Soziologische und ökonomische Funktion von Grenzwerten – eine kurze Skizze

Neben der Bewahrung der olympischen Idee und der Organisation der Olympischen Spiele liegt die Vermarktung des Wettbewerbs im Aufgabenbereich des IOC. Hierbei wird jedoch nicht nur die sportliche Leistung im Wettkampf vermarktet, sondern ein komplementäres Gut, bestehend aus der sportlichen (Höchst-)Leistung und dem Glauben an die regelkonforme Erbringung dieser Leistung. Im Falle des Dopings besteht das Problem, dass der Regelbruch durch die Anwendung unerlaubter Substanzen vom Zuschauer der Wettbewerbe nicht unmittelbar erkannt werden kann, sondern frühestens nach der Auswertung der Dopingproben sichtbar wird. Doping führt somit in Bezug auf die Vermarktung des Kuppelproduktes (Leistung und ehrliche Leistungserbringung) zu einem periodenübergreifenden Problem. Der Beitrag betrachtet die daraus entstehenden Spannungen im IOC und wie diese auf Athleten- und Anbieterebene unter Wahrung der Einkommenschancen bewältigt werden. Im Detail wird untersucht, durch welche besonderen Vertrauenseigenschaften der olympische Sport gekennzeichnet ist, welche Funktion der Glaube an die Regeltreue der Leistung hat und wie dieser Glaube produziert wird, sowie welche Funktion dabei Grenzwerte haben. Im Anschluss daran wird ein Formalisierungsansatz vorgestellt, welcher versucht, die Nutzen maximierenden Entscheidungen der drei Interessengruppierungen im Kontext des olympischen Sports, nämlich Veranstalter, Athleten und Zuschauer, abzubilden. Hierbei wird der Nutzen, den die Zuschauer aus dem olympischen Sport ziehen, in den Fokus der Betrachtung gerückt. Der maximale Zuschauernutzen entsteht genau unter der Bedingung, dass wenige Dopingtests vorgenommen werden

Follow me … on the relationship between social media activities and market values in the German Bundesliga

Transfermarkt.de’s market value (transfermarkt value) is a topic that is discussed very often in sports economics. Based on existing literature, we assume that the Transfermarkt value is a function of different input parameters, such as player characteristics, player performance, player presentation and team performance. This paper analyzes the relationship between a player’s social media activity and his market value based on transfermarkt.de. Based on a dataset of 600 players from the German Bundesliga, we find that Instagram activity has a significant impact on a player’s market value. On the basis of this result, we discuss several implications for professional football players on the one hand and for clubs on the other. The paper opens up a new dimension of economic research in professional football, namely, the sport economic significance of social media

Players Market Value at Risk: A Model and Some Evidence for the German Bundesliga

The market value of players forms a major asset of any modern professional football club. As with any asset, the expected benefits from having the right to use a player within a team, are also offset by risks that must be managed adequately by the club. To this end we, describe a simple risk-management tool that managers of football clubs can use to model and monitor a player’s market value at risk. Our model consists of three elements. First, we use a quantile-regression approach to study how performance parameters of football players affect their market values. To this end, we study data for 327 players of the German Bundesliga for the season 2015/2016. Our estimation results show that the time played significantly affects the lower part of the conditional distribution of players market value, while the number of goals and passes (assists) affect the upper (middle) part of the conditional distribution. Second, we fit a flexible continuous probability density function to the estimated quantiles of the conditional distribution of players market value. Third, we analyze how performance parameters affect the market value at risk and the expected shortfall of market value. We use an out-of-sample analysis to validate our empirical model

First step developing a early-warning system against corruption for sports associations

The business model of sports is based on trust, reputation and fairness. In recent years sports associations have often engaged in crime, corruption and non-compliance, which has damaged the reputation of sports. A professional compliance tool to counteract the loss of trust is still missing, an early-warning system for sports organisations could provide a solution. It simulates how they react to non-tolerable instances of corruption, doping or violations of competitive integrity. The aim of this article is to present the first step developing an early-warning system for sports associations. The approach of New Institutional Economics was chosen to be the theoretical framework to understand the characteristics of corrupt deals and from that identify indicators that uncover corruption at an early stage. To support the normative process of indicator finding a literature research and a case study were carried out. The results indicate that corrupt deals involve three phases and that the relationship between the corrupt partners is central. Regarding to the strong bonds in corrupt relationships a lack of term limitations, no rotation in leadership positions, missing systems of whistleblowing or insufficient transparency could be possible indicators for corruption and non-compliance in sports associations

Cheater detection for randomized response-techniques : derivation, analyses and application

Finding out how often an embarrassing characteristic exists in a population is accompanied by numerous problems that are due in particular to false answers as a consequence of social undesirability. The oldest of the techniques developed to compensate for these distortions is the Randomized Response Technique which is currently still the most widely used, evaluated and researched technique in the field of sensitive subjects. Although this technique guarantees complete security for the person being questioned and therefore opens up options for answering even threatening questions honestly, even here "cheating" occurs in terms of not complying with the instructions. This volume describes the mathematical derivation of techniques to detect the extent to which this "cheating" occurs. It also provides analyses on the process characteristics and extends these analyses to include practical advice on how to use this process flexibly. A general solution is developed for various forms of "cheating" for the first time

