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 I: Introduction and Review of Economic Concepts

1. Economics and Sports

2. Review of the Economist’s Arsenal

Part II: The Industrial Organization of Sports

3. Sports Leagues and Franchises

4. Monopoly and Antitrust

5. Competitive Balance

Part III: Public Finance and Sports

6. The Public Finance of Sports: Who Benefits and How?

7. The Public Finance of Sports: Who Pays and Why?

8. Mega-Events

Part IV: The Labor Economics of Sports

9. An Introduction to Labor Markets in Professional Sports

10. Labor Market Imperfections

11. Discrimination

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

12. The Economics of Intercollegiate Sports