The 2020 Peter Sloane Award: Honoring the Contribution of Stefan Kesenne to European Sports Economics

[...]the 2020 ESEA conference was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [...]the 2020 PSA was awarded at the 2021 ESEA conference. The 2020 Peter Sloane Award Winner: Stefan Kesenne This article reiterates the award ceremony of the 2020 Peter Sloane Award, which was hosted online on August 26 at the 2021 ESEA Conference. Decision of the Award Committee After deliberation on a set of credible nominations, we settled on the preferred nomination of Stefan Kesenne, which was accepted by the ESEA Board. Stefan became a research assistant in 1973, was promoted to assistant professor in 1980, and subsequently became associate and full professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium;previously Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen [UFSIA]) where he taught labor economics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and sport economics. Since 1993, he was also associated with the KU Leuven (Belgium), where he taught several generations of students at the Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences about the economics of sport.

Willingness to pay for policies to reduce health risks from COVID-19: Evidence from U.S. professional sports.

Airborne transmission of the COVID-19 virus increased the need for health policies to reduce transmission in congregate settings associated with minimal risk before the pandemic. While a large literature estimates tradeoffs between policies designed to reduce negative health outcomes, no empirical research addresses consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for health policies designed to reduce airborne virus transmission. Using survey data from 1381 fans of professional sports, we estimate consumers' WTP for reduced likelihood of coronavirus transmission through mask and social distancing policies using a stated preference approach. The results indicate increased attendance likelihood if the venue requires masks and limits attendance, with significant heterogeneity in WTP across risk scenarios and sports. We characterize consumers as casual fans who prefer a mask requirement but are indifferent to capacity constraints, strong fans who are anti-maskers and prefer capacity constraints, and a second group of casual fans with positive WTP under both mask and limited capacity requirements. For example, casual fans' WTP for masking, $38 per National Basketball Association (NBA) game attended, is more than double their WTP for capacity constraints only. Strong fans' WTP for attending capacity constrained NBA games was $490, more than 400% higher than the pre-pandemic average WTP of $105.

The Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility of Major Sport Organizations by the German Public: An Empirical Analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Sport governing bodies have played a special role in society during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following stakeholder theory and consumption capital theory, this study investigated the actions of the German Bundesliga (DFL), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during this phase as perceived by the German population and through the lens of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on a representative sample of the German resident population (N = 1,000), the study examined the individual characteristics that influenced the perceived CSR of these organizations and what population clusters emerged from this perception. The survey applied a CSR scale that was previously validated in a professional team sports context. The results confirmed the equally strong applicability of the scale to the sport governing context. Cluster analysis yielded three distinctive clusters, namely, "supporters," "neutral observers," and "critics." Regression analyses and the cluster analysis identified those with frequent consumption and high involvement in sport as rating the actions of the three sport organizations more positively. They are also more strongly represented in the "supporters" cluster. In contrast, those threatened the most by the virus are overrepresented in the "critics" cluster.

The Effects of Sport Activities and Environmentally Sustainable Behaviors on Subjective Well-Being: A Comparison Before and During COVID-19.

This study examined the effects of sport activities and environmentally sustainable behaviors on the subjective well-being of working-age adults (18-64). Specifically, it analyzes the effects of different types of sport activities, including nature-based, natural resource-using, and nature-neutral sport activities and different types of environmentally sustainable behaviors such as recycling, ecological consumption, energy-saving, and mobility on subjective well-being. The study conducts comparisons between the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the first lockdown in Germany. Quantitative survey data were collected using a convenience sampling approach (n = 412). Sport activities were captured with the number of hours spent on nature-based, natural resource-using, and nature-neutral activities. Environmentally sustainable behaviors were measured across four areas, including recycling, ecological consumption, energy-saving, and mobility. Subjective well-being was measured using the scale of the World Health Organization (WHO-5). Differences between the periods before and during COVID-19 were analyzed using t-tests. A set of multivariate regression models were estimated with subjective well-being as the dependent variable and sport activities, environmentally sustainable behaviors, and socio-demographics as independent variables. The results show that nature-based and nature-neutral sport activities significantly decreased during the first COVID-19 lockdown, while environmentally sustainable behaviors increased. The regression analyses reveal that nature-based and nature-neutral sport activities as well as ecological consumption significantly added to individuals' subjective well-being in the pre- and during-COVID-19-period. A decrease in nature-based and nature-neutral sport activities significantly predicted a decrease in individuals' subjective well-being. The findings of this study might help people understand the role and importance of active living for psychosocial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.