The impact of investors on transfer fees in the English Premier League: A study of the ownership structures

Transfer fees in European football have experienced a rapid increase in the past years. Simultaneously, an increasing number of domestic and recently foreign investors — who are assumed to further increase team spending in European football — have entered the football market by becoming club owners. In light of these developments, fears associated with an increasing influence of foreign (majority) investors from the financial as well as the emotional fan perspective have increased. Given the rather limited number of empirical studies focusing on the impact of investors on transfer fees, we shed further light on this topic. Based on a data sample including transfer fees, player characteristics, player performance and team performance from 2012–2013 to 2018–2019 for the English Premier League, we estimate OLS regressions and quantile regressions to analyze the effects of ownership concentration and investor origin on the amount of individual transfer fees. While we do not find strong evidence that ownership concentration increases the willingness to pay, we find fairly consistent results that foreign investors are willing to pay a premium compared to domestic investors. Our results also indicate that especially foreign investors who own a majority share of a club have a positive effect on transfer fees for the upper quantiles

Recreational Athletes' Use of Performance-Enhancing Substances: Results from the First European Randomized Response Technique Survey

Measuring the prevalence of doping in recreational sport is difficult. However, to fit their initiatives, National Anti-Doping Organizations are interested in knowing the numbers, so their scarce resources are not wasted. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of doping and over-the-counter medicine use for performance enhancement among recreational athletes in eight European countries. A survey covering + 200 sports aimed at recreational athletes 15 years and older was distributed via social media to sports clubs and individuals in eight European countries. To overcome social desirability bias, we applied indirect questioning by using the Randomized Response Technique and asked for the use of over-the-counter medicine and doping for the year 2019. The prevalence of the use of over-the-counter medications for performance enhancement was estimated at 10.4%. We differentiated between the concept of “doping” as the behavior to enhance performance in a certain sport and the concept of “a doper” as a property of a person. The prevalence of dopers in recreational sport was found to be 0.4%, with 3.1% male and 0% female dopers. Responses were separated into four categories: “Artistic sports,” “Combat sports,” “Games,” and “CGS sports” (i.e., sports measured in centimeters, grams, and seconds). The overall prevalence of doping in recreational sports was found to be 1.6%, and the results from Artistic and CGS sports did not differ significantly from this. However, in Games we found an estimated doping prevalence of 6.9%. The estimates for the prevalence of dopers and doping in this study do not equal Anti-Doping Rule Violations as stipulated by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Still, while doping is not absent in recreational sport in Europe, it appears to be a low frequent phenomenon. Also, the differences in doping prevalence between the sports categories might reflect structural and competition-related differences, rather than differences in the logic of the sporting competition or discipline-related subcultures. While few recreational athletes appear to use illegal drugs to enhance performance, those who do use them are more often men than women. Yet, 1 in 10 recreational athletes uses over-the-counter medication for performance enhancement and more than 4 out of 10 use medication for other reasons than performance enhancement when doing sports. The highest doping prevalence was found in the sub-category of Games, which can likely be attributed to competition-related differences between the categories. Therefore, research on doping in recreational sports needs tailored approaches to come to a better understanding of the phenomenon

The Influence of performance parameters on market value

Research question: We uncover the influence of performance parameters on market value of football players in German Bundesliga. Hereby, the analyses should in some places reach beyond the current state of research by, for example, using relative operating times or running kilometres in the analysis. Research methods: To this end, we analysed all players in the season 2015/16 who had at least one significant participation in a game. Because of the unclear functional form of the links of the market value of players to the influencing variables, we carried out the analysis using Boosted Regression Trees in order to be able to map and interpret both different scale levels and nonlinearities. Results and Findings: We found the highest relative influence in the ranking of TV money from the preseason (>50%) and goals and high pass rate (each >10%). Partial-dependence plots recover the nonlinear influence of variable on the market value of players. Implications: It seems that the market value depends significantly less on sports performance than assumed. On the one hand, the preselection of the players in the respective clubs causes a clear difference in the market values of the individual players. In addition, the often-assumed linearity for some variables is just as little as the quadratic correlation, which is often assumed for old age, which is why classical OLS estimates cannot be sufficiently argued

German sports clubs’ recruitment of executive board members

This paper analyzes the recruitment of executive board members for German sports clubs, an issue of key interest given that volunteers play a dominant role in these sports clubs. Based on a new, micro-level data set, we examine how members of a sports club advance to become executive board members and how board members differ from ordinary members. Based on the results of our study, we examine whether Michels’ “iron law of oligarchy” applies and whether democratic procedures for elections in sports clubs are replaced, even in part, by trust-based oligarchic structures