Discrimination against Europeans in the National Hockey League: Are Players Getting Their Fair Pay?

Abstract

The recent influx of European hockey players in the North American professional hockey league raises questions of wage discrimination. For decades the National Hockey League has seen wage discrimination against French Canadians on English Canadian teams, and the European players face a similar labor environment as the French Canadians. In this study we examine this issue by estimating pay for performance salary equations for NHL players, interacting country of birth with location of team. This enables us to determine the extent of wage discrimination that Europeans face in the NHL.