meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
EconTalk

Roger Noll on the Economics of Sports

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

Ethics, Philosophy, Economics, Books, Science, Business, Courses, Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Interviews, Education, History

4.74.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2012

⏱️ 67 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Roger Noll of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of sports. Noll discusses the economic effects of stadium subsidies, the labor market for athletes, the business side of college sports, competitive balance in sports leagues, safety in sports, performance-enhancing drugs, and how the role of sports in the lives of children has changed.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts

0:13.9

of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org

0:21.2

where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast, and find links to

0:26.5

another information related to today's conversation. Our email address is mailadicontalk.org. We'd

0:33.6

love to hear from you.

0:36.7

Today is July 27th, 2012, and my guest is Roger Noel, Professor of Economics at Stanford University.

0:45.6

Roger, welcome to Econ Talk. Thank you. You've been a central figure in the application

0:50.4

of economics to sports, and that's our topic for today. I want to start with an area

0:54.2

written widely on the financial impact of sports teams and sports stadiums on their

0:58.2

communities. What do we know about that? What have we learned over the years in analyzing

1:02.1

those effects? First of all, it depends on the kind of facility that an arena that has

1:08.4

multiple uses, say it's going to have a basketball team and or a hockey team, has other

1:14.6

potential uses like concerts and tractor pulls, all kinds of stuff. And so a well-managed

1:23.1

arena can be occupied 250 to 300 nights a year, and they can break even. And indeed, if

1:29.8

you, you know, I don't think there are very many cities out there who regret having built

1:34.7

an arena unless the city next door also builds one, and then you have two that are half occupied.

1:41.4

So you can't really argue vociferously against building an arena. Baseball and football stadiums,

1:49.8

however, there aren't any that have been substantially subsidized, where the local community

1:56.1

has received anything remotely resembling a reasonable return on investment. They are

2:01.8

financial black holes, especially football stadiums.

2:05.4

Twenty-six times a year. Yes, well, then they may make the playoffs, and then you've got

2:12.2

a couple of preseason games. So give them ten. Well, yeah. Really got a lift.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Library of Economics and Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Library of Economics and Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.