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 and the National Football League

Economics and the National Football League

Economics and the national football league
Benjamin Blemmings

Introduction

The National Football League (NFL) creates a rich empirical environment for studying two economic topics. One, the focus of this chapter, is testing the assumption that firms maximize profit. The second investigates how labor markets value certain worker characteristics. Characteristics that have been investigated include age (Allen, 2015), criminal records (Weir & Wu, 2014), education (Böheim & Lackner, 2012), cognitive ability and race (Berri & Simmons, 2009; Pitts & Evans, 2018), and media exposure (Treme & Allen, 2011). These papers follow the broader suggestion of Kahn (2000) that sports represent an excellent environment to investigate labor issues. Firm maximization implies that firms can optimally trade off player characteristics, so ...

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