Selling the Big Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Mega-Events through Taxable Sales

Robert Baade (), Robert Baumann () and Victor Matheson
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Robert Baade: Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College

No 510, Working Papers from College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics

Abstract: Professional sports leagues, franchises, and civic boosters, have used the promise of an all star game or league championship as an incentive for host cities to construct new stadiums or arenas at considerable public expense. Past league-sponsored studies have estimated that Super Bowls, All-Star games and other sports mega-events increase economic activity by hundreds of millions of dollars in host cities. Our analysis fails to support these claims. Our detailed regression analysis of taxable sales in Florida over the period 1980 to 2004 reveals that on, average, mega-events ranging from the World Cup to the World Series have been associated with reductions in taxable sales in host regions of $5 to $10 million per month. Likewise, strikes in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball League, each of which has resulted in the cancellation of large parts of entire seasons, appear to have also had no demonstrable negative effect on taxable sales in host cities. Length: 31 pages

Keywords: impact analysis; sports; mega-event; championship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L83 R53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Published in Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 74:3, January 2008, pp. 794-810.

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https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC0510- ... ann_TaxableSales.pdf WEA 2005 paper (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: Selling the Big Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Mega-Events through Taxable Sales (2006)
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