The Correlation Between the National Football League Draft and Player Performance
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Date
2016-06
Authors
Parker, Sage
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The evolution of business analytics has caused a fury within corporations in the
implementation of statistical analysis as their core business strategy (Davenport).
However, this unquenchable need, or desire, for businesses to differentiate themselves
from one another through analytics has led to "tension between perception and reality
regarding the adoption of management strategies" (Troilo). Academic literature
provides insight into how managers perceive analytics to be more beneficial than the
outcomes actually show them to be, and how, in actuality, the analytics may be more an
imitation of other organizations than actual insight into a business revenue generation
(Troilo).
Inspired by the success of the Oakland Athletics and the popularity of Michael
Lewis' 2013 best-selling book. Moneyball, professional sports began adopting business
strategies similar to that of corporations around the globe. Professional sports
organizations currently aspire to develop analytics with "the extensive use of data,
statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact based
management to drive decisions and add value" (Davenport). The sports industry aims to amplify the preconceived notion of analytics merely being used to drive revenue with
the additional incorporation of nonprofit outcomes, such as organization wins and
player performance. Thus, the goal of this paper is to focus upon the correlation
between the National Football League Draft and overall player performance; this
analysis will, then, improve business analytics and decision-making processes
pertaining to the professional sports industry. Traditionally, “economic rationality as
measured by the maximization of revenues, and sociological rationality exemplified by
the search for legitimacy” have been scrutinized as contrasting viewpoints (Troilo). The
incorporation of business operations stimulating both rationales will revolutionize not
only the sports industry, but the corporate world as well.
The remainder of this thesis is formulated as follows: First, the paper will
explain the background of sports business and the importance revolutionizing its
operation. That discussion will be followed by a literary review of current statistical
operations used by sports organizations. Next, the paper will reveal the framework in
which the data and variables will be sorted, leading into the methodology for how the
variables were processed. Data analysis will be the pinnacle of this paper, affirming the
inherent need for a contemporary business operations model. In addition, an
examination of economic and sociological rationalities will be done that pertains to the
correlation of a player’s draft position and his performance throughout his NFL career.
Finally, the paper will conclude with a case analysis of the Cleveland Browns football
organization which will further exemplify the statistical analysis.
Description
104 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Business Administration and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2016.
Keywords
NFL Draft, Professional Sports, Athlete Performance, NFL Correlation, NFL Positions, Draft Round, NFL Prediction, NFL Statistics