417 research outputs found
Major League Baseball and Globalization: The World Baseball Classic
In addition to generating initial profits, the WBC has positioned MLB to be the leader in growing the game of baseball and the commercial aspects of the sport throughout the world. As baseball grows, and more importantly as the American brand of baseball grows, it will be interesting to watch the worldwide reaction – particularly if MLB begins to generate huge profits overseas. Other prominent American brands such as Coke, Nike, Disney, and McDonalds have been both embraced and scorned as they have ventured beyond the fifty U.S. states. MLB will have unique challenges, but also tremendous opportunities as they attempt to expand their potential marketplace from 330 million consumers to the entire world. Ultimately, the long-term impact of the initial World Baseball Classic will not be known for many years, but it appears that the initial tournament met, and in some cases, exceeded expectations.World Baseball Classic; WBC; globalization
Free Ride, Take it Easy: An Empirical Analysis of Adverse Incentives Caused by Revenue Sharing
A fundamental belief in professional sport leagues is that competitive balance is needed to maximize demand and revenues; therefore, leagues have created policies attempting to attain proper competitive balance. Further, research posits that objectives of professional sport teams’ owners include some combination of winning and profit maximization. Although the pursuit of wins is a zero sum game, revenue generation and potential profit making is not. This article focuses upon the National Football League’s potential unintended consequences of creating the incentive for some teams to free ride on the rest of the league’s talent and brand. It examines whether an owner’s objectives to generate increased revenues and profits are potentially enhanced by operating as a continual low-cost provider while making money from the shared revenues and brand value of the league. The present evidence indicates that, overall, being a low-cost provider is more profitable than increasing player salaries in an attempt to win additional games.free riding; free ride; football; profit maximization; regression; owner incentives
Treatment of Travel Expenses by Golf Course Patrons: Sunk or Bundled Costs and the First and Third Laws of Demand
To attract golf patrons, sport managers must understand consumption patterns of the golfer. Importantly, the treatment of travel costs must be understood. According to the Alchian-Allen (1964) theorem, golfers treat travel costs as bundled costs (third law of economic demand) whereas classical consumer theory indicates that golfers treat travel costs as sunk costs (first law of economic demand). The purpose of this study was to determine if golf patrons treated travel costs as sunk costs or if they treated travel costs as a bundled cost. Data from a survey of course patrons in Ohio support the treatment of travel costs as bundled costs by golf course patrons, especially those classified as tourists. Managers should utilize geographic segmentation in choosing whom to market their course based upon their product’s price compared to area competitors, as shown by the strong, positive correlation found between distance traveled and cost of green fees.Alchian-Allen Theorem; Third Law of Demand; Golf Tourism; Bundling
The Effects of Roster Turnover on Demand in the National Basketball Association
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of roster turnover on demand in the National Basketball Association (NBA) over a five-year period (2000-2005) and compare these results to previous research on turnover in Major League Baseball (MLB). A censored regression equation was developed to examine the relationship between roster turnover and season attendance, while controlling for other potentially confounding variables in the model. The censored regression model was used to account for the capacity constraints by forecasting the level of demand beyond capacity using information from the uncensored observations. The regression model was found to be significant with a log-likelihood statistic of 110.446. Previous attendance, current winning percentage, previous winning percentage, number of all-star players, and team history were found to be significant predictors of attendance. However, the variables measuring the effects of roster turnover were not found to be significant. There were substantial differences in the effect of roster turnover on attendance in the NBA compared with MLB. In addition, these findings provide evidence for using censored regression when dealing with constrained variables. Sellouts in the NBA appear to have an effect on all of the variables in the demand model. Future research will need to be conducted to help sport managers understand the role of roster turnover in specific professional leagues and to better understand the importance of using a censored regression model.basketball; roster turnover; demand; regression; censored regression
Revenue and Wealth Maximization in the National Football League: The Impact of Stadia
The opening of the Palace of Auburn Hills, the SkyDome, and Oriole Park at Camden Yards led to the beginning of a construction boom in professional sport. In the National Football League (NFL) alone, 26 stadiums have been built or renovated in the past 10 years. Due to the additional revenue generated by these facilities and the NFL’s current revenue sharing system, professional football franchises are building new stadia for economic reasons rather than to replace unusable or unsafe facilities. The purpose of this study was to determine if a significant difference in net revenue change existed for NFL teams that moved into a new facility and to determine if there was a significant change in valuation for these franchises. The findings indicated that new stadia significantly increase revenue and franchise value in the NFL; therefore, the primary goal of every firm, wealth maximization, is met for teams after opening a new facility.football; NFL; stadium; revenue; honeymoon
Variable Ticket Pricing in Major League Baseball
Sport teams have historically been reluctant to change ticket prices during the season. Recently, however, numerous sport organizations have implemented variable ticket pricing in an effort to maximize revenues. In Major League Baseball, variable pricing results in ticket price increases or decreases depending on factors such as quality of the opponent, day of the week, month of the year, and for special events such as opening day, Memorial Day and Independence Day (July 4). Using censored regression and elasticity analysis, this paper demonstrates that variable pricing would have yielded approximately 1.4 million in revenue. The largest percentage revenue gain would have been the San Francisco Giants. The Giants would have seen an estimated 6.7% increase in revenue had they used optimal variable pricing.baseball; variable pricing; dynamic pricing; regression; censored regression
