nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2024‒02‒05
five papers chosen by
Humberto Barreto, DePauw University


  1. Visitors Out! The Absence of Away Team Supporters as a Source of Home Advantage in Football By Federico Fioravanti; Fernando Delbianco; Fernando Tohmé
  2. Valorisation des droits audiovisuels du football et équilibre économique des clubs professionnels : impacts d'une concurrence croissante inter-sports et intra-sport pour la Ligue 1 de football By Frédéric Marty
  3. European Football Player Valuation: Integrating Financial Models and Network Theory By Albert Cohen; Jimmy Risk
  4. The Socio-Economic Context of Africa and its Impact on Doping and Anti-Doping By Jean-Christophe Lapouble
  5. From the Pandemic to the Pitch. Unraveling COVID-19's Effect on Workers' Performance By Galindo, Arturo; Tovar, Jorge

  1. By: Federico Fioravanti (University of Amsterdam/UNS-CONICET); Fernando Delbianco (UNS-CONICET); Fernando Tohmé (UNS-CONICET)
    Abstract: We seek to gain more insight into the effect of the crowds on the Home Advantage by analyzing the particular case of Argentinean football (also known as soccer), where for more than ten years, the visiting team fans were not allowed to attend the games. Additionally, during the COVID-19 lockdown, a significant number of games were played without both away and home team fans. The analysis of more than 20 years of matches of the Argentinean tournament indicates that the absence of the away team crowds was beneficial for the Top 5 teams during the first two years after their attendance was forbidden. An additional intriguing finding is that the lack of both crowds affects significantly all the teams, to the point of turning the home advantage into home ‘disadvantage’ for most of the teams.
    Keywords: Home Advantage; Football; COVID-19; Violence
    JEL: Z20
    Date: 2024–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:299&r=spo
  2. By: Frédéric Marty (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS)
    Abstract: La valorisation des droits audiovisuels des compétitions sportives est une variable clé de l'équilibre économique des clubs professionnels, notamment du football français. La capacité à dégager un prix satisfaisant des procédures de mise en concurrence pour l'attribution des droits va dépendre de l'intensité de la concurrence pour le marché et de la qualité intrinsèque de ces derniers pour les diffuseurs. Selon que les droits apparaîtront comme des ressources 'essentielles' (en d'autres termes incontournables pour les diffuseurs), premia ou aisément substituables avec d'autres contenus le résultat de l'enchère sera très différent. Il s'agit ici de s'interroger sur une éventuelle érosion de la valeur des droits sur la Ligue 1 française qui procèderait d'une concurrence croissante d'autres sports ou d'autres compétitions footballistiques et sur les conséquences qu'elle pourrait avoir sur la viabilité économique des clubs professionnels.
    Keywords: droits audiovisuels, économie du football, contenus premia
    JEL: L13 L83
    Date: 2024–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2024-02&r=spo
  3. By: Albert Cohen; Jimmy Risk
    Abstract: This paper presents a new framework for player valuation in European football by fusing principles from financial mathematics and network theory. The valuation model leverages a "passing matrix" to encapsulate player interactions on the field, utilizing centrality measures to quantify individual influence. Unlike traditional approaches, this model is both metric-driven and cohort-free, providing a dynamic and individualized framework for ascertaining a player's fair market value. The methodology is empirically validated through a case study in European football, employing real-world match and financial data. The paper advances the disciplines of sports analytics and financial mathematics by offering a cross-disciplinary mechanism for player valuation, and also links together two well-known econometric methods in marginal revenue product and expected present valuation.
    Date: 2023–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.16179&r=spo
  4. By: Jean-Christophe Lapouble (LAM - Les Afriques dans le monde - IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Bordeaux - UBM - Université Bordeaux Montaigne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LéP - Laboratoire d'économie de Poitiers - Université de Poitiers)
    Abstract: The fight against doping is organized at the global level under the aegis of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in application of the 2005 UNESCO convention which made the application of the World Anti-Doping Code mandatory for all countries wishing to participate and organize international sports competitions. In fact, it appears that for a variety of reasons, the application of the World Anti-Doping Code is largely theoretical in Africa. Indeed, if most African countries adhere to the system set up by WADA, it appears that very few are able to apply it effectively. The numerous difficulties that African countries may experience due to a degraded socioeconomic context confine anti-doping policies to the rank of non-priority public policies. Thus, the difficulties experienced by different countries in terms of development, structuring of the sports movement through associations, public administration, public health and corruption must lead us to consider that the fight against doping in Africa cannot be free of the socioeconomic context and must therefore be adapted accordingly. This adaptation must be based on the reality of the functioning of sports organizations in the countries and not on theoretical considerations that are far removed from reality.
    Keywords: Corruption development doping public administration public health, Corruption, Development, Doping, Public administration, Public health
    Date: 2024
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04348227&r=spo
  5. By: Galindo, Arturo (Inter-American Development Bank); Tovar, Jorge (Universidad de los Andes)
    Abstract: There is a growing body of literature on the impact that COVID-19 has on workers' performance upon recovery. This paper explores that question using granular data from professional athletes. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy and estimating an n-dimensional performance index, we find that performance drops upon recovery during the first thirty days a􀅌er infection by 13, 4%. Exploiting the mountainous geography of Colombia, our results indicate that the main driver of such a drop is performing at high altitudes.
    Keywords: COVID-19; Football; Soccer; Workers Performance
    JEL: H12 I18 J21 J40 O54 Z20
    Date: 2024–01–18
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:021007&r=spo

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