IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revind/v46y2015i2p127-143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competition Between Sports Leagues: Theory and Evidence on Rival League Formation in North America

Author

Listed:
  • XiaoGang Che
  • Brad Humphreys

Abstract

We analyze the formation of rival leagues and deterrence by incumbent leagues in professional team sports, which is one of the least studied forms of competition in sports. We first survey the economic history of professional sport leagues in North America and develop stylized facts about rival league formation. We then develop a game-theoretical model to explain some of these interesting stylized facts, showing that if the bargaining power of the incumbent league is sufficiently small—i.e., less than a certain cutoff—the incumbent should choose expansion to deter the rival league formation; otherwise, it is optimal for the incumbent league to allow a rival league formation and then merge with it, conditional on rival league success. We further show that the incumbent league may pay players relatively high salaries as an alternative way to deter formation by a rival league. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • XiaoGang Che & Brad Humphreys, 2015. "Competition Between Sports Leagues: Theory and Evidence on Rival League Formation in North America," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 46(2), pages 127-143, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:46:y:2015:i:2:p:127-143
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-014-9439-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11151-014-9439-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11151-014-9439-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Grossmann & Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang, 2010. "Revenue Sharing and Competitive Balance in a Dynamic Contest Model," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 17-36, February.
    2. Farrell, Joseph & Shapiro, Carl, 1988. "Horizontal Mergers: An Equilibrium Analysis," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt0tp305nx, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    3. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 1995. "Cross-subsidization, Incentives, and Outcomes in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1265-1299, September.
    4. Stefan Szymanski & Stephen F. Ross, 2007. "Governance And Vertical Integration In Team Sports," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(4), pages 616-626, October.
    5. William M. Boal & Michael R. Ransom, 1997. "Monopsony in the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 86-112, March.
    6. Volker Nocke & Michael D. Whinston, 2010. "Dynamic Merger Review," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(6), pages 1201-1251.
    7. Salop, Steven C & Scheffman, David T, 1987. "Cost-Raising Strategies," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 19-34, September.
    8. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "Sports League Expansion and Consumer Welfare," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 8(2), pages 115-138, May.
    9. Farrell, Joseph & Shapiro, Carl, 1990. "Horizontal Mergers: An Equilibrium Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 107-126, March.
    10. Helmut M. Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang, 2008. "Overinvestment In Team Sports Leagues: A Contest Theory Model," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(3), pages 353-368, July.
    11. Stefan Szymanski, 2004. "Professional Team Sports Are Only a Game," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(2), pages 111-126, May.
    12. Philippe Cyrenne, 2009. "Modelling Professional Sports Leagues: An Industrial Organization Approach," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(3), pages 193-215, May.
    13. Volker Nocke & Michael D. Whinston, 2013. "Merger Policy with Merger Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 1006-1033, April.
    14. John D. Burger & Stephen J.K. Walters, 2008. "The Existence and Persistence of a Winner's Curse: New Evidence from the (Baseball) Field," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(1), pages 232-245, July.
    15. Paul Madden, 2011. "Game Theoretic Analysis of Basic Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(4), pages 407-431, August.
    16. McAfee, R Preston & Williams, Michael A, 1992. "Horizontal Mergers and Antitrust Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 181-187, June.
    17. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "The Sports Business as a Labor Market Laboratory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 75-94, Summer.
    18. Martin Pesendorfer, 2005. "Mergers Under Entry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(3), pages 661-679, Autumn.
    19. Martin Schmidt, 2011. "Institutional Change and Factor Movement in Major League Baseball: An Examination of the Coase Theorem’s Invariance Principle," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 39(3), pages 187-205, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. James Reade & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "Consumer Perceptions Matter: A Case Study of an Anomaly in English Football," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2024-03, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    2. Brad R. Humphreys & Li Zhou, 2014. "Loss Aversion, Team Relocations, and Major League Expansion," Working Papers 14-17, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    3. Margo Beck & Sara LaLumia, 2022. "Female Role Models and Labor Force Participation: The Case of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(4), pages 488-517, October.
