Is prioritisation of funding in elite sport effective? An analysis of the investment strategies in 16 countries

Bosscher, Veerle De; Shibli, Simon; Weber, Andreas

doi:10.1080/16184742.2018.1505926

Cited by 46 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The main aim of investing resources in national talent development programs, such as the basketball youth NTs, is to increase the country's international performance (De Bosscher et al, 2018). In the current study, we measured the NT programs' success using the official FIBA ranking points, which are given to countries based on their results during the last 8 years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nations, through sporting organizations, are making increasingly large investments to achieve sporting success (De Bosscher et al, 2015). An important part is the investment in talent development and pathways to increase the performance at the senior level (De Bosscher and De Rycke, 2017;De Bosscher et al, 2018). In team sports, especially in Europe, one of the main talent development programs organized by the national federations are the youth national team (NT) programs, which aim at developing better senior NT players.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

et al. 2021

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There is limited knowledge of the talent selection strategies used by national sporting organizations to identify and develop talented players in basketball. Therefore, we aimed to explore differences in selection strategies between European youth basketball national team (NT) programs, and how they relate to the program’s success. Specifically, we examined differences in the number of youth NT players and within-country variance in the 1988–1999 generations between 38 countries (n men = 38, women = 32). Further, we tested if the number of youth NT players and within-country variance was related to the NTs senior ranking, youth ranking, and youth-to-senior player promotion, using generalized Bayesian multilevel models. We further checked the moderating effect of the amount of licensed basketball players in each country. On average, 15.6 ± 2.0 male and 12.4 ± 1.8 female players were selected per generation. Over a third of the NTs consistently selected a higher or lower number of players than the average, with a difference of 8.1 players (95% CI [5.8, 10.8]) for men and 7.6 players (95% CI [5.4, 10.0]) for women between the countries with the highest and lowest average. When licensed players were used as moderator, the differences decreased but did not disappear, in both genders. There was an above 99.3% probability that a higher number of players was positively related to higher men’s senior and youth rankings, and women’s youth ranking. Within countries, generations with a higher number of youth players generated more senior players, with a probability of 98.4% on the men’s, and 97.3% on the women’s side. When licensed players were used as moderator, the probabilities for these relationships remained largely unaffected, apart from women’s youth ranking, which sank to 80.5%. In conclusion, the selection strategy in basketball NT programs varies between European countries and selecting a higher number of players possibly relates to better long-term performance and more players promoted to the senior NTs. These findings show that talent development programs should make conscious decisions about their selection strategies as it can affect their success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

et al. 2021

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“…specializes in cycling and sailing, indicating a strategic funding in these sports [ 31 ]. Different success patterns are therefore also due to specializing the funding on a minority of sports and such strategies have become more and more prevalent (see [ 44 ] or [ 45 ] and [ 46 ]).…”

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialization in sports: A theoretical approach

Wunderlich

Follert

Daumann³

2021

PLoS ONE

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Nations have been competing in sporting competitions for centuries. Therefore, explaining the success of different countries has a long history in sports science. At first, researchers tried to explain success patterns with the help of divergent geographical factors. Later, literature included other determinants on the macro-level which provide evidence that especially the GDP as a proxy for the prosperity of a country has a significant impact on success in sports. Within this broader field of research, also specialization patterns in sports developed into an important topic of research. In line with the literature on factors which lead to (national) success, so far, the discussion mostly concentrates on determinants on a macro-level. We identify the problem that different specialization patterns can be observed in countries that have similar factors on the macro-level, as well. There seems to be a research gap concerning the influencing factors on a meso-level. As a result, the aim of this paper is to show which determinants on the meso-level can affect sports specialization patterns. We provide a model based on the findings of lobbying theory that explains not only different specialization patterns between, e.g., Europe and Africa, but also different specialization patterns within a continent and dissimilar patterns of countries with a similar macro-level can be understood. Overall, our paper contributes to the discussion on specialization in elite sports from an economic perspective, so that future research can build on our work, in particular concerning empirical tests of our approach.

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“…Nowadays, higher spending is needed just to keep the share of the medals constant (De Bosscher et al, 2015;Shibli et al, 2007). On the other hand, the research into the efficiency of targeted vs diversified funding of elite sport has been limited and inconclusive so far (De Bosscher et al, 2019).…”

Section: Related Literature and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The total sporting arms race: benchmarking the efficiency of public expenditure on sports in EU countries

Nessel

Kościółek

2020

European Sport Management Quarterly

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Research question: The goal of this research is to determine patterns and evolution of relative technical efficiency, as well as its role in changes of total factor productivity of the public spending on sports in EU member countries. Research methods: An input-oriented, variable returns to scale model of data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity index are applied. They involve two outputs (mass participation in sport and elite sport successes), and two inputs (public and households' spending on sports). Results and Findings: The technical efficiency across EU countries shows a clear heterogeneity and volatility. Aside from six to seven efficient countries in each time period, other countries register a continuum of inefficiency scores, down to 0.08-0.20, which is indicative of important potential savings in public spending. From a time perspective, five patterns of efficiency and productivity evolution are identified. The common phenomenon is a deterioration of production possibilities which is not offset by rising managerial efficiency. Implications: The study contributes to the comparative research of sport systems in Europe. Its results may enable peer learning and inform future initiatives, both at the national level and in the framework of the emerging European sport policy. In particular, the study indicates benchmark countries for each inefficient country, which is an interesting start for further qualitative exploration for both researchers and policy makers.

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Is prioritisation of funding in elite sport effective? An analysis of the investment strategies in 16 countries

Abstract: Is prioritisation of funding in elite sport effective? An analysis of the investment strategies in 16 countries

Cited by 46 publications

References 24 publications

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

Talent Selection Strategies and Relationship With Success in European Basketball National Team Programs

Specialization in sports: A theoretical approach

The total sporting arms race: benchmarking the efficiency of public expenditure on sports in EU countries

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