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2020 | Book

Do Aquatic Sports Make Much of a Splash? Read chapter Read first chapter

The Economics of Aquatic Sports

Editor: Jill S. Harris

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Sports Economics, Management and Policy

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This volume examines the economics of aquatic sports. Covering topics ranging from youth participation, collegiate level amateurism, and professional performance issues, to the history of Olympic level swim and water polo programs, the chapters illuminate economic motivations behind the behavior and performance characteristics of this industry. Labor-related themes regarding compensation, exploitation and discrimination are examined. The volume is also especially timely, including discussions of the impacts of technological change, the hot hand effect, confirmation bias, and doping. By answering questions about these key issues in sport, this book hopes to shed light on behaviors outside of sport and provide an enhanced understanding of individual, group, and industry decision making and performance under conditions of scarcity and uncertainty.

This book will be of interest to those studying sports economics, sports management, or applied microeconomic theory as well as professionals in the sports field: sports managers, agents, media experts, coaches, athletic directors and development leaders.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Introduction to Aquatic Sport: Water Polo

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Do Aquatic Sports Make Much of a Splash?
Abstract
The sports of water polo, swimming, and diving have not received as much attention as other high-profile sports like football. Yet, top athletes in these sports earn sizeable incomes and the organizing bodies of these sports exercise considerable power over economic outcomes. What follows is an introduction to some of the interesting economic questions involving aquatic sport—focusing on water polo and swim.
Jill S. Harris
Chapter 2. Wins Produced in Water Polo
Abstract
Measuring the productivity of labor in sport is often a difficult task. How do we separate the production of a quarterback from his offensive linemen, for example? In water polo, the task is made simple. Water polo is a complex invasion sport like basketball. Thus, we model the offensive and defensive efficiency of teams (as in Berri, Manag Decision Econ, 20(8): 411–427, 1999) in order to determine the impact of individual player effort on wins. From these results, we estimate the team wins produced and predict wins from eight seasons of collegiate water polo.
Jill S. Harris, David J. Berri
Chapter 3. Hot Hands in Cold Water
Abstract
Cross-sectional data from a NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s water polo program is used to investigate the “myth” of the hot hand. Following the pioneering work of Gilovich et al. (Cognitive Psychol 17: 295–314, 1985), analysis of conditional probabilities, serial correlation, and runs reveals partial evidence in support of the hot hand on both individual and aggregate levels. The results are counter to Gilovich et al. and potentially important in light of Wardrop’s (Am Stat 49: 24–28, 1999) critiques and recent work by Arkes (J Q Anal Sports 6(1), 2010) and Stone (Am Stat 66(1):61–66, 2012), indicating these approaches lack power and are subject to measurement error. A probit model of shots is estimated using player fixed effects. The results suggest player position, and experience together with the sequence of the shot in the series all influence the likelihood of successful shots.
Jill S. Harris, James Graham
Chapter 4. The Cost of Losing Team Bias in Water Polo
Abstract
Parallel game simulations are utilized to determine whether or not bias in foul calling can impact the outcomes of games. The authors find that referees, not team performance, may be the source of losing team bias.
James Graham, John Mayberry
Chapter 5. A Tale of Two Continents: Why Do Eastern European Males and American Females Excel at Water Polo?
Abstract
In the sport of water polo, taller players are better offensively and defensively. A survey of the dominant male and female Olympic teams reveals that the best male players come from and play for Eastern Europe and the best female players tend to come from or play for the United States. In both cases, the question of access to the sport is pivotal. A brief history of the development of water polo is included.
Jill S. Harris

Economics of Elite Swimming

Frontmatter
Chapter 6. Blocked Entry and Demand Shocks in Age-Group and Collegiate Swimming
Abstract
A labor-leisure model helps explain why entry into competitive swim is blocked. Swim has been, historically, a racially uniform sport. Demand shocks during Olympic years may portend that a different era is coming. Blocked entry is related to competitive balance in the sport. A Hirschman-Hirfindahl index of competitive balance in collegiate swim is used to compare swim to other sports.
Jill S. Harris, Claudia Ferrante
Chapter 7. Market Power, Rents, and Deadweight Welfare Loss in Collegiate Swimming
Abstract
As with all collegiate sports in the United States, athletes do not earn income from their labor efforts. This is due, primarily, to the structure of the NCAA as an incidental cartel. This cartel market power translates to price ceilings on wages and quotas on the number of athletes employed. On average, most college swimmers are generating at least the value of their athletic scholarship. However, some generate far more. This lays the groundwork for future work on exploitation of student-athletes and estimation of the deadweight welfare loss in aquatic sport.
Jill S. Harris, Audrey Kline
Chapter 8. Doping on Deck: The Prisoner’s Dilemma of Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Abstract
Athletes from Olympians to NFL players are under constant pressure to be bigger, stronger, faster, and better than their competitors. Increasingly, athletes turn to Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). PEDs create a Prisoner’s Dilemma within sporting organizations as athletes attempt to keep up with their opponents. This chapter addresses two questions. (1) Is doping a rational strategy and (2) Does doping provide a significant financial advantage to other clean, or nondoping, swimmers? A strategic form game indicates doping is an equilibrium strategy. Simulations from a panel data set of elite swimmers indicate the financial advantage from doping is minimal for US swimmers.
Jill S. Harris
Chapter 9. The Impact of Technology and Rule Changes on Elite Swimming Performances
Abstract
We use the annual ranking of the top 100 performers in the world that the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) publishes to study the impact the LZR Racer swimsuit and the deregulation of the use of dolphin kicking in breaststroke had on swimming performances. The swimsuit innovation, which was legal to use in 2008 and 2009, impacted performances across the sport such that improvement in the years swimmers could use any variation of the suit was significantly larger than in the years before it was created and after it was banned. The change in rules dictating legal motions swimmers could use while competing in breaststroke events, which occurred in 2015, caused improvement in breaststroke races to be significantly bigger than in races that involve the other strokes. We close by discussing the importance of FINA’s decisions on regulating technology and monitoring innovation within the sport.
Todd A. McFall, Amanda L. Griffith, Kurt W. Rotthoff
Chapter 10. It Is Not Easy Being Green: Gender and Earnings in Professional Swim
Abstract
A human capital wage model helps identify factors that influence earnings in professional swim. Females earn less than males from the sport—in spite of having more medals and slightly more endorsement contracts, on average, than the males.
Jill S. Harris
Chapter 11. What’s Next for Aquatic Sports?
Abstract
Aquatic sports are not immune from challenges that plague other sports. This summary highlights a few of the key hurdles the sport must navigate in order to thrive in the decades to come. Gender and racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse as well as unfair treatment by organizing bodies must be confronted.
Jill S. Harris
Metadata
Title
The Economics of Aquatic Sports
Editor
Jill S. Harris
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-52340-4
Print ISBN
978-3-030-52339-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52340-4

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