More than half a century ago Simon Rottenberg initiated the study of sport and economics when he considered both the industrial organization and labour market for professional baseball. What has followed since is the examination of almost every conceivable economic concept and sport on the planet.

Reference to Rottenberg's seminal work is made throughout this book, and the collection of chapters presented here constitute an effort to further the work he started. The individual chapters are by no means the final word on the topics addressed. In fact, they are quite the opposite. Traditionally, sports economics has been applied to the major team sports in the United States and Europe. Many of the contributions explore concepts and ideas in sports economics that are deserving of further attention. Where it has been possible, this book includes the application of the principles of economics to sports that have garnered less attention from researchers to date. We address less visible sports including Australian-rules football, cricket, Gaelic games, horse racing, rugby and tennis. Naturally, the more popular themes in sports economics, such as baseball, basketball and soccer, are also included.

Before exploring the economics of specific sports, we address three broad areas that are important in order to contextualize what follows. The first is an exploration into the history of sports economics as a field of study. This is something that receives very little attention, and what is presented here is a first attempt to remedy this. The second introduces some of the methods and theories most widely used in sports economics. The third demonstrates how the burgeoning field of sports analytics and the skills of the economist can be used at a practical level. The various sections that follow then consider specific sports. These groupings are by no means perfect but are an attempt to make underlying connections between these sports.

Many of the contributors to this collection of chapters are leading academics in the field of sports economics. It is thanks to their passion and research that this work has been possible to assemble. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of various other people to the realization of this book. First, Alison Howson of Agenda Publishing, whose idea this collection was.