Decreasing financial imbalances or distorting competition? Examining the effects of the 50plus1-rule in German football

Oliver Budzinski and Philipp Kunz-Kaltenhäuser

No 197, Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers from Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics

Abstract: The so-called 50plus1-rule in German football is a controversially discussed institution that regulates the investment behavior of professional football teams. This paper provides an empirical analysis of its effects. We gathered panel data on 47 teams in the German Major League Football ("Erste Bundesliga") from the seasons 1989/90 until 2018/2019. This paper applies a Difference-in-Differences approach to examine investment behavior in budgets, as well as sporting success between impacted competitors and those exempted from the rule. Our results do not suggest any equalizing properties of the regulation. By contrast, we find anticompetitive effects and distorting properties of the current regulation.

Keywords: 50plus1-rule; football; sports economics; financial regulation; investment; sport finance; soccer; competition economics; sports antitrust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J83 L11 L50 Z2 Z21 Z23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-ind, nep-reg and nep-spo
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