nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2026–11–02
three papers chosen by
Humberto Barreto, DePauw University
  1. Star spillovers in cheerleading: National team athletes at the intersection of elite and grassroots sports By Staubach, Rebecca
  2. Coordination by Sunspots: Letter is Mightier than Colour By John Bone; Michalis Drouvelis; Konstantinos Georgalos; Indrajit Ray
  3. Effets d’éviction et recomposition de la demande pendant les Jeux Olympiques de Paris 2024 : le cas d’un restaurateur parisien By Yannick L'Horty; Florian Moussi-Beylie
  1. By: Staubach, Rebecca
    Abstract: This study examines whether participation in an elite national team programme generates performance spillovers to athletes' grassroots home teams. Specifically, it asks whether teams with at least one Team Germany athlete perform better and whether such effects increase with the number of elite athletes. Based on a novel longitudinal dataset from German competitive cheerleading, grassroot sport home team performance using competition scores and the probability of achieving first place are analysed. Additional specifications examine nonlinear effects and potential pre-treatment differences. Teams containing at least one Team Germany athlete achieve consistently higher competition scores, while the association with first-place finishes is positive but less robust. Additional elite athletes do not generate proportional performance gains; the nonlinear specification instead indicates diminishing marginal returns. The findings suggest that elite athletes can generate spillovers beyond their national team environment through human capital, peer effects, and performance standards. For sport management, maintaining connections between elite athletes and their home teams may therefore allow elite development investments to generate broader grassroots benefits.
    Abstract: Diese Studie untersucht, ob die Teilnahme an einem Elite-Nationalmannschaftsprogramm Leistungsübertragungen auf die Heimatvereine der Athletinnen im Breitensport bewirkt. Konkret wird untersucht, ob Vereine mit mindestens einer Athletin der deutschen Nationalmannschaft bessere Leistungen erzielen und ob solche Effekte mit der Anzahl der Eliteathletinnen zunehmen. Auf der Grundlage eines neuartigen Längsschnittdatensatzes aus dem deutschen Wett kampf-Cheerleading werden die Leistung der Heimatmannschaften im Breitensport anhand von Wettkampfwertungen analysiert sowie die Wahrscheinlichkeit, den ersten Platz zu erreichen. Zusätzliche Spezifikationen untersuchen nichtlineare Effekte und potentielle Unterschiede vor der Aufnahme in die Nationalmannschaft. Teams mit mindestens einer "Team Germany"-Athletin erzielen durchweg höhere Wettkampfwertungen, während der Zusammenhang mit ersten Plätzen positiv, doch weniger robust ist. Zusätzliche Spitzensportlerinnen führen nicht zu proportionalen Leistungssteigerungen; die nichtlineare Spezifikation deutet stattdessen auf abnehmende Grenzerträge hin. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass Spitzensportlerinnen durch Human kapital, Peer-Effekte und Leistungsstandards positive Ausstrahlungseffekte über das Umfeld ihrer Nationalmannschaft hinaus erzeugen können. Für das Sportmanagement könnte die Pflege der Verbindungen zwischen Spitzensportlerinnen und ihren Heimatvereinen daher dazu beitragen, dass Investitionen in die Spitzenförderung einen breiteren Nutzen für den Breitensport generieren.
    Keywords: Cheerleading, Elite Sport, Grassroots Sport, Spillover, Star
    JEL: C23 C25 J24 L83 M53 Z20 Z21 Z22
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:umiodp:344218
  2. By: John Bone; Michalis Drouvelis; Konstantinos Georgalos; Indrajit Ray
    Abstract: We set up an experiment to test whether players use a payoff-irrelevant public message (BLUE or RED) as a possible sunspot to coordinate in a Battle of the Sexes game in which the pure strategies are labelled as X and Y. We find that most players do not play a “sunspot equilibrium†; instead, they learn to coordinate on a particular focal point (pure strategy X) in the game, largely ignoring the presence of the public signal (colour), and stick to this focal point, even after the public signal is withdrawn. Colour-contingent play emerges in only two of the six matching groups, which adopt opposite mappings.
    Keywords: Battle of the Sexes, Coordination, Sunspots, , Public Signal, Focal Point
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:444838694
  3. By: Yannick L'Horty; Florian Moussi-Beylie
    Date: 2026
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tep:tepprr:rr26-03
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This page is being maintained by Thomas Krichel. It was last updated on 2026‒11‒03 at 6:21.