Managerial Efficiency in German Top League Soccer: An Econometric Analysis of Club Performances On and Off the Pitch

This study applies stochastic frontier analytic techniques in the estimation of sporting production functions. As ex-ante input factors, we use preseasonal estimates of wage bills of players and coaches that are transformed during the production process of a season into ex-post pecuniary revenues and sporting success. In the case of athletic output we find a robust pattern of technical efficiency over subsequent seasons. Estimates based on economic output, however, do not support an efficiency model. A significant inter-seasonal change in overall technical productivity rather highlights the economic instability of the German soccer industry.