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14 - On-and off-field behaviour of match officials in professional team sports
- Edited by Robert Butler, University College Cork
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- Book:
- Advances in Sports Economics
- Published by:
- Agenda Publishing
- Published online:
- 20 December 2023
- Print publication:
- 09 December 2021, pp 213-226
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Home advantage is a commonly observed phenomenon. It refers to a tendency for teams to win more contests played at their home venue compared to when they play away, and it is pervasive across many sports. For example, during the 2019 regular season the average rate of home wins was 52.9 per cent in Major League Baseball and 60.65 per cent in the National Basketball Association. In contrast, the average home win percentage for English Premier League clubs during the 2018/19 season was 47.63 per cent. However, given the higher prevalence of draws in football, average home losses equate to just 33.68 per cent, leaving the corresponding home “non-loss” percentage of 66.32 per cent. In rugby, which is the focus of the investigation in this chapter, home advantage has been found to be consistently above 60 per cent across both domestic and international-based tournaments.
Understanding the source of this home advantage in various sports has been considered in several studies (for a general overview, see Nevill & Holder ). Among the most important factors identified is the role of the match official (also known as the referee, umpire, etc.) and how their decision-making is influenced by social pressure exerted by a partisan (home) crowd (Dohmen & Sauermann ). However, studies have also looked at increasing the number of on-field officials and, more recently, the use of off-field (third-party) video assistance in relation to critical decisions (Dawson, Massey & Downward 2019).
This chapter investigates how the behaviour of the on-field referee is influenced by third-party assistance, providing some original insights associated with the Pro14 rugby competition. It begins with a review of the related literature and then outlines the Pro14 rugby competition. The remaining sections outline the data and method used in the analysis and discuss the results. The conclusions of the chapter are that the presence of third-party assistance generally increases sanctions on players during matches, but variations exist across on-field officials of different nationalities. There are also potential biases when the on-field official shares the same nationality as the home team, but this is reduced in the presence of the assistance of a third party.
9 - From Lords to Bollywood: cricket economics, the rise of T20 and the Indian Premier League
- Edited by Robert Butler, University College Cork
-
- Book:
- Advances in Sports Economics
- Published by:
- Agenda Publishing
- Published online:
- 20 December 2023
- Print publication:
- 09 December 2021, pp 125-142
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter describes the economics of cricket. Although it is played in relatively few countries, cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after football (soccer) (Swartz 2016). Cricket has undergone some dramatic changes, arguably the most important being the introduction of shorter match formats and the emergence of India as the dominant financial power in the game. Traditionally slow-moving, with matches lasting several days, the sport has introduced new shorter match formats aimed at attracting new audiences. An obvious question is whether the shorter game formats, originally regarded as a financial saviour, may actually herald the demise of the more traditional form of the sport. Historically, cricket as a full-time pro-fessional sport was confined to England, and the English County Championship attracted leading players from other countries, in much the same way that European soccer leagues today attract the world's leading footballers. However, over the past 20 years the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has overtaken the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as the richest national body in world cricket (Agur 2013). Although most English county teams operate at a loss, the Indian Premier League, launched in 2008, has been a great financial success and has dramatically altered the structure of the sport. The massive financial rewards available to players has left other countries with little choice but to allow their leading players to play in the IPL. Outside India, domestic cricket is essentially dependent on revenue from international matches.
The balance of this chapter is structured as follows. The following section provides a brief history of cricket. The key features of the IPL are then described. The following section considers the influence of broadcasting. The issue of competition between cricket leagues following the establishment of the IPL is then addressed. The sports economics literature in relation to cricket is then reviewed. This is followed by a section on corruption in the sport, and some conclusions are offered in the final section.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GAME
Cricket emerged in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The first officially recognized international (“Test”) match was played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 15 to 19 March 1877.