Within the context of Sports Economics, there are a wide range of topics. Within the course, my hope is that students will embrace that variety, and choose something that is of interest to them.
In the current news, obvious topics include:
- Should a city pay for a new stadium for a professional team? A BNN/Bloomberg article on the arena deal last summer in Calgary. Or A CTV article on whether Halifax should support a new CFL franchise.
- Should college players be paid directly? Or at least be able to sell access to their name/image/likeness rights, as is now law in California? CNBC article on the NCAA response to the California law
- How much are broadcast rights worth? Forbes article on the new contract between ESPN/ABC and the SEC (Southeastern Conference)
- How much are or should teams be willing to pay particular players, and why? FanGraphs article on the 9-year, $324 million contract for Gerrit Cole with the New York Yankees
And there are a wide variety of more academic topics – here are three recent papers in the Journal of Sports Economics:
- How do a variety of factors affect game attendance? New paper in the Journal of Sports Economics on basketball, the presence of superstar players and game attendance
- How much should players be paid? Measuring marginal revenue product in MMA. On the Marginal Revenue Product of UFC Fighters
- Or measuring marginal revenue product of college football coaches. Salaries of Group of Five Football Coaches