Hardly a ‘dismal science’ making sense of sport
In the leafy surrounds of Cork’s Fitzgerald’s Park, we had coffee with UCC economics lecturer John Considine.
“The TV without frontiers directive goes across Europe, but what you list depends on your country. France lists the Heineken Cup – but only if a French team is in it. We could do that.
“You can also revise your lists later. In Britain, for instance, they’ve revised their lists to drop the Epsom Derby.”
Free-to-air without tears. So is Minister Eamon Ryan wrong to want to list Heineken Cup games for free-to-air viewing?
“He’s arguing that he knows better than the IRFU about the future of rugby,” said Considine.
“Though he seems to know his rugby, that’s a sticky wicket.
“Also, why divert taxpayers’ money to provide something when there was no great outcry about it being provided privately?
“In that sense he’s wrong but he’s also mentioned – subtly – the tax breaks for professional rugby players and the Government funding for Aviva Stadium. In some ways there is that link between the Government and all sports organisations that you can’t really get rid of.
“On balance, the economics of it come down on the side of the IRFU, but there’s a whole political dimension here as well.
“There’s a European element here, compared to America where they sell, sell, sell when it comes to sports. Hence the culture clash with Hicks and Gillett in Liverpool, for instance.”
The intersection of sports and economics is a particular interest of this column.
We got more coffee and asked Considine to broaden out the debate.
“Economics isn’t called the dismal science for nothing,” he says.
“An economist would say that the Government shouldn’t be paying for what the market will provide. So in that sense the Government shouldn’t give tax breaks to sportsmen or grants to GAA players.
“As a sportsman, though, I’d be in favour of those, because there are benefits to sport even if the research doesn’t quite stack up. For instance, if we’re playing more sport than ever why are we heavier than ever?”
Back up the truck a bit. What about the argument traditionally presented to support the professional sportsman’s tax rebate – that in the case of jockeys in horse racing, for instance, it raised standards, which in turn drew crowds to races, which stimulated the economy as a whole?
“That’s the broken window fallacy. A guy comes along and pegs a stone through the café window here. You say ‘think of the economic activity generated – a new window has to be bought and installed, wages are paid and taxes collected, so that guy was a public benefactor.’
“But that money would have been spent on something else by the café owners, so it’s not new money for the economy, it’s existing money that just goes somewhere else.
“Munster rugby games and GAA games only stimulate the economy if they provide extra funds. If someone buys a Munster ticket instead of getting a haircut, Munster rugby does better but the barber loses out.
“A guy flying in from London to watch Munster – that’s extra money that wasn’t there before. In that sense opening the pubs on Good Friday stimulated the Limerick economy, as ordinarily those pubs would have been closed.
“That exists at a larger level as well, mind you. People talk about the Olympics in Athens or Sydney stimulating the Greek or Australian economies, but how can that be when those governments could have built roads or hospitals with that money instead of sports stadia?”
Talking of stadia... Considine shook his head at suggestions the new Aviva Stadium could become a white elephant, draining resources.
“There’s a spiritual home for games and you can understand why the IRFU and the FAI wanted to redevelop Lansdowne Road. It’s all very well saying the Aviva Stadium may drain resources, but to me the FAI ticketing issue is a separate matter. The important thing is the Aviva is there now.
The size of the Aviva is also a winner, said Considine; you only have to glance across the water. “In London the new Olympic stadium will have its capacity reduced after the Games in 2012, as small crowds would look tiny in such a big stadium.
“That’s a consideration for the GAA if they were to go to a Champions League-format. You’d want the games to look good, which they wouldn’t if large stadia were half or quarter-full for low-key games.”
Common sense for the price of a coffee. Dismal science? Not on your life.
* Contact: michael.moynihan@examiner.ie; Twitter: MikeMoynihanEx.
