One of my sabbatical projects has been to develop a new course on the economics of sports. This is nowhere near complete, but it is beginning to take shape – given my teaching schedule, it will likely not be offered before Winter 2020, or maybe even Spring 2020.
The plan is to offer it at a 2nd year level, with an introductory microeconomics course (EC120 or equivalent) as the only prerequisite. The class is being designed with a blended perspective, with the bulk of the content delivered online, and then an in-class lab that is focused on discussions and applications.
One of the interesting questions for such a course is the purpose – why would I care about teaching an Economics of Sports class? There will be people that disagree, but my opinion is that there are definitely alternative topics that I could teach that are more important – something like Economic Development, or the Economics of Poverty, which I have taught before are topics that I would prefer that students understand.
My perspective is that I’ll teach an Economics of Sport class because it allows me to focus on an application of economics, where motivation is (hopefully) provided by the students. Do firms act as if they are maximizing profits? Does game theory offer reasonable predictions of the behaviour of decision-makers in strategic situations? What are the costs and benefits of a large-scale government decision? Each of these questions can more reasonably be asked in another course – my goal in this course is simply to get students to look at something they are already interested in from an economic perspective.
If you have any suggestions or comments with regard to the course, please feel free to let me know in the comments.