Analysis of Sport Economics Research: New Perspectives on the Demand for Sport

Analysis of Sport Economics and Sport Finance Research: New Perspectives on the Demand for Sport

Joel G. Maxcy

Introduction

All papers considered in this section of the digest come from the ALL issues of 2024 and were published in the pre-selected journals. Of these journals, two are exclusively dedicated to sport economics and finance related research, the Journal of Sports Economics (JSE), which is the official Journal of the North American Association of Sports Economists (NAASE) and the International Journal of Sport Finance (IJSF), which is the official journal of the European Sport Economics Association (ESEA). Furthermore, sport economics research is regularly published in four sport management journals, i.e., the European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ), the Journal of Sport Management (JSM), the Sport Management Review (SMR) and the Journal of Global Sport Management (JGSM). The following list provides a summary of overall identified papers covering sport economics related research that have been published in these seven journals, from January through December 2024:

JSE (V25 Issues 1-8): 42 papers, with all 42 covering sport economics related research,
IJSF (V19 Issues 1- 4): 16 papers, with all 16 covering sport economics related research,
ESMQ (V 24 Issues 1-6): 54 papers, with 11 covering sport economics-related research,
  JSM (V38 Issues 1 - 6): 41papers, with 7 covering sport economics related research,
  SMR (V27 Issues 1 - 5): 38 papers, 5 covering sport economics related research,
  JGSM (V9 Issues 3 & 4): 40 papers with 3 covering sport economics related research.
  The eighty-four sports economics related papers are classified in eight categories:
Labor markets (such as league restrictions on player mobility; player and coach hiring, dismissal and contracts, performance and incentives; transfer markets; salary determinants; discrimination): 12 papers.
Effects of League Rules & Organization (effects on demand, individual and team performance, match or game outcomes, competitive balance) 8 papers
Performance Analysis (such as home advantage, tournament effects, and behavioral sport economics such as the effect of travel, home field, etc. on performance): 10 papers.
              Demand for Sport (the determinants of stadium attendance, TV viewing): 16 papers.
Sport and Vice (financial analysis of sports gambling markets, effects of law and policy on sports wagering, doping and sport outcomes): 5 papers.
Finance & Ownership (such as the financial returns to investment sport, sport and financial markets, public finance and economic impact): 6 papers.
Gender Issues in Sport (women in sport, gender identity and sport policy, gender discrimination policy) 14 papers
Miscellaneous: (other not classified topics): 14 papers.
   

The Economics of Gender Issues in Sport

The interest in gender in sport was preeminent in 2024. In the USA the “Caitlin Clark” effect, propelled women’s basketball viewership to new heights first at the college level and then in the WNBA as Ms. Clark entered that professional league. With that attention came new debate on how women were paid and treated relative to their male peers. Moreover, with increasing questions about gender identity and the binary nature of sport participation along gender lines, the debate on who is eligible to participate in women’s sport intensified.
The subject was not lost on academic research. As noted above 14 papers addressed the economics of gender issues in 2024. There were numerous other papers in the sport management journals addressing gender issues in sport from other perspectives. The Journal of Sports Economics devoted a full issue (V25, 8) to the 50^th Anniversary of the Title IX law which mandated equal opportunities for American women in all educational programs and led to an burst of sport offerings for women in secondary schools and colleges across the USA. All papers in the Journal of Sport Management’s 6^th issue of 2024 (V 8, 6) focused on examining gendered experiences in sport management. Of the six papers in that issue two were authored or co-authored by sports economists and included in the counts above.
 

  Selected Article Discussion

From the JSE Title IX issue, Economists Michael Leeds and Eva Leeds point out that women's sports have received little attention from economists. The first 20 years of the Journal of Sports Economics found that less than 8% of the papers published in the journal's dealt with women's sports. Lisa A. Giddings, Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse provides an excellent synopsis of the current issues in women’s sports in the USA. She appraises the origins and amendments to Title IX and its effects on girls and women in sports and beyond. Importantly she surveys the present issues including the participation by nonbinary, and transgender athletes and the regulatory efforts to balance fairness and inclusiveness. Lastly, Giddings considers racial issues in women’s sports and compensation in men’s versus women’s sports. Concluding she notes that the benefits of participating in women’s have not been conferred unequally. Women of color are concentrated mainly in basketball and track. Sports that require greater financial input, to secure access are populated mainly by white athletes. Legislative bodies begun to address DSD and transgender athletes and their participation in women's sports recently, but it’s not clear how states and other governing bodies will ultimately address the delicate balance of inclusion and fairness when it comes to intersex and transgender women.
Economists Nola Agha, David Berri, Courtney Paulson, and Stacey Brook find that besides men, which is well documented, NCAA women athletes are exploited as well. They show that women college softball players were worth far more than the value of their compensation by their colleges.
Moving to Europe, in 1971Great Britain's Football Association rescinded a 50-year prohibition on women's soccer. Sports economists Pamela Wicker, Paul Downward, and Tim Thormann study how the opportunities for women to partake in football (soccer), in both formal and informal levels, contributes to their wellbeing. Interestingly the authors find that soccer participation adds more to the wellbeing of women than of men.
Sport management professors Liz Taylor, Katherine Sveinson, and Laura Burton consider the challenges faced by women working in the sport industry. Gender regimes as the conceptual framework, utilizes the experiences of gender-based violence and sexual harassment within sport organizations. Their findings show the influence of multilevel relationships to gender-based violence and sexual harassment experienced by women is impacted by the presence of gender regimes. The authors contend that institutional-level failures to protect women characterize organizational achievement and reinforces gender regimes. The resolute containment of these incidents maintains ta gender/power hierarchy.
 
