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Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues

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  • Wladimir Andreff

Abstract

This article contends that a new research avenue is open to comparative economics which is the economic comparison between American (closed) and European (open) professional team sports leagues. It starts with sketching the major institutional differences between the two leagues systems. Then it surveys the American modelling of competitive balance in these sports leagues that objects pro-competitive balance regulation as being non Walrasian when (American) teams are profit maximising. A next step is to cover how the Walrasian model has been adapted to European open leagues and their regulation of win maximising clubs under a hard budget constraint. Such approach has recently been outdated by models where win maximising clubs operate with a flexible supply of talent in a non cooperative game, given the globalization of the labour market for sporting talent (namely after the Bosman case). Finally, the article ploughs into a new research path advocating for a disequilibrium model where clubs would have a "soft" budget constraint rooted in their weak governance, and empirically tests a vicious circle between TV rights revenues and wages in French football that may explain the aforementioned disequilibrium.

Suggested Citation

  • Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 8(1), pages 3-27, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:liu:liucej:v:8:y:2011:i:1:p:3-27
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. János Kornai, 2014. "The soft budget constraint," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 64(supplemen), pages 25-79, November.
    5. Wladimir Andreff & Nicolas Scelles, 2015. "Walter C. Neale 50 Years After," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(8), pages 819-834, December.
    6. (ed.), 2015. "Disequilibrium Sports Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15993.
    7. Burdekin, Richard C.K. & Franklin, Michael, 2015. "Transfer spending in the English premier league: the haves and the have nots," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232, pages 4-17, May.
    8. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "Building Blocks for a Disequilibrium Model of a European Team Sports League," Post-Print halshs-00971782, HAL.
    9. Hackinger, Julian, 2019. "Ignoring millions of Euros: Transfer fees and sunk costs in professional football," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    10. Marco Runkel, 2022. "Player Mobility and Competitive Balance Regulation in Professional Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(4), pages 479-500, May.
    11. Egon Franck, 2018. "European Club Football after “Five Treatments” with Financial Fair Play—Time for an Assessment," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Kornai, János, 2014. "Bevezetés A puha költségvetési korlát című kötethez [Introduction to the author s volume entitled Soft Budget Constraint]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 845-897.
    13. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "Building Blocks for a Disequilibrium Model of a European Team Sports League," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00971782, HAL.
    14. Alice Aguiar-Noury & Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio, 2019. "Global brands in sports: identifying low-risk business opportunities," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(1), pages 62-83, August.
    15. Egon Franck, 2014. "Financial Fair Play in European Club Football: What Is It All About?," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 9(3), pages 193-217, August.
    16. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "The Winner's Curse in Sports Economics," Post-Print halshs-01243890, HAL.
    17. Andrea Rey & Francesco Santelli, 2017. "The Relationship between Financial Ratios and Sporting Performance in Italy’s Serie A," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(12), pages 1-53, November.
    18. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "The Winner's Curse in Sports Economics," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01243890, HAL.
    19. Fabio Wagner & Holger Preuss & Thomas Könecke, 2021. "A Central Element of Europe’s Football Ecosystem: Competitive Intensity in the “Big Five”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sports economics; comparative economics; economic organisation; governance; sports leagues; Walrasian model; Nash equilibrium; competitive balance; regulation; soft budget constraint; TV rights; wages; profit maximising; win maximising;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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