Market Share Instability and Market Concentration: A Sport/Discipline-Specific Study of the Summer Olympic Games 1992–2020

Abstract

This article examines sport/discipline-specific market concentrations in the context of the eight Summer Olympic Games held between 1992 and 2020. Three market concentration-related debates underpin this study: (1) the number of competing firms; (2) market size; and (3) time. A normalized version of the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHIN) is calculated for gold medal and medal concentrations for all 42 sports/disciplines. The analyses included panel data models and Pearson correlations. The main findings are that (1) market concentrations for (gold) medals within most sport/disciplines have not significantly declined over time; and (2) neither an increased number of competing National Olympic Committees (NOCs) nor increased market size is likely to have impacted market concentration within a sport/discipline. The findings advance the understanding of market concentration trends and have implications for elite sport practitioners including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Federations (IFs) in terms of an evaluation of existing measures introduced to promote competitive balance, and NOCs in terms of resource distribution among sports/disciplines and prioritization strategies.