31 episodes
Sports Economics Dr Liam Lenten
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- Education
The aim of this subject is to identify the constraints and opportunities that will affect the ability of sports to survive in an increasingly competitive, global marketplace. Particular emphasis will be placed on examinations of both North American and European professional sports, as well as indigenous games, such as Australian Rules football. Topics covered will include: labour markets in various sports, including the effectiveness of regulations such as player drafts and salary caps; the ways in which sports have coped with recent substantial increases in revenue and costs; the identification of the market for particular sports and the extent of competition within those markets; and the extent to which the commercialisation of sport is inconsistent with the traditions and cultures of individual sports.
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Scoring Early Against Brazil
A presentation on the 2012 peer-reviewed article by lecturer Liam Lenten, which appeared recently in the journal Applied Economics Letters, entitled: “The Underdog Should Always Fire the First Salvo against Brazil”, which tests the old myth in football that it is unwise for an opposition team to score early in any game against the almighty Brazilians.
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions. -
The Business of Football and Footballers
A guest lecture by John Didulica, currently the Football Operations Manager of Australian domestic league team Melbourne Heart, a former professional footballer, and a lawyer by academic training. He was also at one time the CEO of the player’s union for footballers in Australia, the AFPA. His talk is titled as: "The Business of Football and Footballers: From Maximum Wage to Petrodollars".
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions. -
Government Subsidy of Sport
This lecture encompasses two related topics “Public Finance of Sports” and “Subsidies and Economic Impact Analysis”. Both parts of this lecture look at the role of government in the sports industry, and whether or not it should use public taxpayers’ funds to bid to bring the event to town, bring the team to town, or build the new stadium. Where they decide in favour of doing so (even when it would run at a substantial financial loss), we also explain the reasons behind such a decision. We use the FIFA World Cup and IOC Summer Olympic Games as case studies, and investigate both the pros and cons of public expenditure in sport. Numerous concepts from standard microeconomics are also invoked here, such as monopoly power, winner’s curse, direct and indirect costs and benefits, and multipliers.
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions. -
The Public Finance of Sport
This lecture encompasses two related topics “Public Finance of Sports” and “Subsidies and Economic Impact Analysis”. Both parts of this lecture look at the role of government in the sports industry, and whether or not it should use public taxpayers’ funds to bid to bring the event to town, bring the team to town, or build the new stadium. Where they decide in favour of doing so (even when it would run at a substantial financial loss), we also explain the reasons behind such a decision. We use the FIFA World Cup and IOC Summer Olympic Games as case studies, and investigate both the pros and cons of public expenditure in sport. Numerous concepts from standard microeconomics are also invoked here, such as monopoly power, winner’s curse, direct and indirect costs and benefits, and multipliers.
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions. -
Professional Team Sport Leagues in Australia V
In this, the final part of three on 'Professional Team Sports Leagues in Australia', we take the modelling from earlier and use it to draw conclusions about what we would expect to find about competitive balance in the AFL over the history of the competition when we look at the figures. We also compare competitive balance in the AFL to the Major Leagues (MLB, NFL and NBA) on one hand, and other pro-sports leagues in Australia (NRL and NBL) on the other hand. The results are mixed - some of these comparisons tell us exactly what we would expect to see, while a few others tell us something contrary to expectations. Some additional figures on the general economic health of the AFL are also discussed.
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions. -
Professional Team Sport Leagues in Australia IV
In this, the final part of three on 'Professional Team Sports Leagues in Australia', we take the modelling from earlier and use it to draw conclusions about what we would expect to find about competitive balance in the AFL over the history of the competition when we look at the figures. We also compare competitive balance in the AFL to the Major Leagues (MLB, NFL and NBA) on one hand, and other pro-sports leagues in Australia (NRL and NBL) on the other hand. The results are mixed - some of these comparisons tell us exactly what we would expect to see, while a few others tell us something contrary to expectations. Some additional figures on the general economic health of the AFL are also discussed.
Copyright 2012 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.