Do you remember taking my Sports Economics Quiz for yourself many years ago? Now that you’re earning a degree in economics, you’re probably wondering if it’s still fun. I can still remember sitting through the test, trying to figure out the distribution of income and how the value of each sport in our country is affected by various economic variables. Sports economists try to understand why certain events, like the NFL wild card game, are popular while others, like college basketball, are not. In fact, sports and economics have been used together for decades, ever since labor law professor David Norton lectured a class on the topic at the University of Michigan Law School in 1977.

You may be wondering why I feel compelled to take my sports economics quiz for you today. Aren’t sports such a frivolous subject? Not at all! The business of America is largely based upon the economic impact of sport, especially professional sports. Consider how baseball and football affect local economies, or the effect corporate sports apparel has on the economy as a whole.

One obvious area of sports economics concerns the financial implications of professional athletes being paid millions of dollars per year. The big-leagues are so competitive that many athletes consider themselves “professional” in a way that even nonprofessional athletes might find difficult to comprehend. Am I right? Have you ever noticed that college and professional sports players wear the same kinds of clothes day in and day out? It seems as though the only thing they’re concerned with on the field is winning and losing, rather than what kind of clothes they wear.

Another example of economics and sports that comes to mind is the current controversy regarding the Los Angeles Lakers. Many people don’t really care for the team, and there’s a valid reason for that. The franchise hasn’t produced a single playoff appearance since retiring the last season opener in Kobe Bryant’s first game with the Lakers. It’s also fairly apparent that the front office royally bungled the situation by doing an about-face and essentially firing the entire coaching staff and front office after the firing of Kobe. It was an enormous PR disaster for them, but did it hurt the Lakers?

Well, actually no. In fact, it helped the team! The new coaching staff put together a pretty decent nucleus, and they should be able to compete with almost any other team in the league. If the Lakers can’t get past the Minnesota Vikings, who knows what will happen in the next few years? Even the slightest changes in the competitive landscape can have a large effect on the team’s ultimate performance and its ability to remain competitive.

Of course, this isn’t the only example of sports and economics that would have a positive affect on your results. For example, when you examine the effect of player-management issues, you’ll find that a superstar like Kobe Bryant could easily lead his team all the way to the championship. So this is one situation where having a master at the human economics of sports could really pay off. As long as you are careful with them, they can do quite well.

Now let’s take a look at the effect of the typical NBA team roster. Kobe Bryant, Dewayne Dedmon, Tarzan, Penny Hardaway, Rashard Lewis, Chris Webber and a young core of other defensive players makes for a very powerful and exciting defensive unit. However, it’s not exactly an above average defensive unit. The team as a whole is average or even below average on that end. So if you want to take my sports economics quiz for me, I would say that the current crop of defensive NBA players might be in the class below the top five talent level.

On offense, you have a number of different scenarios to consider. You could either try to get CP3 minutes from your young stars, take advantage of an All-Star break, or try a small line of three point guards. You can also throw in some big men, such as a big man/wing combo or a small forward using a screen or a pick-and-roll. There are many ways to approach this question, but if you take my sports economics quiz for me, you can expect good results from all of them.