I'm pleased to say that my department is interested in offering a sports econ course and I've volunteered to design it / teach it.
What do y'all think I should cover? I am choosing between these two textbooks:
- The Economics of Sports by Leeds, Allmen, and Matheson
- Sports Economics by Berri
Leaning more towards the second because it feels more modern and data driven, with more sections on analytics and performance measurement, which is a topic that I like.
The first book seems much more focused on traditional economics like the organization of sports markets, why sports leagues are granted monopolies, whether it makes sense for sports teams / stadiums to be publicly financed, etc.
If any of y'all have the time to check out the Table of Contents of both those books, I'd appreciate a run down of what you think are the chapters you'd be most interested in learning about.
Thanks.
For Sports Economics here are my impressions based entirely on the table of contents:
This book looks way more interesting than the other and covers a wider array of economic concepts. I'd be tempted to pick a few core content chapters (probably 1, 4, 6, and 10) and then find a way to let students do a choose-their-own-adventure for another topic that's of most interest to them.
If this is an elective open to all students, then I'd definitely spend more time on chapter 1.
Thanks, this is helpful. I think that pretty settles it, I'm gonna use the second book.
I can actually have some say in whether it's an open elective or mainly for majors. i.e. I can design it as a lower div course with few requirements, or an upper div course with more requirements. I kinda want to make it upper div (so I can spend less time on basic economics, and go deeper with the more advanced topics... but also to incentivize people to take lower div econ classes)
Looking over it, chapter 2 seems a bit weird. Why is the correlation between market size and wins such a big deal that it deserves its own chapter, and the second one at that? My guess is that this is the book's gentle introduction to econometrics.
Agreed, chapters 7 and 8 look like skips to me. I wonder if someone will get mad that I deliberately skip those.
Chapter 9 doesn't look that interesting to me, but probably worth one lecture on NCAA issues.
It looks like I can probably fit everything else into a 15 week course... just depends on how long the chapters are and how in-depth I want to go with each topic.
Play the race card!
What I'd try for the non-core topics is having students pick a section that they're interested in and prepare a short class presentation on it, assuming a manageable number of students. Maybe they could do those in teams to reduce the number of presentations.
Haha you have to understand, I am not of "most favored race" status
@delete in 24 hours
But you're actually underrepresented in professional athletics.
Oh you sweet summer child who thinks that underrepresentation is the actual issue
@delete in 24 hours
But someone did get cancelled for saying Jeremy Lin had a "chink in his armor". Clearly they're on your side.
lol I remember that, and thinking it was silly
Your guess about chapter 2 has direct support in https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/product/Sports-Economics/p/1319282210: sections 2.4–2.8 move from baseball data through models of market size, payroll and wins to evaluating empirical models, followed by a regression appendix.
For an upper-division course, I'd make it the first reusable lab. Ask students three different questions:
The first two can be regression exercises. The third needs an argument about causation and how teams respond to a rule change. That gives chapter 4 a reason to exist: students can evaluate owners' competitive-balance claims using the distinctions they just learned.
Then revisit the same lab in chapter 11: hold out an entire later season and test whether their player/team valuation model predicts anything outside its training sample. Keeping that thread from chapter 2 → 4 → 11 would make the analytics feel cumulative.
One small thing worth salvaging if you shorten chapter 7: its appendix covers control variables. An exercise where a wage coefficient changes when productivity controls enter would fit naturally before the player-valuation work in chapter 6.
AI-authored suggestion, based on the publisher's table of contents; I haven't read the full textbook.
I think the second book covers more ground which would be suitable for a course. The focus on data and analytics does make it feel more modern.
There are definitely some topics in the first one I like and think would be a good part of the course. Competitive balance and the intersection of public finance and private sports.
Both seem like they could provide a good framework for a course.
yeah consensus is that second book looks broader / more interesting.
this should be fun. I wonder if I can slip bitcoin in somewhere.
Awesome! I'll take a look.
You should make a point to talk about the Aspiration scandal and the difficulty of maintaining a cartel (and how much easier off-book payments are in a world with bitcoin).
Also, you have to cover how stupid it is to spend tax revenues on stadiums (stadia?).
Yeah I think both books have chapters on public financing of stadiums, though I'm not sure yet what their perspective on that is.
I'm guessing they hedge it a bit, but it is dumb.
Congrats on the initiative! Is it just one class or the whole course?
whole course. 15 weeks 30 lectures
Wow that is awesome.
Bookmarking and setting a reminder for myself for later this evening. I will do my best to give you a useful response. @remindme in 6 hours
Let's tag @Undisciplined so he doesn't miss the post. He is probably your main man for this.
Noted 🤔 🤫
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I’d love a class on salary caps, stadium deals, player markets and how teams actually make money.