Baton Rouge Community College
ECON 204 Master Syllabus
Date Approved or Revised: March 1, 2012
Course Name: Sports and Entertainment Economics
Course Number: ECON 204
Lecture Hrs. 3
Lab Hrs. 0
Credit Hrs. 3
Course Description: Introduces both micro- and macroeconomic principles in the specific areas of
the sports, movie, television, music, broadcasting and cable industries. Microeconomic concepts of
supply and demand, labor markets, consumer theory, production theory, and market structures will be
applied to those industries as well as the macroeconomic concepts of the GDP and business cycles.
Prerequisites: Eligibility for ENGL 101 and MATH 094
Co-requisites: None
Suggested Enrollment Cap: 35
Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Apply the concepts of supply and demand
2. Use labor market theory to explain entry and wages
3. Explain macroeconomic goals, economic measurement and problems created by the business
cycle
4. Define the concepts of consumer theory and elasticity
5. Identify the typical family of cost curves and the theory of production
6. Define the four market structures of pure competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic
competition and identify the operating decisions designed to pursue profit maximization
Assessment Measures: Assessment of all learning outcomes will be measured using the
following methods:
 Tests will be administered during the semester to assess learning outcomes.
 A final exam will be administered at the end of the semester.
 A portion of the exam will be the same for each class regardless of the instructor.
 The common portion of the exam will cover all of the learning outcomes
Information to be included on the Instructors’ Course Syllabi:

Disability Statement: Baton Rouge Community College seeks to meet the needs of its
students in many ways. See the Office of Disability Services to receive suggestions for
disability statements that should be included in each syllabus.

Grading: The College grading policy should be included in the course syllabus. Any
special practices should also go here. This should include the instructor’s and/or the
department’s policy for make-up work. For example in a speech course, “Speeches not
given on due date will receive no grade higher than a sixty” or “Make-up work will not be
accepted after the last day of class.”

Attendance Policy: Include the overall attendance policy of the college. Instructors may
want to add additional information in individual syllabi to meet the needs of their courses.

General Policies: Instructors’ policy on the use of things such as beepers and cell phones
and/or hand held programmable calculators should be covered in this section.

Cheating and Plagiarism: This must be included in all syllabi and should include the
penalties for incidents in a given class. Students should have a clear idea of what
constitutes cheating in a given course.

Safety Concerns: In some programs this may be a major issue. For example, “No
student will be allowed in the safety lab without safety glasses.” General statements such
as, “Items that may be harmful to one’s self or others should not be brought to class.”

Library/ Learning Resources: Since the development of the total person is part of our
mission, assignments in the library and/or the Learning Resources Center should be
included to assist students in enhancing skills and in using resources. Students should be
encouraged to use the library for reading enjoyment as part of lifelong learning.
Expanded Course Outline:
I.
Economics of Sports
A. Demand and Supply
1. Broadcast rights
2. Costs, Profits and Winning
B. Market Structures
1. Competition
2. Monopolies
3. Barriers to Entry
4. Antitrust
5. Cartels
C. Athletes and Choices
1. Opportunity Costs
2. Transactions Costs
D. Trades
E. Supply and Demand
1. Pricing
2. Elasticity
F. Types of Business
G. Profits, Costs and Revenues
H. Labor Market
1. Wages and Salary
2. Demand and Supply
3. Marginal Product
4. Contracts
5. Labor Relations
6. Salary Caps
I. Discrimination
II.
Rockonomics
A. Music Business
1. Technology
2. Market structure
3. Marketing
4. Distribution
B. Rock Stars
5. Entry into the market
6. Costs
C. Consumers
7. Ticket allocation
8. Substitutes and Complements
9. Tastes
10. Teen buying habits
D. Mergers
E. The Music Entrepreneur
11. Touring
12. Profits
13. Merchandising
F. Property Rights
14. Copyrights
G. Art and Money
15. Commercial Sponsorships
H. Advancement in Technology
III.
Money at the Movies
A. Profits, Market share and Distribution
16. Complements
B. Video
17. Supply and Demand
18. Technology
19. Costs of Production
20. Substitutes and Complements
C. Movie Business
21. Entrepreneurship
22. Product Tie-ins
23. Costs of production
24. Entry
25. Financial Statements
D. Hollywood Abroad
26. International trade
27. Exchange rates
28. Exports
29. Quotas
IV.
The Nation’s Economy and Sports and Entertainment
A. GDP and Disposable Income
B. Business Cycles