Sports economics is a well-established and dynamic area of study; a key component in the fields of sport management, sport science and sport studies, as well as in other areas of economics, finance and management. Covering amateur to professional sports, individual events and organised tournaments, this Handbook provides an authoritative contribution to the understanding of sport in the economy. The editors of The SAGE Handbook of Sports Economics have brought together a global team of respected scholars to create this benchmark collection of insights into sports economics. Each chapter includes a study of a specific context in which issues arise in sports economics, a critical presentation of its main theoretical contributions, an overview of current research findings, and an outline of enquiry for future research. PART I: The Nature and Value of the Sports System and Economy; PART II: Amateur Sports Participation, Supply and Impact; PART III: Professional Team Sports; PART IV: Professional Sports Leagues; PART V: Sports Events and their Impacts; PART VI: Individual Sports; and PART VII: Future Research.

Economics of Attendance

Economics of attendance
Placido Rodriguez

The Beginnings

When Rodney Fort (2005) nominated Simon Rottenberg as the father of sports economics, he simply confirmed a fact that all of us, who are devoted to this field of study, would agree upon. Even though the article of Rottenberg (1956) deals with the baseball players’ labor market and introduces two of the main ideas in the field of sports economics, namely the invariance proposition and the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH), it also offers initial insights on the economics of attendance, which is the objective of this chapter. On page 246 of his seminal work he states:

Attendance at baseball games, as a whole, is a function of the general level of income, the ...

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