Cross-ownership, league policies and player investment across sports leagues

Abstract

Although many sports leagues are viewed as monopolies, research suggests that some economic competition exists between teams in dierent sports leagues. If fans make consumption choices based on the quality of all teams that are present in their region, then economic competition and ownership structure can impact an owner's incentive to invest in talent. This article examines dierences between monopolists, duopolists and cross-ownership. Consumer preferences and fan loyalty are allowed to vary across sports, and the winning percentages of teams in other leagues aects demand. Our model shows that economic competition results in an ambiguous level of investment compared to a monopolist. A rm that engages in cross-ownership will invest less in talent compared to a duopolist, but the dierence in prots is ambiguous. League policies are studied and are shown to aect the quality of teams in other leagues