Sports+Economics

=__BASEBALL__=



//[|Moneyball]// by Michael Lewis
[|New York Times Book Review] - May 12, 2003

[|"Baseball Economics"] from EconEdLink
As many baseball fans can tell you, the New York Yankees usually have a great season record, make the playoffs and make a run towards to the World Championship each year. The Yankees' success--as well as the success of other big market, high revenue teams--has led many to question whether smaller market teams can compete in Major League Baseball (MLB). In fact, in 2009, the Yankees had revenues of $441 million, the most of any team in sports--and more than the revenue of four other MLB teams (Florida, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Washington) combined! Many baseball writers (who may or may not know very much about economics) have written that our national pastime may be threatened by the big market, high revenue teams like the Yankees (or the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, etc.) and that smaller market teams (e.g., the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres or the Pittsburgh Pirates) cannot compete for the high salaried free agents (e.g., Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez) necessary to win championships. In fact, some writers claim that many MLB teams are actually not profitable for the team owners. Are these claims true? Are MLB teams losing money? Are MLB owners looking to dump unprofitable teams on unsuspecting investors? Are MLB players grossly overpaid? This lesson will help your students answer these and other questions.

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Key Economic Concepts: Factors of Production, Incentive, Marginal Resource Product, Profit Maximization

=__BASKETBALL__=



=__FOOTBALL__=





=From Wells Fargo Daily Advantage, December 2011=

===“With all the turmoil in the stock market and the major indexes stuck in a trading range for much of this year, it's only natural for investors to start looking to other asset classes to supplement the traditional staples of stocks and bonds. There's investing in artwork, wine, comic books, baseball cards, and even as we've written about before alpacas, which are not to be confused with llamas, on pain of having them spit in your eye (although a llama would probably do that as well, so maybe that's not the best distinguishing characteristic). ===

===I'd say you could buy a sports team, but there seem to be a lot of headaches associated with that (there are also billions of dollars associated with it as well, so maybe the headaches are worth it). The next best thing might be something like personal seat licenses at sports stadiums. The //Pittsburgh Post-Gazette// reports that personal seat licenses, or PSLs, for the Pittsburgh Steelers have soared in value since they were first offered at the opening of Heinz Stadium 10 years ago. A PSL is basically an option to buy season tickets for a certain seat. At the opening of the stadium, these PSLs were offered at prices ranging from $250 to $2,700. Now, the //Post-Gazette// reports that the average price for the $250 PSLs is $4,306, or an investment return of 1,622%, while the $2,700 PSLs are relatively underperforming, with the PSL for that higher-priced option now selling for an average of $17,131, or a measly 534% higher. ===

===However, you need to take into account the Steelers' success since 2001 before kicking yourself for not buying a bunch of PSLs. What would they have been worth if the Steelers had been horrible during that span? The stock market is hard enough to figure out; I don't need to add the extra worry of an NFL team's performance as well. Not to mention you'd have the related problem of people loading up on PSLs out of loyalty to a specific team. For a true fan, it's a bullish market every year (until the year comes crashing down in disappointment, usually during the preseason).” ===



[|Editorial: Football and Antitrust] - New York Times, January 2010
=MISCELLANEOUS=

[|"25 Rich Athletes Who Went Broke"] - businesspundit.com (May, 2009)
= SOCCER = ** The Economics of the World Cup! - check out this [|cool graphic/poster] from Mint.com....perfect for students who love the beautiful game!**



//[|Soccernomics]// by Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski
Why doesn't the United States dominate soccer internationally...and how can it?  Which is the best soccer nation on Earth?  Who has the most passionate fans?  What impact does soccer have on suicide rates?  Which sport will dominate the Earth? NFL or the English Premier League?  Why are the people who run soccer clubs so dumb? These are some of the questions that every soccer fanatic has asked. //Soccernomics// answers them. Written with an economist's brain and a sports writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topics, looking at data in new ways, revealing counterintuitive truths about the world's most loved game. It all adds up to a revolutionary way of looking at soccer that could affect the way the game is played internationally.

[|New York Times Soccer Blog Book Review] - November 2, 2009