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The Economic Design of Sporting Contests

  • Chapter
The Comparative Economics of Sport

Abstract

What is the optimal number of entrants in a race, or the optimal number of teams in a baseball league? What is the optimal structure of prizes for a golf tournament, or degree of revenue sharing for a football championship? How evenly balanced should the competing teams be in the NASCAR or Formula One championships? What is the maximum number of entrants per nation to the Olympic Games that should be permitted? What quota of qualifying teams to the soccer World Cup should be allocated to the developing nations?

I am grateful to Jeff Borland, Braham Dabscheck, David Forrest, Bernd Frick, Philippe Gagnepain, Brad Humphreys, Erik Lehmann, Stefan Késenne, Gerd Muehlheusser, Steve Ross, Rob Simmons, Peter Sloane, Paul Staudohar, Tommaso Valletti, Andy Zimbalist, the editor, and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. I also thank seminar participants at the ESRC study group on the Economics of Sport, Arts and Leisure, the Stockholm School of Economics, and Glasgow University for their observations. Errors are of course my own.

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  1. The Business School, Imperial College, London, UK

    Stefan Szymanski

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Szymanski, S. (2010). The Economic Design of Sporting Contests. In: The Comparative Economics of Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230274273_1

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