Free Agency and Employment Transitions in Professional Football

Abstract

In an analysis of the professional footballers' labour market in England, factors influencing the probabilities that a current spell of employment terminates due to retirement or transfer are identified. Although the principal factors driving employment transitions did not change markedly following the Bosman ruling, some differences between the pre- and post-Bosman hazard functions are identified. Geographical preference carries less weight in players' employment decisions post-Bosman. A switch in the signs of the coefficients on a promotion dummy suggests a change of strategy for the typical promotion-winning team. The results lend qualified support to the invariance proposition.

Keywords: Career trajectories, employment transition, free agency, professional football

JEL Classification: J24, J44, J62