
Sports and Economics Part 1: It’s All Rigged (On Purpose)
From Choosing Better by Enoch Hill and Tim Taylor
May 8, 2026 · 1h 2m · Season 3 · Episode 53
About this episode
Enoch and Tim explore the intersection of economics and professional sports, focusing on how leagues design rules to shape competition.
Economics isn't just for the classroom or the boardroom; it's baked into every corner of professional sports. In this first installment of their Sports and Economics series, Enoch and Tim explore how leagues deliberately design institutions andrules to shape competition, and how economic reasoning shows up in surprising places: from the structure of the NFL draft to the direction of a penalty kick (and why we may want to roll a dice before taking a penalty kick). Record Date: April 14, 2026 Credits: Drew Elliot (music)
People in this episode
Hosts: Enoch Hill, Tim Taylor
Topics covered
- sports
- economics
- competition
- NFL draft
- penalty kick
- institution design
Keywords
- sports economics
- NFL draft
- penalty kick
- competition design
- economic reasoning
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NFL
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