Articles in this issue:

  • Joshua C. Hall
    Brad R. Humphreys
    and Hyunwoong Pyun

    Sports economics is a young, growing field in the discipline of economics. An examination of course catalogs at 169 national liberal arts colleges and 254 national universities uncovered undergraduate sports economics classes offered at 17% of the liberal arts colleges and 29.5% of the universities. The characteristics of colleges and universities offering sports economics courses are analyzed. The state of the undergraduate curriculum in economics and barriers to the creation of new elective course offerings are also discussed.Read more

  • Rodney J. Paul

    This study extends the research on atmospheric conditions and scoring in sporting events by examining components of air density as it relates to National Football League (NFL) games. Statistically significant results were found in relation to the role of humidity in explaining the difference between actual scoring and the betting market total for NFL games. Simple wagering strategies based on humidity, wind speed, and a combination of these factors were shown to reject market efficiency. From game statistics, it appears that humidity may unexpectedly influence the rushing game, leading to...Read more

  • Niven Winchester

    Using a prediction model for National Football League (NFL) regular season games, we find that awarding bonuses for certain outcomes improves the ability of league standings to capture differences in team strength. Our preferred specification awards six points for a win, four points for a tie, two bonus points for losing by seven or fewer points, and one bonus point for scoring four or more touchdowns. Testing the out of-sample performance of rankings based on this system, we find that teams advantaged by bonuses won 75% of their playoff matches, despite playing nearly all of these games...Read more

  • Helmut M. Dietl
    Markus Lang
    and Cornel Nesseler

    This article develops a game-theoretical model to analyze the effect of subsidies on player salaries, competitive balance, club profits, and welfare. Within this model, fan demand depends on win percentage, competitive balance, and aggregate talent. The results show that if a large-market club receives a subsidy and fans have a relatively strong preference for aggregate talent, compared to competitive balance and own team winning percentage, club profits and welfare increase for both clubs. If the small-market club is subsidized, a small subsidy increases competitive balance and player...Read more

  • Jean-François Brocard and Michel Cavagnac

    We study the effects of completing the legal framework of matchmakers with a rule designating which party must pay the commission. The paper examines the two rules currently open to debate at the international level in sport: the “player-pays” principle and the “club-pays” principle. We find that the most appropriate measure entails designating the party with the lesser bargaining power to pay the intermediary’s fee. However, our main result indicates that the appropriateness of imposing an additional rule in the legal framework is a preliminary issue. Indeed, even if the best rule is...Read more