The characteristics of the sports sector and the data it provides allows economists to cast light on a large number of economic issues facing society. Historical Perspectives on Sports Economics explores a variety of topics, including mega-event analysis, sports governance, anthropometrics, gambling, industrial organisation, infrastructure development and racial issues.

The analysis is sufficiently non-technical and will appeal not only to academic economists and students, but to historians and sports enthusiasts as well.

The sports sector, apart from being of economic significance in itself, is clearly one that many citizens share a great interest in. It is not mere results, but aspects such as history, statistics, interest in labour markets and finances that often spark people?s interest. Historical Perspectives on Sports Economics explores a variety of topics including mega-event analysis, sports governance, anthropometrics, gambling, industrial organisation, infrastructure development and racial issues.

?... there is much to recommend the blending of historical and economic method and commentary in this interdisciplinary text.?

Table of Contents:

Contents:

Preface

1. Understanding economics through the history of sport
John Wilson

2. From Recreational Sports Clubs to Sports Businesses: Bradford and Queen?s Park Football Clubs 1860s-1914
John Dewhirst and Wray Vamplew

3. Home ground advantage: The determinants of sharing versus sole occupied stadium arrangements
Richard Pomfret and John K. Wilson

4. Stadium Construction and the Distribution of Winning Percentages in the English and Scottish Football Leagues, 1888-89 to 1938-39
Lionel Frost, Luc Borrowman, Vinod Mishra and Abdel K. Halabi

5. The Rise and Fall (and Rise and Fall) of the Olympic Games as an Economic Driver
Victor Matheson

6. The Winter Sports Industry and Winter Olympics in Historical Perspective: From Grenoble 1968 to Albertville 1992
Wladimir Andreff

7. Incomplete Contracting, League Governance, and the Role of the Commissioner in Japanese and North American Professional Baseball
Akihiko Kawaura and Sumner La Croix

8. Baseball and Life Expectancy: Evidence from linked historical data
Joseph Price, Sebastian Brown, and Jacob Van Leeuwen

9. The Height and Weight of Canadian Major League Hockey Players, 1909?2010
J. Andrew Ross, John Cranfield, and Kris Inwood

10. Beating the Odds: Black Jockeys in the Kentucky Derby, 1870-1911
Michael Leeds and Hugh Rockoff

11. Betting on Sport: History, regulation, measurement
Pierre-Charles Pradier

12. Club Survival in the English Premier League: What does it take to survive in the top flight?
Jeffrey Chang, Luc Borrowman and Lionel Frost

13. Epilogue - looking forward

Index