Giambattista Rossi
Giambattista has been a PhD student at Birkbeck since 2006. Previously, he has studied for a degree in Economics at the Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan before completing an MSc in Sport Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Giambattista’s main research interest is labour markets in professional sport. He was responsible for co-organising the ‘Feet-Drain’ conference hosted by the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre in May that looked at labour market migration in the football industry.
His PhD research focuses on the economic value of professional football players. This economic value – captured through transfer fees and wages – is one particular aspect that differentiates the labour market in professional sport from most other labour markets. The economic value is a consequence of particular characteristics of professional sports, where there are forms of retain systems that ensure that employees are not completely free to leave their current position to seek employment with other teams in the same, or collaborating, leagues. A change of employer is therefore a matter of negotiations between two parties, and compensation for the loss of the player services must be agreed upon before the transfer can take place. Hence, professional football players are considered as economic and financial assets representing relevant figures on football clubs’ balance sheets. The economic value of a professional football player can be defined by two components: the value of their commercial image rights and the value of their playing talent. Giambattista’s research focuses on the value placed on playing talent, which is a reflection of a player’s economic value, determined during transfer or renewal negotiations. The methodology used is based on statistical analysis of a panel database containing economic and performance data from Italian Serie A football players. The panel data is analysed using regression models.