"Digitization and the availability of new types of data are transforming the sports business. A book on data analytics in sports business is therefore much needed. Vanessa Ratten and Ted Hayduk have assembled a truly valuable collection of essays spanning a diverse range of domains within sports business and introducing several innovative statistical techniques that will enlighten both sport researchers and practitioners. A definite guide for the sports industry." ─ David Wagner, Professor of International Business & Digital Business, Academic Director, Master Sports Business & Communication, Munich Business School, Germany"Historically, decision-making in sport has been an irrational matter, one that has been based on gut instinct or feeling for a team or a particular sport. In the era when managing ‘big data’ may determine organisational performance, sport entities constitute these organisations that, perhaps, can benefit the most. This is thanks to the availability as well as the easiness to capture these data. As such, this is a timely text with very strong contributions. If sport is to move away from irrational decision making processes, then it is clear that Ratten and Hayduk's book must form a central part of our thinking about how sport is managed in a rational and more efficient fashion."─ Christos Anagnostopoulos, UCLan Cyprus & Molde University College, Norway"The book contains a range of interesting topics for academics and practitioners alike. By offering several case study chapters that showcase sports analytics in action, it guides researchers to the different methods and ways to examine sports business analytics. The book provides information on the contemporary issues that require addressing in the sector and examples of how to use analytics to answer these questions. Overall, the book will be a welcome addition to those who want to further improve their understanding of sports business via statistical analysis."─ Johan Rewilak, Aston University, UK"The book Statistical Modelling and Sports Business Analytics edited by Vanessa Ratten and Ted Hayduk provides an interesting collection of topics centered around the theme of how sport organizations can use data to generate insights. With the increase of data availability and sophistication in statistical modeling, the book is timely and relevant for sport managers interested in gaining competitive advantages through data. The book consists of 14 chapters written by contributors around the world, covering countries such as Australia, Germany, Kenya Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA. The chapters cover a wide range of topics and statistical analyses. The book strikes a good balance between chapters that provide a broad overview of topics, such as an overview on big data and business intelligence or a prediction on how the future of sport data analytics looks, and chapters that investigate specific phenomena in the sport industry, such as using ordered logit regression analysis to examine the effects of penalties on the success of teams or identifying weight control behaviors of sport club members with a special focus on the role of gender and sexual minorities. Thus, readers gain a general understanding on the role of statistical modeling and data analytics and see its real-world application on a diverse range of specific topics within the sport industry." ─ Thilo Kunkel, Associate Professor, Temple University, USA"The book Statistical Modelling and Sports Business Analytics edited by Vanessa Ratten and Ted Hayduk is seminal and offers up-to date insights and applications of business analytics within sport management. The organizational environments and the marketplace have changed and more information and data are available through new technologies. Using business analytics can create competitive advantage for businesses as suggested in Chapter 1. Thus, educators need to train and set up future sport managers with an appropriate skill set that facilitates this competitive advantage on an individual level so that it can be transferred to an organizational level. The chapters in the book showcase the diversity of fields in which sport business analytics can be and should be employed; including, for instance, sport policy, sport marketing, sport finance, sport economics, and sport psychology. The book is a good starting point to create an analytic mindset." — Kirstin Hallmann, German Sport University Cologne, Germany"Analytics and statistical modelling are driving forces in the sport industry, and this book delivers both an excellent overview of data analytics and industry specific case studies which enforce statistical concepts. The collection of authors from across the world is a testament to how systematically this book seeks to survey analytics from international perspectives. The first chapter highlights the importance of statistical modelling both in the classroom and in practice and encourages educators to introduce quantitative techniques to develop more effective sport management practitioners. The subsequent chapters guide the reader through vital topics such as using quantitative data in sport and how to utilize social media marketing with analytics, and then employs these techniques in various sport industry case studies written by researchers who truly understand the connection between academia and industry. For those interested in educating practitioners, researchers, and students about analytics and statistical modelling in sport or learning these topics on their own will find this book timely and incredibly informative. I highly recommend this book because of the expertise of contributors and the range of topics which allow the reader the opportunity to develop a robust understanding of data analytics and statistical modelling in the sport industry." —Katie Brown, Texas Tech University, USA
