Proceedings 2012. (2013), Vol 4, ISSN 1986-8146
com
KORELACIJA IZMEDJU SPORTSKOG REZULTATA
I IZNOSA ULOENOG NOVCA U NBA LIGI
CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SPORT RESULT AND
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY INVESTED IN NBA LEAGUE
Sini{a Jungi1
1
Fakultet fizikog vaspitanja i sporta, Univerzitet u Banjoj Luci, Bosna i Hercegovina
Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
doi: 10.5550/SP.4.2012.018 UDK: 005+796:658.8 COBISS.BH-ID: 3959320
Summary
It has been a long time since sport stopped to be observed
only in the context of a game. Modern sport is a profitable
and commercialized activity. Nowadays, there is a very
popular trend of uncontrolled expenditure of funds. How-
ever, in the NBA there is a payment border (salary cap) which
maintains the competitive balance. The subject of this paper
are the NBA clubs and their success, while the goal of this
paper is to determine how big is the impact of money which
is spent annually on the contracts of the players on the
outcome in the NBA league, and the number of triumphs
in the regular part of a season.The research included 30 NBA
teams who competed in the NBA season 2011/2012. Each
of them played 66 matches. The following values were fol-
lowed: the number of club triumphs (NCT) during the regu-
lar season and the amount of money that was spent annu-
ally on the contracts of the players (ASM).Based on the
Pearsons correlation coefficient which is .531, we can come
to the conclusion that there is a strong correlation between
the amount of money spent annually on the contracts of the
players and the number of triumphs. Also, a statistically
significant difference exists between these two variables.The
coefficient of determination between the two variables is
.282, which tells us that money affects about 30% the num-
ber of triumphs in the regular part of a season.On the basis
of the linear regression coefficient which is .598, it was
determined that the increase of investment, that is one mil-
lion dollars, contributes to the number of triumphs.Therefore,
there is no doubt that there is a strong impact of money on
the result in the NBA. However, there are also other factors
that affect the sports result, such as: professionalism of the
human resources within the organization, organizational
structure, human relationships etc.I suggest that future papers
include more variables that will manifest the influence of
money on the number of triumphs in the NBA.
Key words: The NBA league, sports result, the influence
of money, connection.
www.sportkon.
Saetak
Sport se ve odavno ne moe posmatrati samo u kontekstu
igre. Savremeni sport je unosna, komercijalizovana djelatnost.
U dananje vrijeme postoji trend nekontrolisane potronje
finansijskih sredstava. Meutim, u NBA postoji platna
granica (salry cap) koja odrava takmiarsku ravnoteu.
Predmet ovog rada su NBA klubovi i njihova uspje{nost, dok
je cilj rada utvrditi koliki je uticaj novca na rezultat u NBA
ligi na osnovu utro{enog novca na godi{njem nivou na
ugovore igraa i broja ostvarenih pobjeda u regularnom
dijelu sezone. Istraivanjem je obuhvaeno 30 NBA klubo-
va koji su se takmiili u NBA sezoni 2011/2012, od kojih je
svaki odigrao 66 utakmica. Praene su sledee vrijednosti:
broj pobjeda kluba (BPK) u toku regularne sezone i koliina
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER
KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
utro{enog novca (KUN) na godi{njem nivou na ugovore
igraa. Na osnovu Pirsonovog koeficijenta korelacije koji
iznosi 0,531 moemo konstatovati da postoji srednje jaka
povezanost izmeu koliine utro{enog novca na godi{njem
nivou na ugovore igraa i broja ostavrenih pobjeda. Takoe,
izmeu ove dvije varijable postoji statistiki znaajna razlika.
Koeficijent determinacije izmeu ove dvije varijable iznosi
0,282 {to nam govori da novac utie oko 30% na broj po-
bjeda u regularnom dijelu sezone. Na osnovu koeficijenta
linearne regresije koji iznosi 0,598 utvreno je da porast
ulaganja u iznosu od 1 milion dolara doprinosi broju pob-
jeda. Dakle, nesumnjivo je da postoji uticaj novca na rezul-
tat u NBA ligi. Ipak, postoje i drugi faktori koji utiu na
sportski rezultat, kao {to su: strunost ljudskih resursa unutar
organizacije, organizacionu strukuturu, meuljudske odnose
itd. U narednim radovima preporuujem da se uvrsti vi{e
varijabli koje e detaljni manifestovati uticaj novca i na broj
pobjeda u NBA ligi.
