Graduation Year

Spring 2013

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics-Accounting

Reader 1

Joshua Rosett

Rights Information

© 2013 Harrison C. Doyle

Abstract

This thesis attempts to determine the efficiency and impact of transfer fee expenditures on a club’s future performance in English professional soccer. Using net transfer fee activity data from the 2002-2011 period for the clubs in the top two divisions of English professional soccer, The Barclays Premier League (tier one) and the nPower Championship (tier two), in comparison with financial performance and league performance data over the same period, this paper will explore the implications of investing in human capital via the transfer market. Using correlation matrices and ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions as a means of analyzing both club-level and individual player-level datasets, this thesis strives to determine whether transfer activity has an impact on league success (now or in the future) or on key financial indicators that denote a club’s financial health. Ultimately, this thesis will demonstrate that transfer activity in isolation cannot be viewed as a component that definitively decides a club’s level of success, whether that be on the field or in the books.

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This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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