Moneyball, modern styrning i sportorganisationer

Sammanfattning

Background: The idea of ​​achieving success in sport is something both players as well as fans dream of, but few clubs achieve it. Oakland Athletics succeeded in what many thought was impossible when in the 2002 season, they managed to perform better than most of their competitors whilst having one of the leagues smallest budgets, by recruiting undervalued players based on data and statistics. The concept of "moneyball" was coined therefrom and has since then influenced sport organizations more and more. But how the use of data and statistics has affected the governance in sport organizations is relatively unexplored. Purpose: The purpose is to create an understanding of how data analytics has affected sports organizations Method: The study is a qualitative multiple-case study based on an abductive approach to intertwine the theoretical framework together with the empirical data in an analysis that results in conclusions. Seven sport organizations within football and hockey have been the basis for the empirical data. Conclusion: Data analytics has influenced the corporate governance in sport organizations in many ways. Data and statistics have provided an objective approach to investments and acquisitions of players that did not previously exist. As a result, sport organizations can recruit players who fit their strategy and style of play with greater accuracy. Furthermore, sport organizations can use data analytics as a competitive advantage by using resources more efficiently to find undervalued players in the market and experience both financial and sporting success. However, “moneyball” is a combination of objective aspects in terms of data and statistics, together with subjective aspects, where both are important to be able to use it as a competitive advantage. Today, data analytics is incorporated as part of sport operations where it is used as a part of designing strategies, as well as a basis for decision-making regarding investment appraisal and recruitment.