Sports Economics

Author: Li Mingshu, Susan Howard, Dan Mahone | Translators
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: This book is divided into 12 chapters. The content is as follows.
Chapter 1 aims to describe the general development of the sports industry in North America. It is well-known that North America is a key region for the international sports industry. This chapter clearly defines the sports industry as consisting of sports production departments and sports support departments, explaining the general development of the sports industry in North America.
Chapter 2 categorizes sports organizations into for-profit and non-profit organizations, using economic firm theory and profit maximization theory to explain the operational focus of different types of organizations (for-profit and non-profit).
Chapter 3 employs the theories of demand, price, and revenue in economics to illustrate the uniqueness of different sports, explaining how sports organizations adopt various pricing strategies (e.g., price discrimination) under different supply and demand conditions.
Chapter 4 introduces the characteristics of various market structures in economics, such as perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition, analyzing the market structures of different sports industries.
Chapter 5 divides the organizational environment of the sports industry into government-led, community-led, and private enterprise-led sports industries, analyzing the economic characteristics of different sports industry organizations based on the distinct traits of their dominant organizations.
Chapter 6 serves as a precursor to Chapter 7, aiming to explain the role of the sports industry in the gross domestic product (GDP). Through industry estimation methods and statistical data, the author illustrates the value of the sports industry in GDP and highlights its contribution to the national economy.
Chapter 7, following the explanation in Chapter 6, aims to use input-output economics to further demonstrate the impact and driving effect of the sports industry on other industries.
Chapter 8 focuses on the value of professional athletes in professional sports, exploring labor-management conflicts and competitive strategies faced by professional athletes through wage theory.
Chapter 9 examines the legal and regulatory issues faced by the sports industry from the perspective of political economy, including government regulations, corporate laws, professional sports league regulations, and self-regulation by industry players. Additionally, the author proposes a regulatory model for the sports industry to illustrate how industry players, governments, and consumers can mutually balance each other.
Chapter 10 explains that the sports industry is both competitive and monopolistic (e.g., professional sports leagues). As a result, U.S. antitrust laws exclude industries like professional and college sports from monopolies. However, this does not mean these industries can act with impunity. This chapter aims to explain how governments regulate these industries.
Chapter 11 points out the globalization trend of the sports industry, such as the Olympics, various world cups, and many famous professional sports (e.g., NBA, professional football). Due to intense competition, athletes or sports industry organizations must invest more costs to gain recognition in international sports or profits in overseas markets. The author explores how operators of different sports industry organizations can weigh their strengths and weaknesses using international economic principles like comparative advantage to develop sports industries that benefit them, invest the least cost, and achieve the greatest benefits.
Chapter 12 weighs 21st-century demographic characteristics, technological innovation, globalization, and other changes to analyze future trends in the sports industry, identifying what will become the future leading sports industry and serving as the conclusion of the book.