Volume 4, Issue 3

Current DSB membership data are combined with the 10th coordinated demographic statistics compiled by the Federal Statistical Office with the objective to present an interdisciplinary study on prospective membership figures of organized sport. Considering current prospective minimum and maximum variants, the influence of demographic change on sport development will be limited empirically. It is the objective of this study to point out absolute as well as age-specific consequences for the future of the DOSB. Potential chances, risks and resources are emphasized separately and are introduced as respective demands for the organised sport.

In public discourse, heroes and heroism are nearly exclusively mentioned in the social context of sporting events and sports actors. Single athletes or teams display spectacular performances and are worshipped and rewarded for their achievements as heroes and heroines. Strictly speaking: In functional differentiated societies, elite sports is the last refuge for harmless and widely accepted real-life-heroes. The following article analyses the specific conditions which enabled elite sports to become the major heroe system of modern society, presents a typology of sports heroes and discusses the main figures of sports heroes narratives.

In this article, the effects of the three-point-rule for games in first league German soccer are tested empirically. By means of data from ten seasons before and after the rule changed, the impact on the number of draws or the number of goals is examined (and some other considerations). As a result of the devaluation of a draw compared to a win, the number of draws should decrease. Furthermore, an increase in the number of close wins is expected, whereas games with a large number of goals should decline. The strategy of a leading team becomes more defensive, resulting in fewer goal shootings by that team, as well as fewer shooting opportunities for the other team. There is empirical evidence largely supporting these effects, whereas no evidence could be found of collusion between the teams to prevent draws.