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Measuring Technical Efficiency in Sports

Author

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  • Trevor Collier
  • Andrew L. Johnson
  • John Ruggiero

Abstract

Standard economic production theory is the basis for measuring technical efficiency in sports. Using programming or regression models, efficiency is defined as the distance of a given team observation from the technology. In this article, the authors show that the standard measures of efficiency using deterministic models are biased downward due to serial correlation with respect to the efficiency measure. In particular, if the number of observed wins for a given team is affected by the team’s inefficiency, it is necessarily true that another team is able to produce outside of the technology. As a result, the observed frontier is not feasible if all inefficiency is eliminated. In this article, the authors propose a correction to this problem and apply new models to estimate efficiency in professional football.

Suggested Citation

  • Trevor Collier & Andrew L. Johnson & John Ruggiero, 2011. "Measuring Technical Efficiency in Sports," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(6), pages 579-598, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:12:y:2011:i:6:p:579-598
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002510391582
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Carlos Pestana Barros & Eduardo Couto & Antonio Samagaio, 2014. "Management ability, strategy, tactics and team performance," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 11, pages 166-188, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Fiona Carmichael & Dennis Thomas, 2014. "Team performance: production and efficiency in football," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 10, pages 143-165, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. R. Todd Jewell, 2020. "NCAA Expenditure and Efficiency: Analyzing Generated and Allocated Revenue in the Football Bowl Subdivision," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(4), pages 363-390, May.
    4. Sebastián Lozano & Gabriel Villa, 2023. "Multiobjective centralized DEA approach to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 322(2), pages 879-919, March.
    5. Bouzidis, Thanasis & Karagiannis, Giannis, 2022. "An alternative ranking of DMUs performance for the ZSG-DEA model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Emilio Gómez-Déniz & Nancy Dávila-Cárdenes & Alejandro Leiva-Arcas & María J. Martínez-Patiño, 2021. "Measuring Efficiency in the Summer Olympic Games Disciplines: The Case of the Spanish Athletes," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(21), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Thanasis Bouzidis, 2019. "On-field Performance Evaluation in Soccer based on Network Data Envelopment Analysis," Discussion Paper Series 2019_05, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Nov 2019.
    8. Laura Beaudin, 2018. "Examining the Relationship Between Athletic Program Expenditure and Athletic Program Success Among NCAA Division I Institutions," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(7), pages 1016-1045, October.
    9. Russell D. Kashian & Jeff Pagel, 2016. "Measuring X-Efficiency in NCAA Division III Athletics," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(6), pages 558-577, August.
    10. Fiona Carmichael & Giambattista Rossi & Denis Thomas, 2017. "Production, Efficiency, and Corruption in Italian Serie A Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(1), pages 34-57, January.
    11. Lozano, Sebastián, 2023. "Bargaining approach for efficiency assessment and target setting with fixed-sum variables," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Thanasis Bouzidis & Giannis Karagiannis, 2022. "Extending the zero-sum gains data envelopment analysis model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 171-184, December.
    13. Todd Jewell, 2014. "Major league soccer in the USA," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 21, pages 351-367, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Thanasis Bouzidis, 2018. "On-field Performance Assessment in Football: Applying the Connected Network Data Envelopment Analysis Model," Discussion Paper Series 2018_12, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Dec 2018.
    15. Del Corral, Julio, 2012. "Eficiencia en el deporte: Entrenadores en la Primera División del fútbol español 2009-2011/Efficiency in Sports: Coaches in the Spanish Football First Division 2009-2011," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 545-564, Agosto.
    16. Thanasis Bouzidis & Giannis Karagiannis, 2022. "A note on the zero-sum gains data envelopment analysis model," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1737-1758, July.
    17. Thanasis Bouzidis & Giannis Karagiannis, 2021. "An Alternative Ranking of DMUs Performance for the ZGS-DEA Model," Discussion Paper Series 2021_12, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Oct 2021.
    18. Thanasis Bouzidis & Giannis Karagiannis, 2022. "Extending the Zero-Sum Gains Data Envelopment Analysis Model," Discussion Paper Series 2022_06, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Aug 2022.
    19. Ira Horowitz, 2017. "An Efficiency Evaluation of Men’s College Basketball Coaches," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 62(1), pages 77-98, March.

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