Measuring the efficiency of English Premier League football A two-stage data envelopment analysis approach

Purpose - The purpose of this research paper is to prove the superiority of a two-stage data envelopment analysis compared to a one-stage approach in measuring a football club's efficiency. Moreover it provides best practice benchmarks for the research sample which supports football officials to orient themselves to the right clubs. Design/methodology/approach - A non-parametric two-stage data envelopment analysis for the seasons 2006/07 to 2008/09 is introduced to measure the efficiency of English Premier League football clubs from an off-field and an on-field perspective. The results are compared with those of the traditional one-stage data envelopment analysis approach to identify insufficiencies of the latter. Findings - The results show evidence that different conclusions derive from either the one- or the two-stage approach with the threat of potential misinterpretations in the case of the former. Furthermore, this study provides football clubs with information to focus on specific efficiency-enhancing strategies at the individual stages of the production process and therefore acts as a supportive tool for the football club officials for setting corrective actions if inefficiencies are identified. Research limitations/implications - The present article provides a foundation for future studies in other football leagues as well as for an intertemporal analysis which evaluates the efficiency of a club on a yearly basis. Originality/value - This is the first paper that introduces a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach in football research. It has proven that it can identify sources of inefficiencies more accurately than a one- stage data envelopment analysis and provides football officials with valuable information about their club.