Journal of Sports Economics

The estimation of economic contributions, activity, and impacts from industries, businesses, and events is a cornerstone of the regional economic development field, yet the approaches used to conduct such studies are rarely discussed in detail. Although Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) input—output economic modeling software and other regional models have become the standard, many industries, such as golf, are not represented in baseline data and therefore the model must be customized to facilitate regional analysis of these specific sectors. Using primary data collection techniques of both golf course operators and golfers in Colorado, both the backward linkages of the golf course industry and the stemming-from effects of the golf-related tourism expenditures were estimated and incorporated into the IMPLAN regional input—output modeling system. The customized IMPLAN model found the contribution of the golf industry's economic activity from both golf course operations and tourist expenditures to be $1.6 billion.

This paper examines the impact of live television coverage on attendance at Scottish Premier League soccer matches during the 2002—2003 season. The authors exploit a rich data set which distinguishes match-day attendance into three groups: season ticket holders, pay-at-the-gate home team supporters, and pay-at-the-gate visiting team supporters. This examination of these categories is the first study of its kind. The results indicate matches broadcast live reduce pay-at-the-gate home team supporters by 30%. These results suggest that league administrators and club owners must consider the impact on clubs' traditional supporters when negotiating future broadcasting rights.

The selection process of the most valuable player (MVP) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) was recently questioned as to whether African American players were treated unfairly based on their race. Using NBA voting data from the 1995-2005 seasons, two empirical models are developed to examine the role that a player's race plays in the determination of this award. The estimates imply that after controlling for player, team, and market characteristics, there is no statistically significant effect of race on the likelihood that a player will appear on an MVP ballot or on the number of votes he will receive.

This article provides an empirical examination of the economic impact of spectator sports on local economies. Confirming the results of other ex post analyses of sports in general, this article finds no statistically significant evidence that college football games in particular contribute positively to a host's economy. Our analysis from 1970 to 2004 of 63 metropolitan areas that played host to big-time college football programs finds that neither the number of home games played, the winning percentage of the local team, nor winning a national championship has a discernable impact on either employment or personal income in the cities where the teams play. An examination of a subset of 42 smaller college towns finds that winning seasons actually reduce the growth rate of per capita personal income. Although successful college football teams may bring fame to their home towns, fortune appears to be a bit more elusive.

Previous research on professional golf has estimated reduced-form models in which earnings are a function of skills measured as year-long averages. Using individual, tournament-level data, this article makes three improvements. First, the use of tournament-level data removes measurement error in the skills by adjusting the data for tournament-level idiosyncrasies such as the effect of altitude on driving distance. Second, the collection of microdata allows one to examine variance and skewness of the skills distributions in addition to just the mean. And third, the article estimates a structural model in which golfers use their skills to perform well in competitions by shooting low scores at one level, while those score distributions underlie the tournament earnings of the golfers at the other level. Tighter estimates of the coefficients are resolved and the overall adjusted R² improves from 0.36 to more than 0.90.

Madden analyzed data on coaching records in the National Football League during the 1990-2002 seasons. The overall conclusion is that African American coaches are held to higher employment standards, with respect to winning, than White coaches. Madden's model used complete seasons coached and omitted partial seasons. Here, the data are analyzed analogously but partial seasons are included. The inclusion of partial season results in a lack of significance of race as a factor in firing. Furthermore, there are other potential explanations of the historically low percentage of African American coaches in the National Football League. These are discussed herein.