Volume 8, Issue 2

The aim of this paper is to quantify the monetary value attributed by the German population to the experience of hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics in Munich, as well as to their pride in hosting this event, by employing the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). A total of 1,011 participants completed a questionnaire on the willingness to pay for hosting the event in the country. Based on the survey, the German population’s aggregated Willingness to Pay (WTP) was calculated by using two differing scenarios, which led to results of €535.4 million and €787.4 million, respectively. Regression analysis shows that the general interest in sports and the positive attitude towards the Olympic Games in general have a significant impact on the WTP. Finally, the CVM is discussed from a critical perspective, and weaknesses and limitations of the method are pointed out.

Against the backdrop of rising revenues in the Bundesliga, an increasing professionalization has become apparent not only in the management structures of German soccer clubs, but also in the determinants of the soccer players’ wages. Wage levels depend, among other things, on the players’ performance in the Bundesliga in past seasons. It is questionable what drives the salaries of players who move into the league and how the clubs compensate for their lack of information when evaluating players’ performance. The analysis of the market values including 7,019 player-year observations (seasons 1995/96 to 2009/10) shows that the clubs are quite capable of assessing their players’ future performance and of determining their market value accordingly. For players changing from another league in the Bundesliga, their previous club’s league serves as a proxy for their expected performance. Their market value depends on the league in which they played in the previous season, which also helps to explain wage differences.