Sports economics

Teaching in sports economics

Over the last few decades, sport has developed into an important economic sector, emerging from a combination of more free time, a tendency towards rising incomes and growing interest in sport-related topics such as fitness, aesthetics and body awareness. Within sport, there has been a noticeable increase in commercialisation and professionalisation – both in capital-intensive professional sport and in popular and recreational sport. However, the sports sector is characterised by a number of organisational peculiarities, which means that standard economic methods and theories cannot be applied to sport without careful consideration: Many sports programmes are created by both commercial and non-commercial providers, each of which operates under very different conditions. Furthermore, sport cannot be easily divided into passive consumption and active participation.   In order to gain an overview of the field of sports economics, students learn about current economic approaches in the Sports Economics lecture and the Financial Management seminar, and then explore their suitability and application in the field of sport. This enables students to compare different sports models (e.g. between the European and American sports systems), analyse consumer behaviour within sport and take into account the framework conditions of clubs and corporations that are largely responsible for the range of sports on offer.  

The module ‘Sports Economics’ is an elective module for students in the Bachelors programme in Sports Science. The lecture ‘Sports Economics’ can also be taken by students in the Masters programme in Business Administration as an elective.