The Size and Scope of the Sports Industry in the United States

1、IASE/NAASE Working Paper Series, No. 08-11The Size and Scope of the Sports Industry in the United StatesBrad R. Humphreys and Brad R. HumphreysAugust 2008AbstractWe estimate the economic scope of the sports industry in the United States. Drawing on a variety of data sources, we investigate the economic size of sport participation, sports viewing, and the supply and demand side of the sports market in the United States. Estimates of the size of the sports industry based on aggregate demand and ag

2、gregate supply range from $44 to $73 billion in 2005. In addition, participation in sports and the opportunity time cost of attending sporting events are important, but hard to value, components of the industry.JEL Classification Codes: L83Keywords: sports economicsPaper presented at the 10th annual IASE Conference in Gijn, Spain, May 2008Department of Economics, University of Alberta, 8-14 HM Tory, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada, 780-492-5143 (phone), 780-492-3300 (fax), brad.humphreysualberta.caDepar

3、tment of Economics, University of Alberta, 8-14 HM Tory, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada, 780-492-5143 (phone), 780-492-3300 (fax), ruseskiualberta.caEstimates of the Size of the Sports Industry in the United StatesJuly 2008Brad R. HumphreysJane E. RuseskiUniversity of AlbertaUniversity of AlbertaDepartment of EconomicsDepartment of Economics8-14 HM Tory8-14 HM ToryEdmonton, AB T6G 2H4Edmonton, AB T6G 2H4CanadaCanadabrad.humphreysualberta.caruseskiualberta.caAbstractWe estimate the economic scope of the

4、 sports industry in the United States. Drawing on a variety of data sources, we investigate the economic size of sport participation, sports viewing, and the supply and demand side of the sports market in the United States. Estimates of the size of the sports industry based on aggregate demand and aggregate supply range from $44 to $73 billion in 2005. In addition, participation in sports and the opportunity time cost of attending sporting events are important, but hard to value, components of t

5、he industry.IntroductionSport is a complex, multi-faceted activity encompassing modern spectacles like the Summer and Winter Olympic games and informal pick-up games on urban basketball courts; a recreational jogger, a runner in the Boston Marathon a competition with thousands of participants - and people watching the Boston Marathon on television all participate in sport in some way.1Academic research on sport can be found in many disciplines, spanning the humanities, social sciences, laborator

6、y sciences, law and business. In this paper, we investigate the size of the sports industry in the United States from an economic perspective. Relatively little attention has been paid in the past to estimating the economic scope of the sports industry, perhaps because of difficulties formulating an appropriate economic definition of sport. A sizable literature documenting the economic scope and economic impact of specific sports or sporting events, already exists, in part because of the ease of

7、 defining the limits of events like a golf tournament or season of professional baseball.The first step in the process of estimating the economic scope of the sports industry is to define sport, a topic that lies outside the discipline of economics. A number of possible definitions have been proposed. Sociologist Jay Coakley (2003) characterized sport as activities involving gross motor skills, competition, and an organized set of rules. Economist Rodney Fort (2006) qualifies Coakleys competitio

8、n criteria to include only competition based on objective scoring and further restricts sport to activities only using simple devices, like bats and balls, or no devices at all. These definitions, along with many others, like the criteria that some participants must receive a financial reward for success suffer from the limitation that, in the immensely diverse realm of human behavior, many sport-like activities exist. For example, hot dog eating and bass fishing would both appear to qualify as

9、a sport under these definitions.One key issue in defining sport involves identifying criteria that separate sport from games of skill like chess or poker and from recreational activities like dancing, hiking, fishing, and gardening. A secondary issue involves identifying criteria that appropriately define competition in a way to distinguish sport from exercise. For example, running has a competitive dimension but jogging does not. Note that weightlifting is an Olympic sport, bodybuilding is a2professional sport, and competitions based on athletic performance on fitness equipment like stationary rowing machines, elliptical trainers and stationary bicycles exist, blurring the already murky distinction between exercise and sport.Ultimately, defining sp

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