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Activity Number: 513
Type: Invited
Date/Time: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Sports
Abstract #314407
Title: Pecuniary Bias Among College Football Referees
Author(s): Ryan Rodenberg*
Companies: Florida State University
Keywords:
Abstract:

College football conferences provide a unique environment to investigate biases among on-field referees, the decision-makers tasked with rule enforcement. College football is special because the officiating for inter-university matchups is governed at the conference (alliance) level, which allows for both intra-alliance (in-conference) and inter-alliance (out-of-conference) conflicts (games). This sets up a "natural experiment." Using generalized linear models and eight years of Division I games (2005 to 2012), we find evidence of bias among college football referees across a number of specifications, with Atlantic Coast Conference ("ACC") officials being the strongest outliers. The analysis highlights several biases in a workplace where workers face considerable scrutiny. Such biases, whether volitional or sub-conscious, speak to the increased need in the sports industry for transparent referee monitoring systems as a tool to preserve the credibility of the underlying sporting competition against integrity-attacking match-fixing and gambling manipulation.


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