10. Performance and Market Value

“Being number two sucks.”

—ANDRE AGASSI

In sports there can only be one victor. Athletes play to win, to be victorious, and ultimately to be the last man or woman standing. The winner of a competition is not always the best or highest ranked player. Sometimes athletes of lower caliber surprise us. This is part of the excitement and beauty of sport. Why is this? Because in sports there is always a degree of unpredictability.

As data scientists, our goal is to determine the ingredients for the recipe of success in sports. Why? Because we want both to improve and predict performance. This chapter is full of answers and many more questions about the future of sports analytics. We will cover the rating and ranking ...

Get Sports Performance Measurement and Analytics: The Science of Assessing Performance, Predicting Future Outcomes, Interpreting Statistical Models, and Evaluating the Market Value of Athletes now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.