Finding Arbitrage in MLS Salaries (2017)
The prospect of saving money should be enough to convince any front office to adopt data-driven approaches. An analysis of salary data in Major League Soccer is ideal to explore whether players are paid intelligently because the data is publicly available and American sports are generally receptive of the use of statistics as a competitive advantage. Given the marginal role of statistical analysis in soccer so far, there is reason to believe that salaries are apportioned based on "conventional wisdom" proxies for performance rather than on-field performance metrics. This paper identifies the inefficiencies in the MLS salary market, allowing teams to exploit them to their advantage.