The consequences of an open labour market in a closed product market in the economic environment of European professional football

Trudo Dejonghe () and Wim Van Opstal

No 830, Working Papers from International Association of Sports Economists, North American Association of Sports Economists

Abstract: Ever since the Bosman case opened the labour market for players in European professional football, competitive balance has reduced in favour of the Big 5 leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France). In this article we show that changing structures towards an open labour market in a closed product market resulted in a migration of player talents towards the major leagues and teams and in a competitive disadvantage for the smaller market leagues and their teams. Next to a theoretical argumentation, we provide empirical evidence and assess future options for the structure of European professional football.

Keywords: Bosman case; competitive balance; international labour mobility; professional team sports; stepping stone league (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 L52 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2008-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-spo
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