Competition and Pay for National Hockey League Players Born in Québec

Abstract

Prior studies have suggested that salary discrimination may exist in the National Hockey League. In particular, it has been argued that Canadian NHL teams located outside of Québec discriminate against French Canadian players. The small number of French Canadian players along with the large number of teams located outside of English Canada, however, suggest that discrimination of this form should be observed much less frequently as players’ tenure in the league increases due to the greater likelihood of realizing unrestricted free agency. Although we find evidence that players born inQuébec suffer an earnings penalty on Canadian NHL teams located outside of Québec, it is not clear that the penalty is eliminated by free agency, which raises questions about the source of the pay gap.