Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/335039 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers No. 197
Publisher: 
Technische Universität Ilmenau, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Ilmenau
Abstract: 
The so-called 50plus1-rule in German football is a controversially discussed institution that regulates the investment behavior of professional football teams. This paper provides an empirical analysis of its effects. We gathered panel data on 47 teams in the German Major League Football ("Erste Bundesliga") from the seasons 1989/90 until 2018/2019. This paper applies a Difference-in-Differences approach to examine investment behavior in budgets, as well as sporting success between impacted competitors and those exempted from the rule. Our results do not suggest any equalizing properties of the regulation. By contrast, we find anticompetitive effects and distorting properties of the current regulation.
Subjects: 
50plus1-rule
football
sports economics
financial regulation
investment
sport finance
soccer
competition economics
sports antitrust
JEL: 
Z23
Z21
Z2
J83
L11
L50
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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