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Seminar: Sports economics

In this seminar we will survey a set of major topics in the analysis of the economics of professional team sports. For example, we will consider different analytic strategies for explaining variations in the demand for professional team sports (e.g., football/soccer) and better understanding the important but ambiguous role of competitive balance and uncertainty with regard to the expected game outcome therein.
Course code
EAI445
Course type
BSc Course
Weekly Hours
2,0
ECTS
6,0
Term
FS 2022
Language
Englisch
Lecturers
apl. Prof. Dr. Dominik Schreyer
Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.

Stadium attendance demand research is firmly anchored in the literature on the economics of sports. In fact, as Fort (2005) observes, exploring the many potential determinants of spectator demand is as old as the field itself, since Rottenberg (1956), in his pioneering article on the baseball players’ labor market, was first to offer a detailed demand specification, already including factors as manifold as the ticket price, potential substitutes, and, perhaps most controversially, competitive balance and the resulting match outcome uncertainty. However, Melzer and Stäglin (1965), analyzing the potential correlation between the home and the away team’s league position and German Bundesliga stadium attendance demand in its inaugural season 1963-64, and later Demmert (1973) and Noll (1974), were the first to make a significant empirical contribution to the then-emerging research stream.

During this seminar, you will gain an initial understanding of the characteristics, nature, and volume of the previous empirical research on stadium attendance demand research, as well as of both enduring and emerging research themes within the literature. In particular, we will explore the increasingly important phenomenon of spectator no-show behavior in professional football together.

Date Time
Tuesday, 25.01.2022 15:30 - 18:45
Wednesday, 09.03.2022 08:00 - 18:45
Learn about the economics of sports:
  • Students will gain a first understanding of key issues in the economics of professional team sports
There are no prerequisite readings. References will be announced during the first class meeting of the seminar at the beginning of the semester.
Following an interactive introductory kick-off session where potential topics will be explained, in your term paper, you will synthesize a sub-stream of the existing empirical stadium attendance demand literature, which is then presented in a second session. To ensure progress, there will be, among other things, optional feedback sessions with the instructor.
The course assessment is based on your academic term paper (75 percent) and its presentation in class (25).
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