Nola Agha and Daniel A. Rascher
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some sports show a positive economic impact and other sports do not, and to identify a common set of explanatory factors explaining…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand why some sports show a positive economic impact and other sports do not, and to identify a common set of explanatory factors explaining the differences.
Design/methodology/approach
This explanatory research reviews the economic impact literature to identify the underlying conditions that would theoretically allow any sport, large or small, to generate positive economic effects.
Findings
Nine conditions are identified that, when present, could allow a community to experience a positive economic impact from a team or stadium. These are then used to explain the discrepancy in known empirical outcomes in major and minor league baseball (MiLB). It appears as if major league teams are more likely to violate the conditions than minor league teams. This research finds theoretical support for previous suggestions that smaller teams and events may be beneficial to local economies. In doing so, it also explains previous empirical results that found some MiLB classifications are associated with positive gains in per capita income.
Practical implications
Stakeholders can use the nine conditions to understand expected economic impact of their relevant sports. This research provides a comprehensive guide to understanding when economic impact can be positive.
Social implications
This research helps explain some of the existing controversy regarding economic impact analysis.
Originality/value
It is the first research to help provide a pre-set of conditions that can help predict whether positive economic impact will occur for specific sports teams or stadium projects.
Details
Keywords
Nola Agha and David Berri
This chapter undertakes a comparison of pay in women's basketball with an emphasis on its inception in North America. Through a quantitative approach, we find players are…
Abstract
This chapter undertakes a comparison of pay in women's basketball with an emphasis on its inception in North America. Through a quantitative approach, we find players are undervalued in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) compared to men's basketball, men's soccer, and women's basketball in Europe and Asia. By comparing leagues at the same period in their life cycles, we show that women are underpaid even after accounting for the age of the league. The relatively low pay in the WNBA, even when compared to the identical formative time period in the men's professional league, led 48% of American WNBA players to seek employment in basketball leagues in Europe and Asia in 2019. In these leagues, players receive much higher salaries. We explain these wage inequities based on business structure and economic theory. In sum, both the WNBA and National Basketball Association (NBA) are primarily profit-maximising leagues, but NBA players have always been paid a higher percentage of league revenues than the women of the WNBA. This was even true when the NBA had a much lower level of revenue. Salaries in the WNBA are then further depressed by a league that seems to prioritise short-run profit maximisation over long-run investment, thus continuing to delegitimise the WNBA. Ultimately, the constraints to pay derive from not only gendered systems but also the structure of profit-maximising leagues and teams in the United States.
Details
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Ali Bowes and Alex Culvin
This chapter introduces and sets the scene for a discussion on women's sport in a professional era. Initiated in the wake of the second-wave feminist movement in America in the…
Abstract
This chapter introduces and sets the scene for a discussion on women's sport in a professional era. Initiated in the wake of the second-wave feminist movement in America in the 1950s with the professionalisation of golf and tennis, the move for other women's sports to be professionalised has been slow, sporadic and marred with difficulties. However, since the turn of the twenty-first century, there have been significant changes in the landscape of elite women's sport. Alongside an overview of the developments in elite level women's sport, we conceptualise the terms ‘professionalisation’, ‘professional’ and ‘professionalism’. Furthermore, the chapter identifies the scope of the book, drawing upon the importance to consider women's sport as distinct from men's sport and identifying issues that are specific to female athletes, such as maternity and the gender pay gap. We also recognise the diverse and multiple nature of women's identities, highlighting the intersectionality of female athletes in professional sport (specifically around race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and national identity).