The effect of league design on spectator attendance: a regression discontinuity design approach

This paper exploits a sharp regression discontinuity design to identify the causal impact of the Scottish Premiership League (SPL) “split” on spectator match attendance. We use data drawn from all 19 completed seasons for which this institutional arrangement has been in place. The causal effect of the “split” is to induce, for the last five rounds of games played in the season, a differential in average attendance of about 24% between the clubs that just qualify for the “Championship Play-off” section and those that do not. However, the annualized effect for the season is found to be modest

Score a goal for climate: Assessing the carbon footprint of travel patterns of the English Premier League clubs

Football is the most popular sport, globally and in the United Kingdom. However it generates a range of negative environmental impacts, such as climate change, due to an extensive amount of travel involved. The growing contribution of football clubs to the global carbon footprint has been recognised, but never consistently assessed. This study assesses the carbon footprint of the English Premier League (EPL)clubs, using the patterns of their domestic travel in the 2016/2017 season as a proxy for analysis. The study shows that, within the 2016/17 season, the EPL clubs produced circa 1134 tonnes of CO 2- eq. as a result of their travel, where transportation accounts for 61% of the carbon footprint. To reduce this carbon footprint, a careful review of the current corporate travel and procurement practices in the EPL clubs is necessary. This is in order to optimise the travel itineraries, prioritise more climate-benign modes of transport and contract budget accommodation providers with the ‘green’ credentials

Global Sport Power Europe? The Efficacy of the European Union in Global Sport Regulation

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: GARCIA, B. and MEIER, H.-E., 2016. Global sport power Europe? The efficacy of the European Union in global sport regulation. Journal of Common Market Studies, 55 (4), pp. 850–870, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12512. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.The effectiveness of the European Union (EU) as global regulator is controversial. Some scholars characterize the EU as one of the most important shapers of global regulations; others argue that the EU’s effectiveness critically depends on its regulatory cohesion, the political opportunity structure and regulatory capacity of its interlocutors. Since global sport represents a regionally segmented industry and is governed by private actors of diverse regulatory capacity, global sport regulation represents an excellent domain to study these propositions systematically. Comparative case studies on global sport regulation support the idea that the EU can impose its regulatory ambitions on sport governing due to market size and regulatory capacity. However, the broader political opportunity structure is found to be relevant and the EU does not appear as a strong regulator of global sports

Evaluation of Irrigation Systems and some Pitch Properties of Selected Football Fields in Istanbul

Football fields composed of natural grass must maintain a playable state throughout the season. Substructure problems such as inadequacies in drainage and irrigation systems may adversely affect a player's health and game quality in rainy and/or dry seasons. The scope of the study encompasses eight football fields, which have natural turf combined with semi- or fully automatic sprinkler systems, with permission given for study in Istanbul. Irrigation systems, infiltration rate, surface hardness, turf coverage and root penetration parameters were investigated on these playing fields. The results were evaluated according to FIFA, UEFA, TFF and other national and international standards. Our findings showed that none of the sprinkler systems of these football fields could meet the minimum Christiansen's coefficient of uniformity ratio (84%). Only one of the sprinkler systems of the stadiums had a fair rating according to a distribution uniformity ratio. All fields, except for one, had low (<100 mm h(-1)) infiltration rates for first-class grounds. Cover percentages of the lawns were at desirable levels except for one stadium, which had excessive weed problems. Generally, root depths (<15 cm) and plant densities (5-15) were poor in the fields. Surface hardness was high (107 G-max) in one stadium, normal in another stadium (72 G-max) and low (< 70 G-max) in the rest. (c) 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd