IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eecrev/v56y2012i3p560-578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fan welfare maximization as a club objective in a professional sports league

Author

Listed:
  • Madden, Paul

Abstract

Motivated by aspects of European soccer club governance (members' clubs supporters' trusts), a first formal analysis of fan welfare maximization as a club objective in a sports league is provided, with comparisons to objectives studied previously (profit and win maximization). Positive comparisons focus on team qualities, ticket prices, attendances and the impact of capacity crowds; empirically observed ticket black markets and inelastic pricing are consistent only with fan welfare maximization. Normatively, social welfare (aggregate league surplus) is well-served by a league of fan welfare maximizers, or sometimes win maximizers, but not profit maximizers; leagues should not normally make profits.

Suggested Citation

  • Madden, Paul, 2012. "Fan welfare maximization as a club objective in a professional sports league," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 560-578.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:56:y:2012:i:3:p:560-578
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2011.12.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292112000025
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2011.12.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Stephan Werner, 2009. "Social Welfare in Sports Leagues with Profit‐Maximizing and/or Win‐Maximizing Clubs," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(2), pages 375-396, October.
    2. Wladimir Andreff & Stefan Szymanski (ed.), 2006. "Handbook on the Economics of Sport," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3274.
    3. Helmut M. Dietl & Egon Franck, 2007. "Governance Failure and Financial Crisis in German Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 8(6), pages 662-669, December.
    4. Traub, Stefan & Missong, Martin, 2005. "On the public provision of the performing arts," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 862-882, November.
    5. Simon Rottenberg, 1956. "The Baseball Players' Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(3), pages 242-242.
    6. John Goddard & Peter J. Sloane, 2005. "Economics of sport," Chapters, in: Simon W. Bowmaker (ed.), Economics Uncut, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Sonia Falconieri & Frédéric Palomino & József Sákovics, 2004. "Collective Versus Individual Sale of Television Rights in League Sports," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(5), pages 833-862, September.
    8. Wladimir Andreff & Stefan Szymanski, 2006. "Handbook on the Economics of Sport," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00270122, HAL.
    9. Stergios Skaperdas, 1996. "Contest success functions (*)," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 7(2), pages 283-290.
    10. Stefan Kesenne & Wilfried Pauwels, 2006. "Club Objectives and Ticket Pricing in Professional Team Sports," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 549-560, Summer.
    11. Rodney Fort, 2004. "Inelastic sports pricing," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 87-94.
    12. Stefan Szymanski & Stefan Késenne, 2010. "Competitive Balance and Gate Revenue Sharing in Team Sports," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 7, pages 229-243, Palgrave Macmillan.
    13. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Stephan Werner, 2009. "Social Welfare in Sports Leagues with Profit-Maximizing and/or Win-Maximizing Clubs," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(2), pages 375-396, October.
    14. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Economic Design of Sporting Contests," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 1, pages 1-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2007. "Rational Expectations And Pro Sports Leagues," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 54(3), pages 374-387, July.
    16. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Stefan Szymanski, 2009. "Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(1), pages 45-68, February.
    17. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 1995. "Cross-subsidization, Incentives, and Outcomes in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1265-1299, September.
    18. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2010. "Optimal Competitive Balance in Single-Game Ticket Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(6), pages 589-601, December.
    19. Babatunde Buraimo & David Forrest & Robert Simmons, 2007. "Freedom of Entry, Market Size, and Competitive Outcome: Evidence from English Soccer," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 204-213, July.
    20. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2011. "Optimal Competitive Balance In A Season Ticket League," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 464-473, April.
    21. Polterovich, Victor, 1993. "Rationing, Queues, and Black Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(1), pages 1-28, January.
    22. Stefan Szymanski, 2004. "Professional Team Sports Are Only a Game," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(2), pages 111-126, May.
    23. Sloane, Peter J, 1971. "The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club as a Utility Maximiser," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 121-146, June.
    24. Paul Madden, 2011. "Game Theoretic Analysis of Basic Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(4), pages 407-431, August.
    25. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2010. "Optimal Competitive Balance in Single-Game Ticket Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(6), pages 587-601, December.
    26. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2004. "Owner Objectives and Competitive Balance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 20-32, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paul Madden & Mario Pezzino, 2013. "Sports League Quality, Broadcaster TV Rights Bids and Wholesale Regulation of Sports Channels," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1304, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    2. Paul Madden, 2012. "Welfare Economics of "Financial Fair Play" in a Sports League With Benefactor Owners," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1221, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    3. Lionel Page & Markus Schaffner & Marie Beigelman, 2016. "Striking strikers. A case of player mispricing in Association Football," QuBE Working Papers 043, QUT Business School.
    4. R. Todd Jewell, 2017. "Technical efficiency with multi-output, heterogeneous production: a latent class, distance function model of english football," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-50, August.
    5. Terry Robinson & Robert Simmons, 2014. "Gate-Sharing and Talent Distribution in the English Football League," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 413-429, November.
