Everything You Need To Know Before The 2021 Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is the richest handicap race run on turf over 3200m in the world of racing but it is also so much more.

NCAA coaches charged with fraud and corruption

Hmm, am I shocked? No, not really. However, I am a little shocked that it was the Feds that caught them. Student-athletes are worth a lot of money to the schools and the brands that sponsor the schools. As such, we expect there to be a strong incentive for places to find ways to convince these student-athletes to go to their school (or brand). And schools have always done this through relatively inefficient means: nicer locker rooms, weight rooms, and other facilities; hiring personal chefs and personal trainers; and even paying professional coaches to leave the big leagues and come […]

The Value of Recruiting

Echoing Skip's post below, I link to this article about Kansas State assistant basketball coach Dalonte Hill, about whose salary a recent stink was raised: Michael Beasley made Kansas State basketball relevant for the first time in more than a decade last season, and his presence put a few extra dollars in the pocket of the man responsible for luring him to Manhattan, Kan. Kansas State had been a perennial also-ran in the Big 12 during the 90's and the early part of this decade. It was in large part due to Michael Beasley - with all due respect to […]

College Football Doping Scandal

College football is a big business these days.  Teams generate tens of millions of dollars of revenue every season, and for top players, a lucrative professional football contract worth millions of dollars usually awaits the end of their eligibility.  Given all the money associated with modern college football, players, coaches, and boosters face huge incentives to bend or break the rules.  Today officials handed down one of the harshest and most rarely used penalties available in sport to a football program: the "death penalty."  Suspension of the program for one year. The truly bizarre element of this story is that […]

Euro 2020: England vs Germany rekindles the clash of old rivals

Historically, they are two of the biggest rivals on the international soccer stage. Now the fates have once again pitted England against Germany, as the two continental giants go head-to-head at Euro 2020.

4 Best Muscle Recovery Tips for Athletes

As an athlete getting better, faster, and stronger is understandably your top priority.

How To Help Your Chances Of Winning When Football Betting

Football betting is common around the world. In fact, some people bet as much as millions on premier league matches.

3 NFL Hype Jobs That Everyone Should be Hedging Against

As a new NFL season rumbles into view on every sports fan’s horizon, many are already looking for how to get ahead of the game and take advantage of misconceptions stirred up during the draft and pre-season training camps.

Of Coaches and Kings -- Connecting Sean Payton to Joe Paterno

In the aftermath of the Penn State scandal, references to Joe Paterno as emperor or king abounded.  The recently released Freeh Report details and comments on the discretion and deference afforded Paterno and the PSU AD by top level administrators as well as the degree to which all of these individuals operated with little oversight by the PSU Board of Trustees.  According to the report, the PSU president not only bent toward the Paterno/AD approach but willfully kept the Board out of the loop.   Of course, the Report makes clear that the Board had adopted an oversight structure and […]

NFL Even MORE Competitively Balanced than We Thought

With the NFL regular season having reached its (customarily gripping) climax moments ago, sports economists will take note, as usual, of the within-season competitive balance measures, based on the end-of-season standings.  The figures generated from these measures are often used in the literature on the effectiveness (or otherwise) of labor market and revenue-sharing policies used by leagues to maintain/improve competitive balance.  On the basis of these measures, it is generally accepted by sports economists that the NFL has been the most competitively balanced (on average) of the four major leagues over the last few decades.  However, there is continued debate […]

Deals, Deals, Deals

The University of Colorado will join Nebraska and Utah as members of the Pac-10 in 2011 after negotiating a $6.863 million exit package with the Big 12.  Nebraska is paying $9.25 million for the same privilege to leave for the Big 10.   This story in Boulder's Daily Camera notes that the Pac-10 is financing Colorado's severance payment, in effect through reduced future payouts to Colorado.  Payouts of this magnitude -- and the ability of Colorado and the Pac-10 to finance the early move with internal funds --  imply very large gains to the new Pac-10 group of schools from this realignment. Elsewhere, […]

Faking = Cheating? The Curious Case of Derek Jeter

As anyone other than the home plate umpire watching Wednesday night could easily determine, both from the loud "doink" of the ball hitting the bat as well as video replay, Chad Qualls did not hit Derek Jeter with a pitch in the 7th inning 's of the Rays-Yankees game.  Instead, Jeter faked (acted, simulated, ...) pain from being hit, prompting the ump to award first base.  While Jeter has received a little bit of "Cheater" backlash, most media reflections on his actions have been very mild.  (Huffington Post hosts a vote on "is it cheating or not".) Rays manager, Joe […]