Plácido Rodríguez

The Determinants of Football Match Attendance Revisited: Empirical Evidence From the Spanish Football League

An attendance equation is estimated using data on individual games played in the Spanish First Division Football League. The specification includes as explanatory factors: economic variables, quality, uncertainty and opportunity costs. The authors concentrate the analysis on some specification issues such as controlling the effect of unobservables given the panel data structure of the data set, the type of functional form, and the potential endogeneity of prices. The authors obtain the expected effects on attendance for all the variables. The estimated price elasticities are, in general, smaller than one in absolute value but are sensitive to the specification issues, in particular, the endogeneity of prices.

From sports clubs to stock companies: The financial structure of football in Spain, 1992–2001

In this paper we study the financial structure of professional football in Spain during the last decade. In 1992, all the football clubs in Spain with the exception of Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Osasuna and Real Madrid, became stock companies, obtaining extra money from Spanish football pools to cancel their debts. Five years later, the clubs signed new individual contracts with television operators and received new revenues from these agreements. For the second time, the old solution of obtaining a large cash injection did not solve the clubs’ financial problems. Instead, new circumstances appeared. Transfer fees and players’ wages were increasing substantially, clubs were spending money from future revenues and balance sheets were based on intangible fixed assets. This situation has meant that for some clubs it will be difficult to survive in professional football in Spain.

The Demand for Football Pools in Spain: The Role of Price, Prizes, and the Composition of the Coupon

Using data for all the fixtures for the seasons from 1972-73 to 2002-03, we estimate a dynamic model of demand for football pools in Spain paying attention to the effect of the main economic explanatory variables: the face value of a coupon, the effective price of a bet, and the jackpot. Additionally, we evaluate the importance of the composition of the list of games in the coupon, i.e., whether First Division matches are included. Results show that both the face value and the jackpot, but not the effective price, have significant effects on sales, which could have important implications in terms of how the structure of the game should be changed in order to have an effect on sales.

The Determinants of Television Audience for Professional Cycling The Case of Spain

This research is intended to assess the determinants of the television (TV) audience in Spain for professional cycling. Our data refer to cycling races broadcast on several Spanish TV channels and make it possible to compute three different audience variables: rating, share, and number of viewers. The most original contributions of this research are the new indicators of competitive balance for cycling races that are proposed here. The outcomes show that audience ratings depend mainly on the following features: competitive balance, the type of stage and race, the nationality of the race leader, and inertial behaviors on the part of viewers.

Are Broadcast Sporting Events of "General Interest"? A Regional Panel Data Analysis of TV Ratings for Spain's La Liga

In 1997, a law was passed in Spain that mandated that “broadcastings of general interest” be free-to-air rather than pay-per-view. Since that time, a soccer match of the Spanish First Division—considered a public benefit activity—can be viewed on a weekly basis for free throughout the regular season. The aim of this article is to determine whether a “general interest” for these free-to-air broadcastings exists. To perform the empirical analysis, a demand equation for a TV audience is estimated using a unique panel data set on a regional level, in which the dependent variable is the number of viewers of free-to-air matches in each Spanish region during the period 2008–2012. The model specifications consider whether a particular region has a team competing in the First Division and other socioeconomical and sporting variables. The results conclude that a nationwide “general interest” in free-to-air broadcasting of soccer matches, which would support Spanish law, does not exist, with the exception of matches played by Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, Fútbol Club Barcelona, and local teams.

The Economics of Sport, Health and Happiness

Including an array of distinguished contributors, this novel book fills a gap in the literature by addressing an important, yet under-researched, issue in the field of sports economics. It places great emphasis on the notion that sport is a significant component for improving the happiness, health and well-being of citizens, communities and society as a whole. In so doing, it addresses whether, in an environment of increasing pressure on public spending, governments should continue to subsidize sporting activities at the expense of other public resources.

Guessing Who Wins or Predicting the Exact Score: Does it Make Any Difference in Terms of the Demand for Football Pools?

The development of sports economics has exploded in recent years, and this well-researched and relevant book explores some of the most critical themes. Contemporary Issues in Sports Economics examines topics that have previously received little attention in the literature, such as the determinants and social impacts of sports participation including the link to crime levels. The distinguished authors also discuss some of the less investigated aspects of professional team sports, including: • sports betting, financing and governance; • the impact of low scoring matches on competitive balance and fan appeal in European football; and • the effect on player transfers of a luxury tax on club payrolls in Major League Baseball.

Effects of scarcity, aesthetics and ecology on wildlife auction prices of large African mammals

For successful integration of biological conservation into economic markets, economic processes need to capture ecological values. South African wildlife ranching is a tourist-based activity that generates unique information on the economic value of wildlife species. We used public data from South African wildlife auctions to evaluate if annual prices 1991–2012 related to species characteristics associated with scarcity, aesthetics and ecology of South African carnivores and ungulates. While none of the species characteristics influenced carnivore prices, ungulate prices were related to characteristics associated with novelty and aesthetics, which relative importance had increased over time. We raise both ecological and economic concerns for this apparent focus. Our results also suggest a potential importance of non-species-related factors, such as market and buyer characteristics. We encourage further evaluation of the relative influences of species characteristics versus factors that are intrinsically linked to economic processes on price variations in South African wildlife.

Forecasting football match results: are the many smarter than the few?*

An empirical analysis of Spanish football betting odds is carried out here to test whether football matches final result estimates by experts (bookmakers) differ (better/worse) from those by the ‘crowd’ (football pools bettors). Examination of implied probabilities for each of the possible outcomes evidences the existence of favourite long-shot bias in the betting market for Spanish football. A further study of the accuracy of probability forecasts concludes that experts seem to be better in forecasting football results than the ‘crowd’.

The economics of competitive sports

The essence of any sports contest is competition. The very unpredictability of a sporting outcome distinguishes it from, say, an opera performance. This volume presents a state of the art overview of the economics of competitive sport along two main themes. In the first part, the discussion centers on the organization of sports and competition. The second part deals with the competitive balance, rewards and outcomes of the actual contests.