An Introduction to the James Quirk Special Issue and the Economics of Combat Sport

The purpose of this special issue is two-fold. Firstly, it is a celebration of the contributions and life of James (Jim) Patrick Quirk. Jim’s contributions to the field of economics and sub-discipline of sports economics span almost half a century, and he can rightly be considered one of the forefathers of the subject. The second is to consider an area that, to date, has received little attention in sports economics and is deserving of greater exploration – combat sport. Appropriately, two of the earliest working papers considering combat sport were co-authored by Jim Quirk, and therefore, it is fitting that this area is explored in the realization of this special issue.