103 research outputs found
Inequality in Intercollegiate Athletics: Origins, Trends and Policies
In this paper, the author provides an overview of economic inequality in intercollegiate athletics, tracing it from its origins in the late 19th century, through home rule, the introduction of the NCAA’s national broadcasting policy and its subsequent regionalization after Oklahoma v. NCAA, conference realignments, RSNs, the BCS and NCAA distribution policies. The paper argues that the current economic situation and the growing inequality is unsustainable and that policies to reverse the course are necessary. Policies to moderate inequality will not only assist in promoting financial stability but will also blunt the all-out drive to win and thereby help to reestablish the primacy of education in intercollegiate athletics
Dollar Dilemmas During the Downturn: A Financial Crossroads for College Sports
This paper undertakes three challenging tasks. First, I attempt to lay out the dimensions of the current financial crisis that confronts intercollegiate athletics. Second, I propose three reforms that I believe, if enacted, would go a long way toward ameliorating the financial situation and also bring the practice of college sports more in line ethically with its purported mission. Third, I assess the prospects of these reforms being carried out, given the history of failed reform efforts in the past
Competitive Balance Conundrums: Response to Fort and Maxcy\u27s Comment
Fort and Maxcy misrepresent my argument at various points and misapprehend the nature of the competitive balance issue. The analysis of competitive balance needs to be informed by theory. Purely empirical exercises are unlikely to enhance our understanding of the importance of competitive balance to team sports leagues
Reflections on Salary Shares and Salary Caps
This article takes a closer look at salary and revenue figures for the four major professional sports in the United States. It shows that the reporting typically offered in the popular media and often picked up in academic work can be rather misleading. The article first considers the conundrums in defining player compensation and then those connected to revenue. On the basis of adjusted data, the article proceeds to look at salary shares in revenue across the four leagues and considers the irony that the salary share in Major League Baseball (MLB) appears to be lower than the three leagues with a salary cap, the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL). It concludes with some analysis of the impact of salary caps and other mechanisms on controlling player costs
The BCS, Antitrust and Public Policy
This paper examines the history and the economics of the Bowl Championship Series, in the context of all college bowl games. The evidence suggests that the BCS restricts entry to the FBS conferences that are outside the BCS cartel and that the revenue distribution from the bowl games is highly skewed in favor of the six BCS conferences. The resulting revenue advantage enables the BCS conferences to perpetuate their historical predominance. The BCS selection process is based on a conceptually confused and biased system. The paper discusses the rationale proffered by the BCS for its system and then considers the antitrust arguments against the BCS. It concludes that the outcome of any antitrust claim would be uncertain, which together with the involved expense and time render problematic any antitrust strategy to break up the BCS cartel. Instead, the paper concludes with a call for a legislative solution that would open up the national championship to all FBS conferences, increase output, redistribute revenues more evenly throughout Division I and the rest of the NCAA, and provide more opportunities to college athletes.
Economic Issues in the 1998–1999 NBA Lockout and the Problem of Competitive Balance in Professional Sports
The Economics of Sports Facilities and Their Communities
Since the 1950s, taxpayers have been the primary investors in stadia built for the use of privately-owned professional sports teams. Team owners have argued that sports facilities boost local economic activity; however, economic reasoning and empirical evidence suggest the opposite. Public support for stadia is also driven by demand for community image, and owners of sports teams supply a scarce input into image enhancement--participation in the major league--for which they have been able to extract monopoly rents from dispersed taxpayers. We suggest reforms to dissipate the monopoly sports leagues exercise when negotiating with host communities for their teams
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