Articles in this issue:

• Investment in Stadia and Regional Economic Development—Evidence from FIFA World Cup 2006, pp. 221-239

  Arne Feddersen

  André Leão Grötzinger

  Wolfgang Maennig

  Using the case of the new stadiums for the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany, this paper is the first multivariate work that examines the potential income and employment effects of new stadiums outside of the USA. This study is also the first work on this topic that conducts tests on the basis of a (serial correlation consistent) Difference-in-Difference model with level and trends. As a robustness check, we use the “ignoring time series information” model in a form that is modified for non-synchronous interventions. We were not able to identify income or employment effects of the...Read more

• The Impact of Athletic Performance on Tuition Rates, pp. 240-254

  Donald L. Alexander

  William Kern

  This paper explores the impact of intercollegiate athletic performance on tuition rates. A number of recent studies have examined the advertising effect generated by participation in intercollegiate sports. These studies have attempted to ascertain whether athletic performance improves student quality, graduation rates, and state appropriations. Only one previous paper examines the impact of intercollegiate athletics on tuition, and it found a positive impact on out-of-state tuition rates from participation in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In this paper, we find that athletic...Read more

• Using Betting Market Odds to Measure the Uncertainty of Outcome in Major League Baseball, pp. 255-263

  Rodney J. Paul

  Andrew P. Weinbach

  Richard Borghesi

  Mark Wilson

  Betting market odds for Major League Baseball are used to examine the level of uncertainty of outcome, an ex-ante form of competitive balance. The efficient markets hypothesis cannot be rejected for the years 1990-2006 in Major League Baseball. Therefore, the odds provide an ex-ante measure of the uncertainty of outcome of baseball games in the minds of fans and bettors. The odds for both the American and National Leagues were shown to increase during the 1990s, implying more certainty in the expected outcome of the game. Bettors and fans believed favorites in Major League Baseball were...Read more

• The Optimal Size of a Sports League, pp. 264-270

  Stefan Kesenne

  In this contribution, based on a simple theoretical approach, we try to show that the number of teams that is optimal to a monopoly league, being a cartel of clubs and acting in the interest of the participating or insider clubs only, is smaller than the welfare optimal number of teams in a league, which also takes into account the interests of the spectators.Read more