Economics of Sports - US Soccer Team - Essay Example

According to online.wsj.com, the decision he made was the omission of Landon Donovan from the final team and replace him with Captain Clint Dempsey. Donovan was not expected to be omitted due to his being a three-time veteran of the world cup and the best-known American player. Dempsey was however picked due to his absolute advantage over his other fellow players including Donovan. In economics, absolute advantage, therefore, occurs when an individual, a group, or company, or a country is more efficient and effective in producing the same good or service than any other individual, company, or country.

In this case, therefore, Clint Dempsey has an absolute advantage over his other players. For instance, he has managed to score eight goals in nine games meaning he scored almost in every game. This is a trait that only a few would achieve. He also has that innate ability to find a goal in every game he is involved in. The coach of the Los Angeles Galaxy Bruce Arena says that he has that driving force with which he does things for himself you can’t keep on telling him during the entire game. He is also very well motivated and uses that as his secret to playing well.

Another concept in economics is the opportunity cost. This refers to the value of the best-forgone alternative. In this case, both Dempsey and Donovan are alternatives but the coach has decided to prefer Donovan to Dempsey, thus risking a certain value. The coach has given up the chance to use Donovan and sacrificed the wins they would have had. It meant that Donovan and the value of Donovan were forgone, therefore being the opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is therefore a scenario experienced by most of us in our daily lives (online.wsj.com).

Comparative advantage is the ability of an individual or country to produce services or goods at a lower opportunity cost than any other individual or country. Dempsey and Donovan can both play well though Dempsey seems to have an absolute advantage over Donovan. In this case, we don’t look at the absolute advantages but the opportunity costs. Dempsey can play a little better than Donovan thus having thus reducing the opportunity cost here. He is therefore regarded to have a comparative advantage over Donovan and other players (online.wsj.com).

Dempsey has many other advantages over other players but the writer of this article seems not to have captured them. Absolute advantage, comparative advantage, opportunity cost, scarcity and choice,e and many others are some of the economic concepts the coaches need to consider before they select players for a great win. Read More