Kljune rijei: NBA liga, sportski rezultat, uticaj novca,
povezanost.
157
 Jungi, S.: CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SPORT RESULT...
Introduction
For a long time now, it has been impossible to observe sport
only in the context of game. The contemporary sport is a
profitable and commercialized activity. According to Forbes
magazine, it has been estimated that at the end of the 20th
century and in the beginnig of the 21st century more than
2 trillion dollars were earned a year when it comes to sport
industry, which is more than oil and tourism industry com-
bined (Mihailovi, 2005).
Sport investments on the global level are constantly growing,
despite the global economic crisis. Barely six months can
pass without a record beaten in the amount of money paid
for a player salary or a player transfer from one club into
another. This phenomenon is particularly characteristc of
Europe and Asia, where there are no mechanisms to support
the competitive balance. There are several examples of
football clubs (such as Chelsea, Manchester City, Paris Saint-
Germain, Malaga, etc.) whose results have improved after
they had been bought by ambitious investors. By contrast,
there are some negative examples in which great sums of
money have been invested in clubs, but they have never
achieved significant results. Recently, this has become typi-
cal of basketball clubs (Efes Pilsen, Armani Jeans, Real Madrid,
etc.).
In the United States of America, however, the situation is
quite different. There are mechanisms in NBA (and other
professional leagues) which maintain the competitive bal-
ance. Forest and Simons (2002) define the competitive
balance as relatively equal strength of teams within a league.
A player can switch clubs only if the contract with the previ-
ous club has expired or if the player has been replaced by
another player, so clubs do not pay great sums of money for
player transfers. Great sums of money are paid for player
contracts, but even in those cases there are limitations called
salary cap.
Salary cap is a complex mechanism that controls the pay list
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER
KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
of every team and which consists of specific rules for every
league it is applied to (Leeds, 2008). The soft cap is used in
NBA league, which means that clubs can go over the limit
in special cases (for example, when they want to prolong
the contracts for players who wish to renew their loyalty to
the club with the increase of their earnings or signing contracts
with players chosen on draft). In case of going over the pay
limit, clubs pay the luxury tax, which means that for every
dollar paid over the limit, they pay the same amount of
money for taxes.
The soft cap in NBA enables financially more powerful clubs
to pay more money for player contracts and thus gain certain
competitive advantage. In newer history of NBA, there are
examples of clubs which achieved great progress by chang-
ing the owner and increasing investments (Dallas Mavericks).
There are also some clubs which, despite money investments
above average, have never achieved significant results (New
York Knicks). Considering these facts, logical question is
imposed: How much does the invested money actually affect
the results in NBA league?
Paper topic are NBA clubs and their efficiency, and paper
is based on the amount of the money spent on player con-
tracts and the number of won games, to define how much
does the money influence the sport result in NBA league.
158
Proceedings 2012, 157162
Uvod
Sport se ve odavno ne moe posmatrati samo u kontekstu
igre. Savremeni sport je unosna, komercijalizovana djelatnost.
Prema asopisu Forbs, procjenjeno je da se na prelazu iz
20. u 21. vijek u sportskoj industriji u svijetu, godi{nje
obrtalo vi{e od dvije hiljade milijardi dolara, {to je vi{e od
kompletne automobilske, naftne i industrije turizma (Mihalovi,
2005).
Ulaganja u sport, na svjetskom nivou konstantno rastu, bez
obzira na svjetsku ekonomsku krizu. Gotovo da ne moe
proi 6 mjeseci a da nije oboren neki rekord u koliini
novca koji je izdvojen za platu igraa ili za prelazak igraa
iz jednog u drugi klub. Ova pojava naroito je izraena u
Evropi i Aziji, gdje ne postoje mehanizmi koji odravaju
takmiarsku ravnoteu. Postoji vi{e primjera fudbalskih
klubova (Chelsea, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germen,
Malaga itd.) koji su pobolj{ali svoje rezultate nakon {to su ih
kupili ambiciozni ulagai. Takoe, postoje i negativni prim-
jeri klubova koji su uloili veliki novac ali nisu ostvarili
znaajniji rezultat. Ova pojava je u zadnje vrijeme naroito
izraena u koarci (Efes Pilsen, Armani Jeans, Real Madrid
itd.).
