Sports economics can be defined as a branch of science that deals with studying the relationship between sports and economics, precisely how both can help each other in development. Economics gets a chance to research various topics of study in sports, while sports make the institutions available for such analysis and research.

Sports and economics are related in that they both rely on each other. For example, an individual may decide to use sports to help develop an economy by coming up with new sporting activities and discovering new talents. Such a move will help develop both the economy and the sports world.

Both economics and sports share some common theories like the game theory, which focuses on determining a player's course of action in a competitive situation. Economists focus on the game theory in analyzing the oligopoly market structure.