How Economics May Lead to Better Football Games
| Q&A with: | Alvin E. Roth |
|---|---|
| Published: | September 29, 2008 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
When economists watch football games they see more than flying pigskin and stadiums overflowing with fans. In the case of U.S. college football, Harvard Business School professor Alvin E. Roth along with Guillaume R. Fréchette and M. Utku Ünver studied the timing of team selection for championship bowls. What they found: Good teams are much better matched up than they used to be, and there are implications beyond sports. Q&A with Al Roth.
Unraveling Yields Inefficient Matchings: Evidence from Post-Season College Football Bowls
| Authors: | Guillaume R. Fréchette, Alvin E. Roth, and M. Utku Ünver |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 29, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | July 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Many market institutions have evolved to coordinate the timing of transactions and to prevent them from taking place too early or at uncoordinated times. In the case of post-season college football games, called "bowls," during the early 1990s the determination of which teams would play in which bowls was often made with several games still remaining to be played in the regular season. Practically speaking, this meant that the teams with the best end-of-season records might not play one another, because at the time the matchings were determined it wasn't yet known which teams these would be. Over the last decade, however, this market has undergone a number of reorganizations that have delayed this matching decision until the end of the regular season. For this working paper, the authors used Nielsen rating data on television viewership and the AP sportswriters' poll of team rankings to show that, by matching later, the chance of matching the best teams has increased, and the result is an increase in television viewership.
The Marketing Challenges of the China Olympics
| Published: | May 1, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
The Olympic Games are normally a marketer's dream. Not so much this year, given widespread protests against the Chinese government. Professor John Quelch outlines the branding challenges posed by this year's Games in Beijing.
Published in 2007
Marketing Maria: Managing the Athlete Endorsement
| Published: | October 29, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Million-dollar endorsement deals will be made and broken by how baseball players on the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies performed in the just completed World Series. HBS professor Anita Elberse discusses her research on sports marketing and her recent case on tennis powerhouse Maria Sharapova.
Published in 2006
Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change
| Published: | September 11, 2006 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Following the adoption of a collective bargaining agreement in 2005, National Hockey League GMs had one month to absorb the new rules and put a team together. How to best negotiate in an uncertain environment? Michael Wheeler advises looking to military science for winning strategies.
HBS Cases: On Managing with Bobby Knight and "Coach K"
| Published: | August 14, 2006 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski are arguably the two most successful college basketball coaches in the country. But their leadership styles could not be more different. Professor Scott Snook wonders: Is it better to be loved or feared?
Winners and Losers at the Olympics
| Q&A with: | Stephen Greyser |
|---|---|
| Published: | March 6, 2006 |
| Feature: | Views on News |
We know which athletes won and lost in Turin, but what about the companies and individuals looking for business gold? Professor Stephen A. Greyser looks at the results—and the possibilities ahead in China.
Published in 2005
NFL Players Touch Down at HBS
| Published: | April 18, 2005 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Lessons from the Classroom |
Thirty players from the National Football League sharpened their management skills at Harvard Business School, preparing for when their playing days are over.
