FiT Publishing

This study investigates the relationship between consumer discrimination, racial matching strategies, and employer discrimination in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1985 to 2016. Specifically, we assess the extent to which both fan attendance and team performance respond to changes in teams’ and their local market areas’ racial compositions. To this end, we use game-level data (N = 69,239) that we aggregate to the team-season level (N = 866). Using facial recognition software and pictures on more than 7,000 players, each player is assigned to one of three race groups: White, Black, and...Read more

This paper aims to answer the question of whether fans discriminate against foreign athletes. It uses data from the fantasy sports environment. The sample consists of 11 rounds in the football competition in Czechia during the 2015–2016 season. A total of 8,036 people participated in the game, and they completed a total of 53,951 squads. The final dataset consists of 3,741 observations of a specific footballer in a single round. The results show that Czech fantasy sports users prefer domestic players. The influence of the players’ origin varies depending on the region they are from. The...Read more

This paper tests for salary discrimination based on player ethnicities in Major League Soccer (MLS) with a market model. Particular focus is paid to Club Deportivo Chivas USA, which was operated by owners of a Mexican team that explicitly excludes non-Mexicans from their roster, Club Deportivo Guadalajara. Evidence of wage discrimination in MLS is found and the model is used to estimate how much of Chivas USA’s poor performance was due to discrimination.

doi.org/10.32731/IJSF.141.022019.02Read more

Previous research on sports rivalry has emphasized fans’ social identity and the threat posed by rivals. Much of this scholarship is based on intercollegiate sports, where many fans, such as students and alumni, have a formally defined identity with the university. In this study, fans (N = 4,828) across five major professional leagues—Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL)—are surveyed to compare their animosity toward rivals based on four variables: schadenfreude,...Read more

Using binary variable and decomposition techniques on two distinct datasets, we analyze the effect of race on playing time for linebackers in the National Football League (NFL). We examine both the number of games started in a season and the probability of starting each individual game within a season. The results show black linebackers start approximately one additional game, or 16% more games, in a season than non-black players. Also, the probability of starting a specific game is four to eight percentage points greater for black linebackers. Previous research suggests black linebackers...Read more