 

Annotated bibliography

   1.      Leeds, M. A.; Leeds, E. M. (2024) “And Yet...”: Title IX Fifty Years on An Introduction. Journal of Sports Economics, [s. l.], v. 25(8), 895–903.
  Abstract: The half-century since Title IX was enacted has seen an explosion of opportunities for women and girls. While Title IX has opened doors in a wide array of areas, it will always be associated primarily with women's sports. The effect on women's sports has indeed been profound. Participation and funding has ballooned at all levels, from grade school to the professional ranks. Still, much remains to be done, as participation, attitudes, and support of girls' and women's sports continue to lag behind those of boys and men. The articles in this volume examine the growth of a variety of women's sports in the wake of Title IX. Collectively, they show how much has been achieved and how much remains to be done.
  2.      Giddings, Lisa A. 2024. “Serena, Simone, and Semenya: After 50 Years, the Past, Present, and Future of Title IX.” Journal of Sports Economics 25 (8): 904–18.
  Abstract: This article reviews the origins and amendments to Title IX, its effects on girls and women in sports and beyond, as well as men and male sports in the United States. It goes on to explore current issues facing the law including intersex, nonbinary, and transgender athletes as well as recent regulatory attempts to balance fairness and inclusiveness in the legislation such as its effect on women of color, and equal pay in professional sports
      3.      Agha, N., Berri, D., Brook, S. L., & Paulson, C. (2024). Exploitation in College Sports: No Longer Just a “Man’s Game.” Journal of Sports Economics, 25(8), 965–988.
  Abstract: Previous studies of college athlete compensation have generally focused on the "revenue sports" of football and men's basketball. Hence, wage exploitation is often considered a "man's game." In the 50 years since Title IX, many women's college sports have reported millions of dollars in revenue, suggesting wage exploitation is possible in college softball. Data on 19,760 athletes from 294 universities from 2012 to 2021, combined with two different sources of athletic revenue reach the same conclusion: wage exploitation exists in college softball. Furthermore, thousands of players generate more revenue in college than the wages they are likely to earn playing professional softball.
  4.      Downward, P., P. Wicker, and T. F. Thormann. (2024). “The Well-Being and Social Value of Playing Soccer for Women and Men.” Journal of Sports Economics 25 (8): 1003–24.
  Abstract: This study examines the well-being and social value of playing different forms of soccer for men and women by employing the compensating variation approach to survey data from eight European countries. Framed by the desired objective of Title IX, this research assesses possible gender differences in the social benefits of sport. Social values are higher than the well-being derived from playing soccer, with the values of both being greater for women. Less formal forms of soccer yield generally higher monetary values than the competitive 11-a-side format. As the marginal returns are greater, investment should promote women's engagement and more informal playing opportunities.
  5.      Taylor, E., Sveinson, K., & Burton, L. (2024). “If This Is What Working in Sports Is, I Want Absolutely No Part of It”: Women’s Experiences With Sexual Harassment in Sport Organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 38(6), 383–398.
  Abstract: There is a plethora of recent examples from the sport industry that situate sport organizations as contributing to sexual violence against women (e.g., Phoenix Suns, Nike). Though research has shown that these issues exist in sport, little work has focused on the impacts of gender-based violence and sexual harassment. Therefore, utilizing gender regimes as our conceptual framework, we explored how experiences of gender-based violence and sexual harassment within sport organizations work to perpetuate the gender inequality in sport workplaces. Findings illustrate the influence of a multilevel relationship to the gender-based violence and sexual harassment experienced by women is impacted by the presence of gender regimes and use of containment strategies to conceal this abuse. Thus, we argue that institutional-level failures to protect women represent organizational success, which reinforces gender regimes and the purposeful containment of these incidents maintains the gender/power hierarchy.