Most professional football clubs in Belgium are facing financial problems. In this note, we try to find out if the poor financial situation of many Belgian football clubs is caused by player salaries that are too high. In other words: are professional football players in Belgium overpaid?

This paper empirically illustrates the difference between a standard economic impact analysis (EIA) and a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). The EIA was conducted using an existing (input-output) I-O model (STEAM). The benefit side of the CBA included non-local visitor spending, the revenue of the...

In this contribution, based on a simple theoretical approach, we try to show that the number of teams that is optimal to a monopoly league, being a cartel of clubs and acting in the interest of the participating or insider clubs only, is smaller than the welfare optimal number of teams in a...

In this theoretical analysis, we try to find out what the impact is of pooling and sharing, and not just the sharing of broadcast rights, on the competitive balance in a sports league. We are using a simplified 2-club non-cooperative Nash equilibrium model with the hiring of talent as the only...

In a sports league, team owners can expect to increase player performance, and the team’s winning percentage or profits, by providing a win bonus on top of the players’ fixed salary level. In some clubs, the guaranteed player salary is relatively low and the premium, in case of a winning...

In this paper, we derive, based on a simple microeconomic model, under what conditions free-TV can more profitable than pay-TV in sports broadcasting. The most important factors here are the level, not the elasticity, of the demand for televised sports, as well as the advertisers’ willingness...