    6. Kato, Kazuhiko, 2023. "Effects of a uniform relative emission standard in a professional team sports league," MPRA Paper 117009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Peter Sloane, 2014. "Club objectives," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 1, pages 13-22, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang & Cornel Nesseler, 2017. "The Impact of Government Subsidies in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Working Papers 366, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    9. Peter J. Sloane, 2015. "The Economics of Professional Football Revisited," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-7, February.
    10. Paul Madden, 2014. "Does Break-Even Regulation of Soccer Clubs Make Sense?," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1405, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    11. Teodor DIMA, 2015. "The Economics Of “Big Five” European Football Leagues," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 7(2a), pages 434-442, September.
    12. Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos & Dietl, Helmut & Nesseler, Cornel, 2019. "Does performance justify the underrepresentation of women coaches? Evidence from professional women’s soccer," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 640-651.
    13. DIMA Teodor & OTOIU Adrian, 2015. "A Composite Index To Assess The Top European Football Clubs In 2014," Revista Economica, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 67(2), pages 68-85.
    14. Paul Madden & Terry Robinson, 2012. "Supporter Influence on Club Governance in a Sports League; a “Utility Maximization” Model," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(4), pages 339-360, September.
    15. Michael Christian Leitner & Frank Daumann & Florian Follert & Fabio Richlan, 2023. "The cauldron has cooled down: a systematic literature review on home advantage in football during the COVID-19 pandemic from a socio-economic and psychological perspective," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 605-633, June.
    16. Paul Madden, 2015. "Welfare Economics of “Financial Fair Play†in a Sports League With Benefactor Owners," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(2), pages 159-184, February.
    17. Rodney Fort, 2015. "Managerial Objectives: A Retrospective on Utility Maximization in Pro Team Sports," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 75-89, February.
    18. Aloys Prinz & Stefan Thiem, 2021. "Value‐maximizing football clubs," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(5), pages 605-622, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2010. "Organizational Differences between U.S. Major Leagues and European Leagues: Implications for Salary Caps," Working Papers 0035, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    2. Helmut M. Dietl & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2011. "Competitive Balance and Revenue Sharing in Sports Leagues With Utility-Maximizing Teams," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(3), pages 284-308, June.
    3. Markus LANG & Alexander RATHKE & Marco RUNKEL, 2010. "The Economic Consequences Of Foreigner Rules In National Sports Leagues," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 31, pages 47-64.
    4. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2009. "Contest Theory and its Applications in Sports," Working Papers 0029, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    5. Dorian Owen, 2014. "Measurement of competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 3, pages 41-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. John Vrooman, 2015. "Sportsman Leagues," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 90-115, February.
    7. Markus Lang & Martin Grossmann & Philipp Theiler, 2011. "The Sugar Daddy Game: How Wealthy Investors Change Competition in Professional Team Sports," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 167(4), pages 557-577, December.
    8. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Stephan Werner, 2009. "Social Welfare in Sports Leagues with Profit‐Maximizing and/or Win‐Maximizing Clubs," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(2), pages 375-396, October.
    9. Dietl Helmut & Duschl Tobias & Franck Egon & Lang Markus, 2012. "A Contest Model of a Professional Sports League with Two-Sided Markets," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 232(3), pages 336-359, June.
    10. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2011. "The Combined Effect Of Salary Restrictions And Revenue Sharing In Sports Leagues," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 447-463, April.
    11. Paul Madden, 2008. "Price, quality and welfare consequences of alternative club objectives in a professional sport league," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0802, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    12. Martin Grossmann & Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang, 2010. "Revenue Sharing and Competitive Balance in a Dynamic Contest Model," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 17-36, February.
    13. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang, 2008. "The Effect Of Gate Revenue Sharing On Social Welfare," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(3), pages 448-459, July.
    14. Dietl Helmut M & Duschl Tobias & Lang Markus, 2011. "Executive Pay Regulation: What Regulators, Shareholders, and Managers Can Learn from Major Sports Leagues," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-32, August.
    15. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2008. "Revenue Sharing, Reserve Clause and Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Working Papers 0026, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA), revised 2009.
    16. Helmut Dietl & Rodney Fort & Markus Lang, 2011. "International Sports League Comparisons," Working Papers 0144, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
    17. Kato, Kazuhiko, 2023. "Effects of a uniform relative emission standard in a professional team sports league," MPRA Paper 117009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Roberto Burguet & József Sákovics, 2019. "Bidding For Talent In Sport," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 85-102, January.
    19. Rodney Fort, 2015. "Managerial Objectives: A Retrospective on Utility Maximization in Pro Team Sports," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 75-89, February.
    20. Helmut M. Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2012. "Salary Cap Regulation In Professional Team Sports," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 30(3), pages 307-319, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fan welfare maximization; Aggregate surplus; Sports league;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:56:y:2012:i:3:p:560-578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eer .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.