Stefan Kesenne

The Impact of Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports

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Factors affecting repeat visitation and flow-on tourism as sources of event strategy sustainability.

The sustainability of including medium sized one-time sport events in an event portfolio is examined with reference to the capacity of one such event to stimulate flow-on tourism (i.e. tourism activities beyond the event but around the time of the event), a desire to return to the destination, and positive word-of-mouth. Relationships among four motives (socialising, escape, learning about the destination, and learning about athletics), identification with the event (self and social identity), previous visitation to the host destination, information search, tourism activities, and likelihood of recommending and/or returning to the host destination were examined for four categories of attendees at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships: primary purpose spectators, casual spectators, athletes, and non-athlete participants. All four categories of attendee engaged in some information search and participated in flow-on tourism, but to a low degree. Information search fostered flow-on tourism. Classic tourism activities (e.g. sightseeing, visiting museums) were motivated by a desire to learn about the destination, and encouraged future visitation and likelihood of recommendation. It is concluded that medium-sized one-time sport events can play a sustainable role in event portfolios, but their efficacy requires greater integration of destination experiences with the event. It is suggested that future work should examine the means to cultivate that integration, including creation of more effective alliances between destination marketers and event organizers.

Do We Need an Economic Impact Study or a Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Sports Event?

Abstract In this paper, we try to show, using a simple numerical example of a fictional international sports event, that there is a fundamental difference between what is generally called an economic impact study of a sports event and a cost-benefit analysis. The difference is important because an economic impact study does not yield any argument for the government to subsidize the event. Only a cost-benefit analysis can provide the necessary information.

Governmental subsidies and coercive pressures. Evidence from sport clubs and their resource dependencies

Abstract This contribution aims to analyse the adoption of subsidy conditions by voluntary sport clubs in relation to their dependence on government funding. Using a sociological neo-institutional approach based upon Pfeffer and Salancik’s (1978) resource dependence theory and DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) concept of coercive isomorphism, this paper analyses the possible use of sport clubs by governments as instruments of sport policy. Data for these analyses are drawn from the Flemish Sport Club Panel 2009 and the Flemish Local Sport Authorities Panel 2010. The results show that sport clubs display a variety of resources. Although subsidies from the local government are relevant resources for the majority of voluntary sport clubs, the significance of these subsidies in the overall budgets is limited. Nevertheless, the outcomes of a multinomial logistic regression model indicate that there is a relationship between the share of governmental subsidies in the total income of sport clubs and their adoption of subsidy conditions with regard to the qualification of the sport technical staff. In general, however, the effect of the coercive pressure of the government through its funding seems to be rather low. Nevertheless, local sport authorities consider subsidy regulations as an effective instrument to achieve policy goals. Policy implications are discussed.

Visitor composition and event-related spending.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the spending patterns of non‐local participants and spectators at a medium‐sized international sport event, to segment their spending patterns and consider implications for the quality of each segments event experience.Design/methodology/approach – Spending in nine sectors of the economy is measured via self‐report, and respondents are segmented into five groups: spectators, athletes, coaches, officials, and other participants (e.g. media, medical staff). The daily and aggregate spend for each segment in each economic sector is calculated and compared. Regression analysis tests differences among segments for each economic sector.Findings – Participants account for 39 per cent of aggregate spend; coaches are the biggest spenders; athletes spend relatively little. The segments spend differently on hospitality, private transportation, grocery, and retail, with spectators spending significantly more than the participant groups on hospitality and private trans...

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.

The Single Entity Status of a Sports League

Without dealing with the pure juridical discussions and arguments about a sports league as a single entity, I discuss only the economic consequences of the single entity idea, which I consider only as an attempt to shun North American antitrust laws or E.U. competition laws, in order to monopolize the product market, the player labor market, and the media markets. However, economists know that monopolies are reducing welfare. So who needs that single entity?

The econometrics of sport

The study of sport in the economy presents a rich arena for the application of sharply focused microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics to both team and individual outcomes. This unique book offers a survey of recent research that follows the tradition of empirical and theoretical analysis of sport economics and econometrics.

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.

Neale Golden Anniversary

This special issue of the Journal of Sports Economics is composed of four articles presented at the IX Conference of Sports Economics, held in Gijon (Spain), in May 2014, coinciding with the 50 anniversary of the publication of the article by Walter C. Neale, ‘‘The Peculiar Economics of Professional Sports,’’ in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1964 (Neale, 1964). The issue is complemented by a biographical introduction, written by Leo Kahane. The impact of Neale’s article in the field of sports economics is substantial. Together with the seminal article by Simon Rottenberg (1956), it is one of the most cited articles in the sports economics discipline. One of the central ideas in Neale’s article is the ‘‘single entity concept’’—the idea that the sports League as a whole is the firm not the individual clubs. This single entity concept is fundamental and has been considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in key cases such as American Needle, Inc. versus NFL (2010). In Stefan Kesenne’s contribution to this special issue, he argues that a single entity league not only creates a monopsonistic player labor market, but it also creates local monopolies in product and media markets. Another noteworthy aspect of Neale’s article is the positive relationship between competitive balance and gate receipts, the so-called League Standing Effect. In the article by Wladimir Andreff and Nicolas Scelles, the authors test this effect for the French football league (Ligue 1). The Louis-Schmelling Paradox is probably the most famous topic of Neale’s article in which he refers to the, ‘‘peculiar economics of professional sports.’’ Brad Humphreys and Li Zhou examine how models of consumer choice under uncertainty provide insights about the impact of outcome uncertainty on game attendance.