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Content:Franck, Egon, Philipp Theiler: One for Sure or Maybe Three. Empirical Evidence for Overtime Play from a Comparison of Swiss Ice Hockey and the NHL JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 210-233.
+ show abstract- hide abstractIn order to avoid too many tied games after playing the five-minute overtime period, the
National Hockey League (NHL) introduced two rule changes in the 1999-2000 season. First,
a team that loses in overtime receives one point instead of zero points. Second, the number of
skaters in overtime is reduced from five to four. The theoretical literature analyzing these rule
changes predicted that they would also produce the unintended side-effect that more games
would reach overtime and recommended that a team that wins in regulation should receive
three points (instead of two) in order to counterbalance the converse effect. We are the first
to empirically support this theoretical prediction using NHL data and data from Swiss ice
hockey, in which the rule changes of the NHL were copied in the 2006-2007 season and in
which the three-point rule was also introduced. Bäker, Agnes, Mario Mechtel, Karin Vetter: Beating thy Neighbor: Derby Effects in German Professional Soccer JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 224-246.
+ show abstract- hide abstractIt is widely acknowledged that derbies between two teams from the same city or region catch
more public attention than “normal” soccer matches. Terms such as “Old Firm” (Rangers vs.
Celtic), “Merseyside” (Liverpool FC vs. Everton FC), “Supercla´ sico” (Boca Juniors vs. River
Plate), and “Revierderby” (Dortmund vs. Schalke) are well-known even to people outside their
respective countries of origin. Using data from the German Bundesliga from 1999 to 2009, we
test whether derbies differ from other soccer matches with respect to the number of goals
scored by each team, match results, and referee evaluations. The results are very surprising
given the enormous amount of public attention that derbies with their special character attract:
we find that there are no significant differences between derbies and “normal” matches. Despite
the importance of derbies for fans and the public, they turn out to be “normal” soccer
matches in all other respects. Nüesch, Stephan, Hartmut Haas: Empirical Evidence on the "Never Change a Winning Team" Heuristic JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 247-257.
+ show abstract- hide abstract“Never change a winning team” is a well-known heuristic that recommends not altering the
composition of successful teams. Using game-level observations of the highest German soccer
league over a period of seven seasons, we find that the number of changes in the starting line-up
is significantly lower after wins than after losses, taking suspensions and unobserved team
heterogeneity into account. We show that teams of coaches who follow the heuristic do
not win significantly more often, and that coaches significantly decrease the number of changes
in the starting line-up even after wins caused by the exogenous home field advantage. These
results provide first suggestive evidence that coaches may be influenced by behavioural concerns
when following the heuristic to not change winning teams. Süssmuth, Bernd, Stefan Wagner: A Market’s Reward Scheme, Media Attention, and the Transitory Success of Managerial Change JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 258-278.
+ show abstract- hide abstractAgainst the background of growing media interest in professional soccer, this paper proposes a
moral hazard model with costly state verification to explain how rule changes affecting the
reward scheme of team performance impact on the success of managerial change. As has
been shown recently based on four decades of data from the German soccer premiership
by Wagner (2010), the incentive change in professional soccer leagues enacted by the FIFA
in 1995/96 rendered the drastic measure of firing a coach a more efficient instrument in
the clubs’ striving for success. In contrast to existing approaches, our model by accommodating
the role of media interest is able to jointly explain (i) the impact of introducing an asymmetric
reward scheme, (ii) of managerial turnover and (iii) of the perceived degree of ambition of a
club on the athletic output of the team. It is shown that the rule change induces a higher agency
cost, which is temporarily economized by clubs that change their management. This cost reducing
effect temporarily enhances the efficiency of generating athletic output for top league
clubs. Leeds, Eva Marikova, Michael A. Leeds: Gold, Silver, and Bronze: Determining National Success in Men’s and Women’s Summer Olympic Events JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 279-292.
+ show abstract- hide abstractWe add to the literature on Olympic performance by explicitly studying the determinants of
women’s performance at the Games.We estimate separatemodels ofmedal production formen
and women over the last four Summer Olympic Games. The production of medals is a function
of capital, labor, and total factor productivity (TFP). We use real GDP per capita and population
– two variables that appear in almost all Olympic studies – as proxies for capital and
labor. Our measure of TFP is a vector of variables that captures a nation’s willingness and
ability to marshal its resources to promote Olympic performance and variables that determine
its willingness to support its women. Because the dependent variable is a count measure, we
estimate the production function using a negative binomial framework. We find that the determinants
of success by a nation’s women closely resemble the determinants for its men. We
also show that some determinants of gold medal counts differ from the determinants of silver
and bronze medals. Our findings suggest that nations can improve the medal performance of
men and women by following policies that increase the political and economic participation of
women. Kamst, Richard, Gerard H. Kuper, Gerard Sierksma, Bertus G. Talsma: Inner- Outer Lane Advantage in Olympic 1000 Meter Speed Skating JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 293-307.
