Introduction

Abstract

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an important gap in the existing literature on sports economics, particularly as it pertains to behavioural approaches to the economics of sports. It discusses the evolution of doping from cheating to an economic crime, where the latter has been facilitated by an inappropriate incentive environment. The book provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of gender discrimination as it pertains to sports. It analyses competitive bedding behaviour using a unique data set from Great Britain and Ireland. The book reviews two strands of the literature, one referring to the behaviour and decisions of athletes and coaches and the other to the behaviour and decisions of fans. It examines a key concept in sports economics: namely, the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH), which suggests that fans are more likely to attend games with less certain outcomes than games with more certain outcomes.