    4. Gerald T. Healy III & Jing Ru Tan & Peter F. Orazem, 2020. "Measuring Market Power in Professional Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Hockey," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 65(2), pages 214-231, October.
    5. Alexander Cardazzi & Brad Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski & Brian P. Soebbing & Nicholas Watanabe, 2020. "Professional Sporting Events Increase Seasonal Influenza Mortality in US Cities," Working Papers 20-08, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    6. J. James Reade & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "Consumer perceptions matter: A case study of an anomaly in English football," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-023/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Bradbury, John Charles, 2017. "Monopsony and competition: The impact of rival leagues on player salaries during the early days of baseball," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 55-67.
    8. Humphreys, Brad R. & Zhou, Li, 2015. "Reference-dependent preferences, team relocations, and major league expansion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 10-25.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ben Mermelstein & Volker Nocke & Mark A. Satterthwaite & Michael D. Whinston, 2020. "Internal versus External Growth in Industries with Scale Economies: A Computational Model of Optimal Merger Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(1), pages 301-341.
    2. Helmut M. Dietl & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2011. "Competitive Balance and Revenue Sharing in Sports Leagues With Utility-Maximizing Teams," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(3), pages 284-308, June.
    3. Mason, Robin & Weeds, Helen, 2013. "Merger policy, entry, and entrepreneurship," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 23-38.
    4. Wang, X. Henry & Zhao, Jingang, 2022. "Merger effects in asymmetric and differentiated Bertrand oligopolies," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 37-49.
    5. Ghosh, Arghya & Morita, Hodaka & Wang, Chengsi, 2014. "Horizontal mergers in the presence of vertical relationships," MPRA Paper 60275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Simon Loertscher & Leslie M. Marx, 2021. "Coordinated Effects in Merger Review," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 705-744.
    7. Eileen Fumagalli & Tore Nilssen, 2019. "Sweetening the Pill: a Theory of Waiting to Merge," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 351-388, September.
    8. Bisceglia, Michele & Piccolo, Salvatore & Tarantino, Emanuele, 2023. "M&A advisory and the merger review process," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Jovanovic, Dragan & Wey, Christian, 2012. "An equilibrium analysis of efficiency gains from mergers," DICE Discussion Papers 64, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    10. Martin Grossmann & Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang, 2010. "Revenue Sharing and Competitive Balance in a Dynamic Contest Model," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 17-36, February.
    11. Volker Nocke & Michael D. Whinston, 2010. "Dynamic Merger Review," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(6), pages 1201-1251.
    12. Jaunaux, Laure & Lefouili, Yassine & Sand-Zantman, Wilfried, 2017. "Entry and merger policy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 124-129.
    13. Markus LANG & Alexander RATHKE & Marco RUNKEL, 2010. "The Economic Consequences Of Foreigner Rules In National Sports Leagues," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 31, pages 47-64.
    14. Chen, Jiawei, 2009. "The effects of mergers with dynamic capacity accumulation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 92-109, January.
    15. Luis Gautier & Mahelet G. Fikru, 2024. "Welfare Impact of New Firm Acquisition," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Handbook of Merger Control and Environmental Policy, chapter 0, pages 105-132, Springer.
    16. Masaki Fujimoto, 2023. "A Dynamic Analysis of Equal Revenue Sharing and Endogenous Salary Caps in the N-Team Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 624-638, June.
    17. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2010. "Organizational Differences between U.S. Major Leagues and European Leagues: Implications for Salary Caps," Working Papers 0035, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    18. Justin P. Johnson & Andrew Rhodes, 2021. "Multiproduct mergers and quality competition," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(3), pages 633-661, September.
    19. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2009. "Contest Theory and its Applications in Sports," Working Papers 0029, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    20. Basile Grassi & Julien Sauvagnat, 2019. "Production networks and economic policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 35(4), pages 638-677.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Deterrence; Professional team sports; Rival league; D42; L12; L83;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:46:y:2015:i:2:p:127-143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.