Major League Baseball Anti-Trust Immunity: Examining the Legal and Financial Implications of Relocation Rules
Major League Baseball (MLB) rules restrict the movement of any franchise into another’s territory. These territorial rules are designed to protect each team’s potential local revenue sources as well as to provide stability throughout the league. Recently, Major League Baseball approved financial compensation for the Washington Nationals move into the Baltimore Orioles’ territory – primarily because it was in the best interest of MLB even though it hurt the Orioles. However, the Oakland Athletics were unable to even negotiate a potential compensation plan for a move into the San Francisco Giants territory, despite the apparent financial benefit the move could have provided for every other league franchise. The Athletics are already located within 15 miles of the Giants, and their potential 40 mile move to San Jose, California would not add a new team to the San Francisco Bay Area; rather, it would simply be a move of a current team to a different location within the metropolitan area. The refusal of the Giants or MLB to negotiate a potential compromise has kept the Oakland Athletics in a substandard facility and has led to their potential move to Fremont, CA – a less desirable location than San Jose. This paper investigates the legal, policy, and financial considerations concerning Major League Baseball’s territorial rules. Specifically, it addresses antitrust law as it pertains to American professional sport, relative sport franchise relocation cases, financial arguments why leagues desire to control relocation, financial components of MLB’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the legal and financial impact of a challenge to MLB’s territorial rules – an option the Oakland Athletic initially investigated prior to their decision to pursue a potential move to Fremont.Antitrust law; Collective Bargaining Agreement; Franchise Relocation; Major League Baseball; Revenue Sharing; Territorial Rights
Where did National Hockey League Fans go During the 2004-2005 Lockout?: An Analysis of Economic Competition Between Leagues
Identifying and evaluating competitors is a critical aspect of operating a sport organisation. However, North American sports franchises have a limited understanding of competitors in their geographic market – particularly when calculating the degree of competition from other sport teams. Increasing the understanding of local sport competitors, whether in the same or different professional leagues, is critical not only to future franchise operations, but also for potential litigation concerning relevant product markets. This article utilises a natural experiment involving the National Hockey League’s (NHL) 2004-2005 lockout to assess the competitiveness of the NHL with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and four minor hockey leagues. On average, the five potential competitor leagues attained a 2% increase in demand, all else equal, during the lockout period. For the NBA this translates into more than US$1 million per team in increased incremental ticket revenue.relevant market; competition; demand; National Hockey League; regression
Library Analytics: Shaping the Future — A Case of Strategic Library Transformation Using Data Analytics: Chalmers University of Technology
Drag reduction and wake mitigation in wind turbines using riblet microstructures
Wind turbines suffer many inefficiencies under immensely dynamic conditions. Turbulence, whether systemic or deliberately induced, generates far wake fields that deplete kinetic energy for downstream installations. This study will examine the use of a geometrical feature known as ‘riblets’, applied to the surface of turbine blades to reduce drag and mitigate wake effects.
Riblets were inspired by dermal denticles in shark skin, capable of reducing shear forces in the boundary layer. Previous studies into the use of man-made riblets focused on uniform designs across the aerofoil without giving consideration to bespoke designs that would address the complex varying shear forces and turbulent kinetic energy regions of the boundary layer. Computational fluid dynamic software was used to validate a known NACA 0012 aerofoil against experimental and simulated values from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Variations were then made to both uniform and non-uniform riblet configurations ranging in size from 50 to 125 micrometers along the chord length of an NACA 0012 standard symmetrical aerofoil. These included uniform and non-uniform riblet designs from fore to aft chordwise.
3D simulations were be completed using SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation to measure free stream velocity and static/dynamic pressures across eight (8) aerofoils at wind speeds ranging from 5-90 m/s. A further four (4) S-802 wind turbine blade aerofoils were modelled and the methodology repeated. Comparing drag coefficients resulted in an overall decrease in performance of the riblet aerofoils, contrary to previous experimental studies. Drag was greater by up to 20% at lower velocities with the detriment decreasing as wind velocity increased.
It is likely that computational fluid dynamic software is unable to account for the complex nature of vortex control in the boundary layer. Whilst it may be able to resolve the generation and estimate the effects, when considering that the underlying mechanism for raising, pinning and separating vortices is not completely understood in experimentation, it would follow that software packages are yet to incorporate what is still a somewhat unknown phenomenon and it is likely cost prohibitive to develop.
This document describes the development of the project from original idea initiation to a fully scoped research project and resultant findings. This proposal includes a comprehensive literature review, proposed methodology of research, project scheduling, costs, risk assessment, risk mitigation and quality control planning. This research reaffirms the lack of precise understanding as to exactly why experimental riblet designs are able to yield drag reductions. Despite there being very reasonable assumptions it is likely still beyond even very complex CFD software algorithms. The research therefore indicates that in order to apply knowledge to wind turbine blade design, experimental data is not expected to corroborate simulations and practical application for research should be the starting point for drag reduction and the control of turbulent vortex generation in the field of fluid mechanics until greater practical understanding is achieved
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