The paper analyses the impact of the relatively belated move to professionalism in Rugby Union. We use data on match attendance for 3,667 fixtures in European club Rugby over 15 seasons to estimate the effect of competitive balance on attendance. We find that (short- and medium-term) competitive...

Many major sports leagues are characterized by a combination of cross-subsidization mechanisms like revenue-sharing arrangements and payroll restrictions. Up to now, the effects of these policy tools have only been analyzed separately. This article provides a theoretical model of a team sports...

This paper presents a dynamic model of talent investments in a team sports league with an infinite time horizon. We show that the clubs' investment decisions and the effects of revenue sharing on competitive balance depend on the following three factors: (i) the cost function of talent...

This paper considers a multi-firm analysis of a cartel. It examines the individual owner's choice of labor, the primary factor of production, and the cartel's choice of revenue sharing and salary cap policies in both a profit maximizing model and a utility maximizing model. The effect of...

This paper considers a multi-firm analysis of a cartel. It examines the individual owner's choice of labor, the primary factor of production, and the cartel's choice of revenue sharing and salary cap policies in both a profit maximizing model and a utility maximizing model. The effect of...

We analyze a dynamic model of strategic interaction between a professional sport league that organizes a tournament, the teams competing to win it, and the broadcasters paying for the rights to televise it. Teams and broadcasters maximize expected profits, while the league's objective may be...

Systems of transfer fees can be designed in different ways. Their effects have been analysed in detail, particularly in connection with the Bosman-ruling. However, the analyses were only conducted on a microeconomic level and therefore limited to one player and two clubs, one club taking the...

This paper analyzes issues associated with network effects and two-sidedness in the market for professional team sports. Teams in professional sports leagues have to compete both for players (inputs) and fans (consumers). In this setting, we construct a theoretical framework where fans are more...

The stochastic frontier production model methodology developed by Battese and Coelli (1992) and applied to American football by Hofler and Payne (1996) is applied to team pointscoring in the (Australasian) National Rugby League (NRL) competition, using performance-influencing and game-specific...

The controversy around the breakaway European Super League, set to conquer the UEFA Champions League, and the surrounding antitrust proceedings revive the academic discussion about the monopoly power of sport-internal governing bodies (like the UEFA), the justification for and limits of their...