JEL: | L83 R31 R53 R5 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0703&r=spo |
| By: | Bernd Frick (Witten/Herdecke University); Robert Simmons (Lancaster University) |
| Abstract: | Although a considerable literature exists on determinants of managerial compensation, much of it focussing on the role of incentives, there is much less known about the im-pact of managerial remuneration and quality upon attainment of organizational goals. In this paper we use a novel panel data set from the German premier soccer league (Bundesliga) as a case to show how variations in managerial compensation impact posi-tively upon organizational (team) success. This positive impact is revealed using sto-chastic frontier production function estimation. Given a particular amount of spending on players relative to the rest of the Bundesliga, a team that hires a better quality coach can expect to achieve a higher points score by reducing technical inefficiency. However, our results also suggest that the market for head coaches may be allocatively inefficient in that coaches are paid below their marginal revenue products. |
| Keywords: | head coaches, soccer, efficiency, stochastic frontier analysis |
| JEL: | J44 L83 M50 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0708&r=spo |
| By: | Arne Feddersen (University of Hamburg); Wolfgang Maennig (University of Hamburg); Philipp Zimmermann (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the probability of the success of city bid campaigns on the basis of the quantified factors of a total of 43 bids for the Summer Olympic Games between 1992 and 2012. By using a model with the distance of the sporting venues to the Olympic Village, the local temperatures and unemployment rates, we can correctly predict the decision in 97 % of failed bids and in 60 % of successful bids. |
| Keywords: | Olympic Games, Bidding process, Key success factors, Binary logistical regression |
| JEL: | L83 C25 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0705&r=spo |