FiT Publishing

This paper builds an economic model of referee behavior in the National Hockey League using period-specific, in-game data. Recognizing that referees are influenced by a desire for perceived fairness, this model isolates situations where a referee is more likely to call a penalty on one team. While prior research has focused on a systematic bias in favor of the home team, we find that referee bias also depends upon game-specific conditions that incentivize an evening of penalty calls. Refereeing games in this fashion maintains the integrity of the game, thus benefiting spectator perceptions...Read more

After the lockout season in 2004, the 2005 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) introduced salary regulations, as well as revenue sharing, to the teams of the National Hockey League (NHL) with the aim to restore financial competitiveness. Given these objectives, the question arises if efficiencies improved under the new CBA. Using team values as the dependent variable, we performed a stochastic frontier analysis. Our paper suggests that efficiencies immediately improved after the agreement, in particular for low performing teams.Read more

This paper discusses the application of Moneyball management to the hockey industry. Following a review of Moneyball and sabermetrics in other sports, attempts to apply similar practices in hockey are reviewed. Moneyball in the National Hockey League is then examined, where adoption is limited by several factors: 1) the statistics available and their usefulness in evaluating player contributions to team performance; 2) the nature of the cooperation of players to produce outputs; and 3) the willingness of league insiders to embrace Moneyball. The statistical issue may be partially addressed...Read more

Escalating costs in professional sport, increased competition from entertainment alternatives, and a recent labor dispute in the National Hockey League (NHL) provide the impetus to study the underlying structure of team profitability. The current study takes advantage of this opportunity by developing and testing a profitability model for NHL teams based on the underlying premise that there are multiple determinants to franchise profitability. An extensive data set of more than 40 variables was extracted from the 2001-02, 2002-03, and 2003-04 NHL seasons to explore the complex nature of...Read more