Exam 2 Material Flashcards
What are fixed costs in the short run?
Coaches salary, player salary, facility size
Limitations to spending money to improve team quality
revenue structure, profit mentality of the owner, gate revenue and sharing
Advantages of large market teams
- larger revenue pool
- can buy more talent
What is gate revenue? How much does each league share?
-Revenue from ticket sales NFL: 40% MLB: 31% NHL: 35% NBA: 50%
How does NFL divide broadcasting rights revenue? How much does each team receive?
Shared evenly by each team
Each team receives $226million
What is an RSN?
Regional Sports Network;
Explain “TV broadcasts are a two-edge sword”
ADV: fans watch live = attracts advertisers = large revenue,
DIS: Watching TV at home substitutes attending games
Explain “ Network demand for broadcasts is a derived demand”
It is driven by sponsors’ demand for commercial time, advertisers are the deriver
Why would a network pay for broadcast rights even if it lost money in doing so?
- credibility; to establish themselves
- can attract affiliates
5 main sources of revenue for a sports franchise:
- Ticket revenue (gate revenue)
- Broadcasting revenue (broadcasting rights)
- Licensing Income
- Venue Revenue (concessions, luxury seats)
- Transfer Revenue (trades)
Detroit Lions sell 20 seat luxury suit for $350,000. Each ticket valued at $150. During a season with 8 home games, how much revenue will the lions have to share?
20 seats * $150 * 8 home games = $24,000
NFL only shares 40% of that therefore only has to share
$24,000 *.40 = $9600
Why do some critics consider revenue sharing a tax on quality?
relative quality is in question because there is no motivation to make a quality team
How does the NFL revenue sharing result in ‘tragedy of commons’
When something is shared, it is often abused
Why does ESPN pay so much more than other networks?
- Sunday football so was already taken, therefore HAD to get some NFL games so Monday night was all that was left
- clash with negotiator
What role did HULU and Netflix play in the growth for sports programming?
They took out the value of commercials in all tv programs that did not need to be viewed live, therefore increasing the value of commercials during live sports programming
Was the growth in sports programming good for players?
Yes because there was more money to pay players
“The effects of lower attendance will bleed into other aspects of the business” What does this mean?
- Less people attending games means less concession and merchandise revenue
- Less people at the games means less energy in the stadium resulting in a less entertaining game
Why are teams not seeing financial gains despite their winning success? (4)
- Most teams lack emotional connection w/fans
- In-person consumption doesn’t match fan consumption habits
- Teams fail to engage fans continuously
- Fans don’t feel heard/understood
Why would a corporation buy a luxury suite?
- to entertain and build relationships with clients
- families to spend time together
- can deduct up to 50% in taxes
What are some pitfalls to selling luxury suites to corporations?
- $ evaporates in financial down times
- traditional tickets decrease in number but increase in price
In a monopoly, consumer surplus shrink, where does this surplus go?
To the producer surplus and some to deadweight loss
What is the difference between dynamic ticket pricing and variable ticket pricing?
Dynamic: As season unfolds, prices change
Variable: Prices are known before season begins
Why would a team offer bundle ticket pricing?
To sell least popular game tickets with most popular game tickets
What is 1st degree price discrimination?
Know what will pay and charge that
What is 2nd degree price discrimination?
Certain criteria (BOGO)
What is 3rd degree price discrimination?
Belong to certain group (students, seniors, etc)
Explain “ The dynamic ticket prices make no assumptions about price elasticity”
Prices adjusting based on the season unfolding, purely demand driven at that point, price elasticity out the window
Why does baseball have a greater opportunity for dynamic ticket pricing than hockey (or other sports?)
- larger stadiums don’t necessarily sell out
- weather is a factor
Name the four major input categories on why tickets change as season unfolds
- seasonal time factors
- opponent factors
- stadium factors
- social factors
What were the top four drivers for dynamic ticket pricing?
a. Days until the game
b. Time of the game
c. Daily home team tweet count
d. Opponent previous season playoff status
e. Opponent franchise value
f. Current month/week
What financial impact occurred when Federal league declared itself a major league and started to compete against the American and National league?
-substantial legal fees, elevated player salaries, on-field competition
How did the AL and NL monopolize pool of talent?
By tying up players to team for their entire career (Reverse clause), ultimately making it difficult for federal league to from competitive teams
How was the situation resolved between AL, NL, and Federal league?
Through peace negotiations that FL would end operations in exchange of $450,000 from major leagues
What did Baltimore object to and what were the results?
Baltimore did not receive anything under deal, results were establishing baseball’s antitrust exemption
Why would it be difficult for a rival league to bring a monopolization lawsuit against the MLB?
- confrontation of baseball’s antitrust exemption
- Monopolizing an industry does not violate Sherman Act, major leagues must engage in some exclusionary conduct that unfairly prevents rivals from entering industry in order to be found to be monopolizing
Why have some fighters filed antitrust lawsuit against UFC?
Fighters have no bargaining leverage with MMA leagues therefore they get paid low wages with strict restrictions
-players believe they have been denied free agency and name, image, and likeness rights
What is the ‘Champions Clause’
Fighters cannot negotiate contract when they win a championship, instead it extends their current contract
What is the ‘Exclusivity Clause’?
Allows UFC to match offers received by fighters from other MMA leagues even after the fighter’s UFC contract has expired
What is the ‘Ancillary Rights Clause’?
Grants UFC exclusive name, image, and likeness rights for merchandise, video games, and broadcasts
What is a monoposony?
Those selling a service are stuck selling those services to one main buyer; the buyer can set low prices and impose other restrictions on the sellers who know that other buyers aren’t significant enough to offer better prices
What is the ‘non-statutory labor exemption’?
Employment restrictions created through collective bargaining are exempt from Section 1 of Sherman Act which prohibits competitions from conspiring to impose unreasonable restrictions on players earning power
What are 4 defense UFC is likely to use?
- Contracts are voluntary
- Practices are promoted by capitalism
- Found nothing unlawful in 2011-2012 investigation
- Forcing change would harm elite professional fighting
Explain the two ways MLB violated Sherman Act:
- Cable packages don’t allow fans ability to choose teams/games they’d liked to purchase
- Cable packages blackout games on locally broadcast stations