IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/spomar/v8y2005i2p95-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Australian Football League's Recent Progress: A Study In Cartel Conduct And Monopoly Power

Author

Listed:
  • Stewart, Bob
  • Nicholson, Matthew
  • Dickson, Geoff

Abstract

Over the last twenty-five years, the Australian Football League (AFL), and its predecessor, the Victorian Football League (VFL) has become a central feature of the Australian sporting landscape by creating and managing a national competition. However, in the 1980s it was a Melbourne-based league facing serious structural and financial problems as player costs exploded. At the same time, a number of clubs were unable to trade profitably, and the richer clubs were toying with the idea of forming a break-away competition. The transformation of the AFL from a parochial suburban competition to heavily commercialised national league is analysed through the prism of cartel structure and conduct. It is concluded that first, even in its previous guise as the VFL, it adopted many cartel-like features, including controls over player transfers, fixed admission prices, and gate equalisation policies. Second, the establishment of a governing Commission in 1984 strengthened its monopoly power, and enabled it to set a singular vision for the game's development. This vision, in turn, enabled the AFL to create a national participation program that became the envy of every other sport association in Australia. Third, in achieving this outcome, the AFL tightened its authority over its member teams, administrators, coaches and players. Finally, within this cartel arrangement, member clubs surrendered their autonomy in return for an assurance that they would share the benefits from the AFL's growth and national expansion. In short, the AFL has strategically exploited its cartel features and monopoly power to become Australia's dominant sports league.

Suggested Citation

  • Stewart, Bob & Nicholson, Matthew & Dickson, Geoff, 2005. "The Australian Football League's Recent Progress: A Study In Cartel Conduct And Monopoly Power," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 95-117, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:spomar:v:8:y:2005:i:2:p:95-117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1441352305700358
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Walter C. Neale, 1964. "The Peculiar Economics of Professional Sports," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-14.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226253268 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Jennett, Nicholas I, 1984. "Attendances, Uncertainty of Outcome and Policy in Scottish League Football," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 31(2), pages 176-198, June.
    4. Stephen F. Ross, 2003. "Competition Law as a Constraint on Monopolistic Exploitation by Sports Leagues and Clubs," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 569-584, Winter.
    5. Stefan Szymanski, 2003. "The Assessment: The Economics of Sport," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 467-477, Winter.
    6. Ronald W. Cotterill & James Brock, 1993. "Antitrust Policy," Issue Papers 02, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    7. John Goddard & Peter J. Sloane, 2005. "Economics of sport," Chapters, in: Simon W. Bowmaker (ed.), Economics Uncut, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Schofield, J A, 1982. "The Development of First-Class Cricket in England: An Economic Analysis," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 337-360, June.
    9. 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.
    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. Smith, Aaron C.T. & Stewart, Bob, 2010. "The special features of sport: A critical revisit," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Ross Booth, 2009. "Sports Economics," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(3), pages 377-385, September.
    3. Annelies Knoppers & Donna de Haan & Leanne Norman & Nicole LaVoi, 2022. "Elite women coaches negotiating and resisting power in football," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 880-896, May.
    4. Jakee, Keith & Kenneally, Martin & Dineen, Declan, 2022. "Scheduling slots and league objectives: An empirical analysis of Australia’s AFL," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 359-371.
    5. Jakee, Keith & Kenneally, Martin & Mitchell, Hamish, 2010. "Asymmetries in scheduling slots and game-day revenues: An example from the Australian Football League," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 50-64, February.
    6. Tuck, Geoffrey N., 2015. "From father to son: A review and demographic analysis of the Australian Football League's Father–Son rule," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 596-608.
    7. Meiklejohn, Trevor & Dickson, Geoff & Ferkins, Lesley, 2016. "The formation of interorganisational cliques in New Zealand rugby," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 266-278.
    8. Kunkel, Thilo & Doyle, Jason P. & Funk, Daniel C., 2014. "Exploring sport brand development strategies to strengthen consumer involvement with the product – The case of the Australian A-League," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 470-483.

    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. Besters, Lucas, 2018. "Economics of professional football," Other publications TiSEM d9e6b9b7-a17b-4665-9cca-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Scelles, Nicolas (Сели, Николя) & Duran, Christophe (Дюра, Кристоф) & Bonnal, Liliane (Бонналь, Лилиан) & Goyeau, Daniel (Гойюс, Даниэль) & Andreff, Wladimir (Андрефф, Владимир), 2016. "Do all sporting prizes have a significant positive impact on attendance in a European national football league? Competitive intensity in the French Ligue 1 [Действительно Ли Все Спортивные Призы Ок," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 3, pages 82-107, June.
    3. Wladimir Andreff, 2009. "Équilibre compétitif et contrainte budgétaire dans une ligue de sport professionnel," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 60(3), pages 591-633.
    4. Budzinski, Oliver & Müller-Kock, Anika, 2016. "Market power and media revenue allocation in professonal sports: The case of formula one," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 102, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    5. Kelly Goossens, 2006. "Competitive balance in european football: comparison by adapting measures: national measure of seasonal imbalance and Top 3," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 2(2), pages 77-122, Dicembre.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Raul Caruso & Francesco Addesa & Marco Di Domizio, 2019. "The Determinants of the TV Demand for Soccer: Empirical Evidence on Italian Serie A for the Period 2008-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 25-49, January.
    9. Halicioglu Ferda, 2009. "Research on the Prediction of the likely Winners of the Euro 2008 Football Tournament," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 5(3), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Warnke, Arne Jonas & Sittl, Roman, 2016. "Competitive Balance and Assortative Matching in the German Bundesliga," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145838, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Roger Noll, 2006. "Sports Economics at Fifty," Discussion Papers 06-011, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    12. Fabio Wagner & Holger Preuss & Thomas Könecke, 2021. "A Central Element of Europe’s Football Ecosystem: Competitive Intensity in the “Big Five”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Ferda HALICIOGLU, 2005. "Forecasting the Professional Team Sporting Events: Evidence from Euro 2000 and 2004 Football Tournaments," Industrial Organization 0508001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Bruce Morley & Dennis Thomas, 2007. "Attendance demand and core support: evidence from limited-overs cricket," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(16), pages 2085-2097.
    15. Budzinski, Oliver & Feddersen, Arne, 2022. "Should organizing premier-level European football be a monopoly? And who should run it? - An economists' perspective," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 166, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    16. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "New Perspectives in Sports Economics: A European View," Working Papers 0605, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    17. Lucas M. Besters & Jan (J.C.) van Ours & Martin A. van Tuijl, 2018. "How outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality affect stadium attendance in Dutch professional football," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-082/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Rodríguez Guerrero, Plácido, 2012. "La economía del deporte/The Economics of Sport," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 387-418, Agosto.
    19. 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 0122, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
    20. Wladimir Andreff (ed.), 2011. "Contemporary Issues in Sports Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14146.

    More about this item

    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:spomar:v:8:y:2005:i:2:p:95-117. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/716936/description#description .

    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.