+ show abstract- hide abstractDuring the Olympic Games and the World Championships Single Distances the 1000m is
skated by every skater only one time. However, there may be a difference in skating a
1000m race with a start in the inner and the outer lane that introduces an externality that
introduces unfairness. We show that this difference indeed exists. For the period 2000-
2009 we observe a statistically significant advantage of starting in the inner lane of 0.120 seconds
for women. For male skater the difference between starting lanes is 0.030, but not significantly
different from zero. In order tomake the competition fair, we suggest that the 1000m
should be skated twice. Baumann, Robert, Bryan Engelhardt, Victor A. Matheson: Employment Effects of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 308-317.
+ show abstract- hide abstractLocal, state, and federal governments, along with the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee,
spent roughly $1.9 billion in planning and hosting the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Event promoters suggested that the Games would increase employment in the state by
35,000 job-years. We investigate whether the 2002 Winter Olympics actually increased employment
finding that the Games’ impact was a fraction of that claimed by the boosters. While
the Salt Lake City Olympics did increase employment overall by between 4,000 and 7,000 jobs,
these gains were concentrated in the leisure industry, and the Games had little to no effect on
employment after 12 months. Haan, Marco A., Ruud H. Koning, Arjen van Witteloostuijn: The Effects of Institutional Change in European Soccer JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 318-335.
+ show abstract- hide abstractThe last decades have seen two profound changes in European soccer. First, international trade
in talent has increased markedly. Second, international competitions such as the Champions
League have become much more important. Using a theoretical model, we study how these
changes affect competitive balance within national competitions, and quality differences between
national competitions. Introducing international trade in talent leads to a flow to large
countries, as the returns to talent are higher there. Wages increase in small countries, but decrease
in large ones. The wage increase in small countries hurts small teams more than large
ones. Therefore, competitive balance decreases. The wage decrease in large countries benefits
small teams more, so competitive balance increases. The introduction of a Champions League
implies the possibility to win a large amount of prize money. This is relatively more important
for small teams. Hence, competitive balance increases in all countries, and talent flows from
large to small countries, provided international trade is possible. Wages increase. When looking
at both changes combined, we find that talent flows fromsmall to large countries. Hence, in
this sense, the trade effect dominates the Champions League effect. Competitive balance increases
in all but the very smallest countries. Dietl, Helmut, Tobias Duschl, Egon Franck, Markus Lang: A Contest Model of a Professional Sports League with Two-Sided Markets JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 336-359.
+ show abstract- hide abstractThis paper develops a model of a professional sports league with network externalities by
integrating the theory of two-sided markets into a two-stage contest model. In professional
team sports, the competition of the clubs functions as a platform that enables sponsors to interact
with fans. In these club-mediated interactions, positive network effects operate from the fan
market to the sponsor market, while positive or negative network effects operate from the
sponsor market to the fan market. We show that the size of these network effects determines
the level of competitive balance within the league. If the market potential of the sponsors is
small (large), competitive balance increases (decreases) with stronger combined network effects.
We further deduce that clubs benefit from stronger combined network effects through
higher profits and that network externalities can mitigate the negative effect of revenue sharing
on competitive balance. Finally, we derive implications for improving competitive balance by
taking advantage of network externalities. For example, our model suggests that an increase in
the market potential of sponsors produces a more balanced league. Frick, Bernd, Björn Wallbrecht: Infant Mortality of Professional Sports Clubs: An Organizational Ecology Perspective JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 360-389.
+ show abstract- hide abstractDue to their limited financial resources winning the national championship or qualifying for
an international cup competition is not a viable option for most small market clubs in any of the
European professional team sports leagues, such as soccer, ice hockey, basketball or handball.
However, since a particularly poor performance is usually punished by relegation and since
being relegated to the respective second division is associated with a dramatic decline in revenues,
avoiding relegation is a target in itself. Using data from seven different professional team
sports leagues in four different countries we estimate various parametric and semi-parametric
regression models to identify the determinants of the clubs’ length of stay in their respective
first division. In line with the organizational ecology literature we find that club experience,
previous club performance (number of previous championship titles and number of previous
relegations) and market size (average attendance) affect survival in a statistically significant
and economically relevant sense. Perhaps surprisingly, founding conditions seem to be irrelevant
for a club’s length of stay in its respective first division.
Book Review Gilli, Manfred, Dietmar Maringer, Enrico Schumann: Numerical Methods and Optimization in Finance JBNST - Vol. 232/3 - 2012, pp. 390-390.
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