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Big Men on Campus: Estimating the Economic Impact of College Sports on Local Economies

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Author Info
Robert Baade () (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College)
Robert Baumann () (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross)
Victor Matheson () (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross)

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Abstract

College football and men’s basketball are the largest revenue generators in college athletics. Studies funded by athletic boosters tout the economic benefits of a college athletic program as an incentive for host cities to construct new stadiums or arenas at considerable public expense. Our analysis of the economic impact of home football and men’s basketball games on Tallahassee (home of Florida State University) and Gainesville (home of the University of Florida) between 1980 to early-2007 fails to support these claims. Men’s basketball games at these universities have no statistically significant impact on taxable sales, while football yields a modest gain of $2 to $3 million per home game. While this positive finding is one of the first in the academic literature of the impact of sports, these gains pale in comparison to the figures in many of the studies funded by athletic boosters.

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File URL: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/economics/RePEc/Matheson-Baumann_CollegeSports.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 0704.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2007
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Regional Studies
Handle: RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0704

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Phone: (508)793-3362
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Web page: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/economics/website/
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Related research
Keywords: sports; basketball; football; college sports; impact analysis; mega-event;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Recreation; Tourism
O18 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses
R53 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Public Facility Location Analysis; Public Investment and Capital Stock

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Victor Matheson & Robert Baade, 2004. "Padding Required: Assessing the Economic Impact of the Super Bowl," Working Papers 0403, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. John Siegfried & Andrew Zimbalist, 2000. "The Economics of Sports Facilities and Their Communities," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 95-114, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Coates, Dennis & Humphreys, Brad R., 2003. "The effect of professional sports on earnings and employment in the services and retail sectors in US cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 175-198, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Dennis Coates & Craig A. Depken, II, 2006. "Mega-Events: Is the Texas-Baylor game to Waco what the Super Bowl is to Houston?," Working Papers 0606, International Association of Sports Economists. [Downloadable!]
  5. Robert A. Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor A. Matheson, 2008. "Selling the Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Professional Sports through Taxable Sales," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 794-810, January.
  6. Dennis Coates, 2006. "The Tax Benefits of Hosting the Super Bowl and the MLB All-Star Game: The Houston Experience," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 1(4), pages 239-252, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Dennis Coates, 2009. "Hotel Tax Collections and a Local Mega-Event," Working Papers 0901, International Association of Sports Economists. [Downloadable!]
  2. Bernard F. Lentz & David N. Laband, 2008. "The Impact of College Athletics on Employment in the Restaurant and Accommodations Industries," Working Papers 0803, International Association of Sports Economists. [Downloadable!]
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