From One-and-Done to Seasoned Veterans: A Demographic Analysis of Individual Career Length in Major League Soccer
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Nathaniel B Boyden
Although there is a modest amount of literature analyzing the career prospects of athletes in United States (U.S.) based football, basketball, and baseball leagues, little is known about the career prospects of professional soccer players in the U.S. In our analysis of Major League Soccer players, using a sample of approximately 1,100 players and 3,435 player-year observations, we identify the time-varying and time-constant variables that affect player career duration. Initial career expectancy was 2.4 years, more than a quarter of all players exit the league after one year, and the risks of career exit never fall below 12%. In addition, relative to U.S.-born players, foreign-born players face a disproportionately high exit rate.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- A Game-Theoretic Approach to Personnel Decisions in American Football
- Evaluation of Individual and Team Judo Strengths Using AHP Technique and Team Competition Data
- Relationship between the Opponent Block and the Hitter in Elite Male Volleyball
- Who Deserved the 2008-2009 Belgian Football Champion Title? A Semiparametric Answer
- From One-and-Done to Seasoned Veterans: A Demographic Analysis of Individual Career Length in Major League Soccer
- A Markov Process Model of the Number of Years Spent in Major League Baseball
- That's the Second-Biggest Hitting Streak I've Ever Seen! Verifying Simulated Historical Extremes in Baseball
- Using the Count to Measure Pitching Performance
- A Closer Look at the Relative Age Effect in the National Hockey League
- Structural Analysis of Action and Time in Sports: Judo
- A Simplified Analysis of Contemporary Defensive Performance in the National Football League
