Evidence of bettors’ belief in the “Hot Hand” -- bettors believing teams on winning streaks will continue winning -- exists in the NBA but not the NFL. Previous research assumed that book makers set point spreads to balance betting on games. Recent research shows imbalanced betting in most...

Previous research on CEO turnover indicates that a number of factors, including age, firm performance, and expected firm performance affect CEO turnover. Measurement of expected performance in these studies is typically based on investment analysts’ forecasts of earnings; these expectations...

We develop a monopolistic competition model of urban service consumption and production that includes spatial structure and property values. The model shows that the introduction of a new professional sports facility and team generates agglomeration effects that change the mix of services and...

Fifty years on we examine two key propositions in Neale's (1964)"Peculiar Economics": the need for competitors in sport to have opponents of similar ability in order to earn large revenues and the effect of frequent changes sports leagues' standings on consumer demand. We develop a consumer...

Professional sports teams receive large public subsidies for new facility construction. Empirical research suggests that these subsidies cannot be justified by tangible or intangible economic benefits. We develop a model of bargaining between local governments and teams over subsidies that...

The local labor market effects of new casinos are examined by comparing the employment and earnings growth in areas with new casinos to the growth in areas with existing casinos and without casinos, exploiting numerous casino openings across multiple locations in Canada over several time...

We develop a consumer choice model of live attendance at a sporting event with reference-dependent preferences. The predictions of the model motivate the “uncertainty of outcome hypothesis” (UOH) as well as fan’s desire to see upsets and to simply see the home team win games, depending on...

We estimate Canadians’ willingness to pay (WTP) for success by Team Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The Canadian government subsidized elite athletes in the run up to the 2010 Games through the Own the Podium program, which was designed to increase Canada’s medal count. WTP...

Using data from 56 professional sports facilities opened between 1995 and 2008, we find what at first appears to be a substantial neighborhood revitalization effect: the opening of a facility is associated with an increase in mortgage applications to purchase homes located in the neighborhood of...

We examine the effects of financial incentives on effort supplied by football clubs in European domestic leagues. Tournament theory predicts that the amount of effort supplied varies with returns to effort. We analyze variation in 31,746 domestic league match outcomes in ten European leagues...