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on Sports and Economics |
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Issue of 2014‒09‒29
three papers chosen by João Carlos Correia Leitão Universidade da Beira Interior |
| By: | Vincent Hogan (University College Dublin); Patrick Massey (Compecon Ltd); Shane Massey (Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Using data from 1,226 matches played over 18 seasons, we analyse match attendances in the group stages of the European Rugby Cup (ERC). We find that short-run (match) uncertainty had little effect on attendances. This finding is significant as the ERC has been replaced by a new competition which may be more unbalanced due to differences in the distribution of revenue between the participating teams. Medium-term uncertainty, i.e. the possibility of the home team reaching the knock-out stages, had a significant impact on attendances. Measures designed to make matches more attractive, e.g. bonus points for high scoring, had little effect. |
| Keywords: | Professional team sports, competitive balance, consumer demand |
| JEL: | D12 D21 L22 L23 L83 |
| Date: | 2014–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201412&r=spo |
| By: | Julia Bredtmann; Carsten J. Crede; Sebastian Otten |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we propose a new estimation strategy that uses the variation in success between the male and the female national soccer team within a country to identify the causal impact of gender equality on women’s soccer performance. In particular, we analyze whether within-country variations in labor force participation rates and life expectancies between the genders, which serve as measures for the country’s gender equality, are able to explain differences in the international success of male and female national soccer teams. Our results reveal that differences in male and female labor force participation rates and life expectancies are able to explain the international soccer performance of female teams, but not that of male teams, suggesting that gender equality is an important driver of female sport success. |
| Keywords: | International sport success; soccer; gender equality; fixed-effects estimation |
| JEL: | J16 L83 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0501&r=spo |
| By: | Brad R. Humphreys (West Virginia University, College of Business and Economics); Jane Ruseski (West Virginia University, College of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between college athletic scholarships and adolescent use of performance enhancing drugs. Annually, 4.5 million male high school athletes compete for about 132,000 athletic scholarships o_ered by NCAA Division I and II universities. Estimates from a probit model of self-reported steroid use among US adolescent males using data from the YRBSS suggest each sanction-related athletic scholarship reduction at NCAA institutions in a state increases the probability that high school males in that state report using steroids by 3%. Competition for athletic scholarships generates incentives for adolescent males to improve athletic performance through use of steroids. |
| Keywords: | steroids, intercollegiate athletics, adolescents, sports |
| JEL: | I18 L83 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:14-25&r=spo |