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2025/2026  KAN-CGMAV1006U  The Economics of Sports

English Title
The Economics of Sports

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for Governance, Law, Accounting & Management Analytics
Programme Master of Science (MSc) in Economics and Business Administration - General Management and Analytics (GMA)
Course coordinator
  • Battista Severgnini - Department of Economics (ECON)
Main academic disciplines
  • Economics
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 22-04-2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
After completing this course, the students should be able to:
  • Analyze the main issues of sport using economic tools.
  • Study the management decisions of professional sports organizations.
  • Identify critical challenges that all professional sport teams and leagues have to face both in competitive and business environments.
  • Understand the distinctive features of sports at both league and at team level.
  • Develop a well-defined and coherent research question in regard to the course topic
  • Identify relevant literature and prove evidence of a comprehensive knowledge of the literature and the theories
  • Answer a research question in a comprehensible, precise and logical manner in a paper matching the formal standards of academic writing
Course prerequisites
The course requires a basic knowledge of microeconomics and applied econometrics.
Examination
The Economics of Sports:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Written assignment
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the student fails the ordinary exam, they must write an assignment based on a question provided by the course coordinator.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

The aim of this course is to understand the economic aspects of professional sports. Sport represents a significant part of the GDP in most OECD countries and involves several important issues which can be answered employing the basic principles of business, economics and econometrics.
The structure of this course could be divided into three parts. The first part of the course will analyse the demand for sports and the composition of team and league revenues. The organization of leagues, tickets and revenues, advertising and the role played by media will be studied. The second part will deal with the labor markets in professional sports - in particular, how players’ salaries are determined and how they impact on competitive balance and accounting. Finally, the third part will show new issues that are affecting professional sports, such as gambling, cheating and doping.
 
Outline of the course

 

1. The industrial organization of sports: Financial and account aspects

  • Team revenues and the demand for sports
  • Media and TV rights
  • Marketing and advertisement

 2. Labor markets in professional sports:

  • Contracts and sport agents
  • Players’s salaries, discrimination players as superstars and tax considerations

3. New issues:

  • Betting markets
  • Cheating and corruption
  • Doping.
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • Teacher’s own research
  • Models
Research-like activities
  • Development of research questions
  • Data collection
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
Description of the teaching methods
Lectures
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback is provided in numerous ways throughout the course:

During office hours, we can discuss particular problems and give advice on individual academic development questions

During classes, we will discuss the different topics.
Student workload
Teaching 30 hours
Preparation 157 hours
Exam / Home Assignments 19 hours
Expected literature

Blair, Roger D., Sport Economics, Cambridge University Press, last edition.
 
Additional optional readings will be posted on the website of the course.
 
Last updated on 22-04-2025