Comparative Economics of Sport

Starting with a major survey of the economics of sport, this volume involves primarily a comparison of the European and American models of sport, how to restructure leagues to make them more competitive, the analysis of gate-sharing mechanisms, the economic impact of promotion and relegation and a comparison of broadcasting regimes.

“'This is a marvelous collection of Szymanski's recent journal articles covering a wide range of economic issues in professional sports. In these contributions, Szymanski brings a fresh and important perspective on the analysis of policy and organizational options confronting sports leagues.' - Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College, US ”

'This is a marvelous collection of Szymanski's recent journal articles covering a wide range of economic issues in professional sports. In these contributions, Szymanski brings a fresh and important perspective on the analysis of policy and organizational options confronting sports leagues.' - Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College, USA

'Stefan Szymanski has made a major contribution to a number of aspects of the economics of sport, often challenging the conventional wisdom. This volume brings together eleven of his papers from a diverse range of publications. Comparative studies can help us to understand more clearly the relationship between the economics of sport and public policy, including anti-trust issues, public subsidies to sport and the health and social benefits of public funding for sports participation. This volume focuses more on the first of these and is highly recommended.' - Peter J. Sloane, Emeritus Professor, School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, UK

'This fascinating collection of previously-published economics journal and law review articles and new essays explores issues of government policy toward and incentives within professional sports leagues. The editor, Stefan Szymanski, is one of the world's leading figures in this area and introduces the collection with an extremely insightful summary of the major issues surrounding anti-trust policy sports leagues, which have traditionally had more freedom to allow collusion among their members than exists in almost any other industry. The chapters themselves, many of them classics in the economics of sports, explore issues such as government policy toward freedom of entry into sports leagues, regulation of television broadcasts, and the effects on competitive balance of revenue sharing and systems of promotion and relegation. These papers are must reading for anti-trust regulators and researchers in sports economics and industrial organization.' - Lawrence M. Kahn, Professor of Labor Economics and Collective Bargaining, Cornell University

'Szymanski masterfully leads us through his impactful work on sports economics. Always path-breaking, and sometimes controversial, nobody interested in scholarly progress in the area can ignore this impressive body of work. If you haven't been following his work over the years, here is your chance to catch up with the best possible guide leading the way! Highly recommended.' - Rodney Fort, Professor of Sport Management, University of Michigan, USA

'This collection of previously published papers by Stefan Szymanski, one of Europe's most prolific, creative scholars writing today on sports-economics issues, constitutes a solid contribution to the intersections of sports, economics, and public policy. The Economic Design of Sporting Contests, one of Szymanski's articles included in the volume, is already a classic.' - Allen R Sanderson, University of Chicago, USA

STEFAN SZYMANSKI is Professor of Economics, Associate Dean and Director of the MBA Programme at the Cass Business School, City University of London, UK. He joins from Tanaka Business School, Imperial College, where he was the Programme Director for the full time MBA programme. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, Hertford College, where he gained a first degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He began his teaching career at London Business School before moving to Imperial College in 1993. Professor Szymanski is also an economics professor, with many published articles on the business of sport, particularly football and the Olympics. With this professional interest in sports economics, he aspires to launch a sports business research centre at Cass in the future.

"They've got it just right. It is a dangerous conclusion that the West won the Cold War. The argument that one side won the Cold War is mistaken. We all lost the Cold War, particularly the USA and the USSR. We all won by ending it. That is the scientific conclusion."-- Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev

In the last twenty years professional sport has grown into a business of some substance and has attracted increasing attention from investors, lawyers, governments and regulators. Commercial and cultural disputes have required an increasingly sophisticated economic analysis, and over this period Stefan Szymanski has been one of the leading contributors, shaping the research agenda and public policy analysis.

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