Meutim, u Sjedinjenim Amerikim Dravama situacija je
drugaija. U NBA (i ostalim profesionalnim ligama) postoje
mehanizmi koji odravaju takmiarsku ravnoteu. Forest i
Simons (2002) defini{u takmiarsku ravnoteu kao relativno
jednaku snagu timova unutar lige. Igra moe da promjeni
klub samo ukoliko mu je istekao ugovor sa predhodnim
klubom ili da bude zamjenjen drugim igraem, tako da
klubovi ne izdvajaju velike koliine novca za prelazak igraa
iz jednog kluba u drugi. Meutim, za ugovore igraa se iz-
dvaja ogroman novac, ali i tu postoje ogranienja u vidu
salary capa.
Salary cap je kompleksan mehanizam koji kotroli{e platni
spisak svakog tima i u okviru kojega se nalaze karakteristina
pravila za svaku ligu u kojoj se primjenjuje (Leeds, 2008). U
NBA se koristi meka granica (soft cap), {to znai da klubovi
mogu da prekorae ogranienje u specifinim sluajevima
(kada produavaju ugovor sa igraima koji obnavaljaju vjer-
nost klubu uz poveanje zarade, potpisivanje ugovora sa
igraima izabranima na draftu). U sluaju prekoraenja platne
granice klubovi plaaju porez na luksuz (luxury tax), tako
{to za svaki dolar prekoraenja plaaju isti iznos na ime
poreza.
Meka granica u NBA omoguava finansijski monijim klubo-
vima da izdvoje vi{e novca za ugovore igraa i tako steknu
odreenu takmiarsku prednost. U novijoj istoriji NBA
postoje primjeri klubova koji su promjenom vlasnika i
poveanjem ulaganja ostvarili veliki napredak (Dallas Mav-
ericks). Takoe, neki klubovi i pored konstantnog ulaganja
iznadprosjene koliine novca nisu napravili znaajniji re-
zultat (New York Knicks). S obzirom na te injenice postav-
lja se logino pitanje: Koliko zapravo uloeni novac utie na
rezultat u NBA ligi.
Predmet rada su NBA klubovi i njihova uspje{nost, a cilj rada
je na osnovu koliine utro{enog novca na ugovore igraa i
broja ostvarenih pobjeda, utvrditi koliki je uticaj novca na
sportski rezultat u NBA ligi.
JUNGI, S.: KORELACIJA IZME\U SPORTSKOG REZULTATA...
Methods
Entity sample
Thirty NBA clubs that participated in NBA season 2011/2012
were included, each of which played 66 games.
Variable sample
The following values have been observed: number of games
won for the club (NGW) during the regular season and the
amount of money spent for player contracts within one year
(AMS).
Data analysis method
In order to gather data, content analysis methods from the
official NBA statistics (nba.com) and amounts of money spent
on player contracts within one year (insidehoops.com) have
been used.
Statistical analysis
In the process of determining the correlation between the
amount of spent money and the number of won games in
the regular part of the season, the linear correlation has been
used. Furthermore, the linear regression has also been used
in order to predict the number of won games based on the
amount of spent money within one year.
Results and discussion
In Table 1, all NBA clubs are shown, as well as the number
of games they won during the regular season and the amount
of money that was spent on player contracts within one year.
One can notice that the most successful clubs in the regular
part of the season are San Antonio and Chicago, both of
which won 50 games. Oklahoma City has the score of 47
victories, whereas Miami achieved 46 victories. The lowest
number of victories was achieved by Charlotte, which was
successful only 7 times. The greatest amount of money for
player contracts was spent by L.A. Lakers, 86 million dollars.
Sacramento Kings spent 46.9 million dollars and that is less
than the rest of the NBA clubs.
Based on Table 2, we can conclude that clubs achieved
3310.30 victories on average. Furthermore, we can con-
clude that they spent 64.52 9.15 million dollars on aver-
age for player contracts within one year.
Based on Table 3, we can see that there is a medium high
correlation, .531, between the amount of money spent on
player contracts within one year and the number of achieved
victories in the regular part of the season. This tells us that
there exists the influence of money on the overall result
within the regular part of the season. Furthermore, we can
conclude that, between these two variables, there is the
statistically significant correlation at the level of .01.
Based on Table 4, we can conclude that determination
coefficient is .282. This means that invested money has ap-
proximately 30% of the influence on the number of won
games during the regular part of the season. The rest 70%
is influenced by other factors. In addition, it is concluded
that the standard evaluation error is 8.882.
Based on Table 5 we can conclude that regression coefficient
(B) is .598. This means that increasing investments for 1
million dollars contributes to increasing the number of won
games for .598.
