INTELLIGENZA COLLETTIVA E VALORE DI MERCATO DEI CALCIATORI: IL CASO TRANSFERMARKT

RIVISTA DI ISSN 1825-6678DIRITTO ED ECONOMIA DELLO SPORT Vol. XVI, Fasc. 2, 2020INTELLIGENZA COLLETTIVA E VALORE DI MERCATO DEICALCIATORI: IL CASO TRANSFERMARKTdi Marco Di Domizio*, Raul Caruso**, Bernd Frick***ABSTRACT: This article aims at analysing the role of Swarm Intelligence or theso-called Wisdom of Crowds in determining the players’ transfer market value in theItalian Serie A. We use information provided by the web site Transfermarkt and collectdata on 1,620 players of Italian Serie A, from season 2007/08 to 2016/2017, creating apanel of 4,486 observations. Using traditional variables on players characteristics likeage, both linear and squared, games played and goals in the season under investigation,and wages provided by La Gazzetta dello Sport, we estimate a Fixed Effects model bothon the aggregate sample of players and differentiating by their position on the field. Wefind that all variables are statistically significant and the relationships with the players’market values provided by Transfermarkt are consistent with those previously obtainedby the sport economic literature. Moreover, introducing fixed effects associated both toteams and seasons, we establish the value of the transfer market added by each singleteam in the evaluation of the Transfermarkt experts, so ranking the clubs. In addition,we show that taking the 2007/08 as the reference season, the players’ transfer marketvalue has been reducing dramatically over the last years in the opinion of Transfermarktexperts, so menacing the financial stability of Italian clubs exceedingly oriented tocapital gains coming from players transfers, instead of exploiting traditional source ofrevenues like game tickets, merchandising, TV rights, sponsorships, and stadiums.