Team Sports Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Team Sports Economics - Essay Example Also compared to others it is a small academic field altogether. The pioneer of this economics’ field is said to be S. Rottenberg, who happened to be working at the renowned University of Massachusetts as an economist. He focused on the market of baseball players and did a journal in 1956 entitled, â€Å"Journal of Political Economy.† 1(Kasenne, 2007 p1) This is a study which seeks to put its entire concentration on the aforementioned field of economics and it will go on to discuss the field in detail. The write out will vividly make a comprehensive and an unbiased look at the team sports’ economics. To this it will answer the study question, â€Å"How effective are the competition balance policies in the models of sport evidenced in North America and Europe?† Examples to make this topic more understandable and interesting to read will be given from the current professional leagues in these two nations. The study will start by looking at the North American case and then continue to have a look at the European case. Many are the times that leagues have not portrayed the best interests of the set policies by the bodies responsible. This has left the loyal fans of various clubs disappointed. European football has not been spared by negative scandals that strike leagues off the competitive balance. The study sets out by tackling of the North American scenario portrays a good number of professional leagues with the inclusion of National Basketball Association commonly known referred by the initials NBA, Major League Baseball- MLB, National Football League (NFL) and also the hockey league- National Hockey League (NHL). The leagues in entirety are privately owned with regards to individual teams involved. Thus, the league is a private team ownership kind of league run together with the administrators they use their discretion to choose. Administrators are commonly referred to as Commissioners. Apart from their being the sole determiners of the plays taking place for the branded league, these leagues also take part in ample activities like definition of territories, their protection, making decisions on the location of teams by way of relocation and expansion as well as making negotiations of players, players’ unions, location of teams and TV contracts. Besides these responsibilities the leagues may be with the competitive balance’s future interest. By way of default or from another perspective the owners’ of the teams’ agendas, the policies made by the league enhance level balance in the upholding of competitiveness. Expounding on this view, the Rottenberg’s sentiments are going to be cited. According to him, team fans would rather their teams won in close kind of games than any other outcomes. Fans also have another preference in their list and that is; there should be occasional hopes brought about by the form portrayed in the post-season plays by the teams that they support. Imbal anced games are, therefore, a counter-expectation on the preferences by fans. In other words, competitive balance is what is most preferred by team fans. In a case where in a league there are problematic imbalances the fans of this league that harbors losers will experience a decline in the interests they had for the teams they support. If the same fans continued supporting the league with the same level of thrill as before despite the losing team’