The Business of Sports
Quest for a Hockey Franchise
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alex Faseruk, Tom Clift
This study documents the history of attracting and maintaining a hockey franchise for the City of St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador over the period 1991-2018. During that time the city has been granted four franchises, three of which have been relocated from the city, with the fourth scheduled to begin to play during the 2018-19 season. The study examines the St. John’s Maple Leafs (1991-2005), the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs; the St. John’s Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (2005-2008); the St. John’s IceCaps (2011-2015 as the farm team of the Winnipeg Jets) and (2015-2017 as the farm team of the Montreal Canadiens); and the, as yet unnamed, St. John’s franchise in the ECHL to begin in fall 2018. The study focuses on the economic, strategic planning and business modeling for a franchise within the setting of three different leagues, the AHL, the QMJHL, and the ECHL. The study draws research from several sources, including the public domain, archives, and interviews with key personnel from the various franchises. Its successes and failures with each previous team and speculate on the future direction of the current franchise.
Fantasy Sports and the Legalization of Sports Betting
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mead Loop
Several states have legalized sports betting following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a federal law. The court in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association said that the statute violated states’ ability to allow gambling. The sports betting industry is expected to expand significantly, and the impact of sports betting on another growing industry, fantasy sports, is expected to be symbiotic. Specifically, this paper concludes that increased sports betting will yield increased fantasy sports participation, particularly for daily fantasy sports, known as DFS. The industry also can expect more crossover players, those who bet both on sports and play fantasy sports, a conclusion based on interviews with fantasy sports journalists who are considered industry experts. Overall participant knowledge for casual players, defined as those who play with limited time and skill, is expected to increase as information is distributed more widely. More allocation of fantasy sports journalism resources toward sports betting content was observed. Finally, research has shown complementary relationships between playing fantasy sports and interest in actual games, with a residual effect, according to industry leaders interviewed, being the ancillary business generated in support of sports betting and fantasy sports activities. This paper contributes to a growing body of scholarship on fantasy sports as business and as journalism.
