The Economics of Sports

Michael A. Leeds is Professor and Department Chair of Economics at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA, and a research associate at IZA, USA. He has published numerous articles in labor economics and the economics of sports, and was co-editor of the Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports. He has won departmental, college, and university awards for his teaching. From 2007 to 2009, he was an Assistant Dean at Temple University, Japan. Peter von Allmen is Professor at the Department of Economics, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA. He previously served as the president of the North American Association of Sports Economics, and his primary research area is sports economics, with a particular focus on compensation schemes, incentives, and monopsony power. Victor A. Matheson is Professor of Economics at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, USA. He is co-editor of the Journal of Sports Economics and has written over 80 journal articles and book chapters. In addition, he worked as a soccer referee for 30 years and has officiated matches in Major League Soccer as well as over 400 Division 1 college games.

Part one: Introduction and Review of Economic Concepts


CHAPTER 1 Economics and Sports


CHAPTER 2 Review of the Economist’s Arsenal


Part two: The Industrial Organization of Sports


CHAPTER 3 Sports Franchises as Profit-Maximising Firms


CHAPTER 4 Monopoly and Antitrust


CHAPTER 5 Competitive Balance


Part three: Public Finance and Sports


CHAPTER 6 The Public Finance of Sports: Who Benefits and How


CHAPTER 7 The Public Finance of Sports: Who Pays and Why


CHAPTER 8 Mega-Events


Part four: The Labor Economics of Sports


CHAPTER 9 An Introduction to Labor Markets in Professional Sports


CHAPTER 10 Labor Market Imperfections


CHAPTER 11 Discrimination


Part five: Sports in the Not-for-Profit Sector


CHAPTER 12 The Economics of College Sports