|
Abstract:
|
We examine determinants of tenure length for professional soccer managers. Using over 500 managers from Major League Soccer (MLS), Spain's La Liga, and the English Premier League whose tenures occurred between 2000-2015, we assess the effects of performance-related and non-performance variables on manager survival. Performance variables include measures of a team's position and relegation/promotion indicators. Non-performance variables include manager nationality and age, the timing of a manager's hire, and the team's wage bill. We employ survival analytic methods, such as Accelerated Failure Time models and Cox's Proportional Hazards model, to explore the effects of fixed and time-dependent covariates on coach tenure length. We find that managers who were hired in the offseason survive longer than hires made in the first half of the season. Further, improved team performance yields longer survival. Most striking, we find a significant disparity in survival between domestic and foreign managers within a league. This bias, however, is not consistent: in the MLS, American managers survived longer, while in La Liga, Spanish managers lasted shorter, than their foreign peers.
|