Zbornik radova 2012, 157162
Metode
Uzorak entiteta
Istraivanjem je obuhvaeno 30 NBA klubova koji su se
takmiili u NBA sezoni 2011/2012, od kojih je svaki odigrao
66 utakmica.
Uzorak varijabli
Praene su sledee vrijednosti: broj pobjeda kluba (BPK) u
toku regularne sezone i koliina utro{enog novca (KUN) na
godi{njem nivou na ugovore igraa.
Metod obrade podataka
Za prikuljanje podataka kori{tene su metode analize sadraja
zvanine NBA statistike (NBA.com) i koliine utro{enog
novca na ugovore igraa na godi{njem nivou (insidehoops.
com).
Statistika analiza
Prilikom utvrivanja povezanosti izmeu koliine utro{enog
novca i broja ostvarenih pobjeda u regularnom dijelu sezone
kori{tena je pravolinijska korelacija. Osim toga, linerana
regresija je takoe kori{ena da bi se predvidio broj dobi-
jenih utakmica na osovu iznosa pootro{nog novca u toku
jedne godine.
Rezultati i diskusija
U Tabeli 1 su prikazani svi NBA klubovi, broj ostvarenih
pobjeda u toku regularne sezone i koliina utro{enog novca
na ugovore igraa na godinjem nivou. Primjetno je da su
najuspje{niji klubovi u regularnom dijelu sezone San Anto-
nio i Chikago, koji su ostvarili 50 pobjeda. Oklahoma City
ima skor od 47 pobjeda, dok je Miami ostvario 46 pobjeda.
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER
KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
Najmanje pobjeda ostvario je Charlotte, koji je bio uspje{an
samo 7 puta. Najvi{e novca na ugovore igraa potro{ili su
L. A. Lakersi, 86 miliona dolara. Sacramento Kingsi su utro{ili
46,9 miliona dolara i to je manje od svih NBA klubova.
Na osnovu Tabele 2 moemo da konstatujemo da su
klubovi prosjeno ostvarili 3310,30 pobjeda. Takoe,
moemo da konstatujemo da su potro{ili prosjeno 64,529,15
miliona dolara na ugovore igraa, na godi{njem nivou.
Na osnovu Tabele 3 moemo vidjeti da izmeu koliine
utro{enog novca na ugovore igraa na godi{njem nivou i
broja ostvarenih pobjeda u regularnom dijelu sezone poja-
vila srednje visoka korelacija, iznosi 0,531. To nam govori
da postoji uticaj novca na ukupan rezultat u okviru regular-
nog dijela sezone. Takoe, moemo konstatovati da izmeu
ove dvije varijable postoji statistiki znaajna povezanost na
nivou 0,01.
Iz Tabele 4 moemo da zakljuimo da koeficijent determi-
nacije iznosi 0,282. To znai da uloeni novac ima priblino
30% uticaja na broj pobjeda u regularnom dijelu sezone.
Ostalih 70% ine drugi faktori. Takoe, uviamo da stan-
dardna gre{ka procjene iznosi 8,882.
Na osnovu Tabele 5 moemo da zakljuimo da koeficijent
regresije (B) znosi 0,598. Dakle, porast ulganja u iznosu od
1 milion dolara doprinosi porastu pobjeda za 0,598.
159
 Jungi, S.: CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SPORT RESULT... Proceedings 2012, 157162

Tabela 1: NBA klubovi, broj ostvarenih pobjeda i koliina utro{enog novca na godi{njem nivou.
Table 1: NBA clubs, number of games won for the club and amount of money spent within one year.

Number of won ga- Amount of money

NBA clubs mes in the season spent (expressed in
2011/2012 millions of dollars)
Chicago Bulls 50 69.8
Miami Heat 46 78.0
Indiana Pacers 42 51.8
Atlanta Hawks 40 73.5
Boston Celtics 39 79.9
Orlando Magic 37 68.7
New York Knicks 36 64.0
Philadelphia 76ers 35 67.5
Milwaukee Bucks 31 59.9
Detroit Pistons 25 66.9
Toronto Raptors 23 47.9
New Jersey Nets 22 57.2
Cleveland Cavaliers 21 53.5
Washington Wizards 20 60.7
Charlotte Bobcats 7 58.0
San Antonio Spurs 50 73.2
Oklahoma City Thunder 47 59.4
L. A. Lakers 41 86.0
Memphis Grizzlies 41 70.2
L. A. Clippers 40 69.8
Denver Nuggets 38 59.4
Dallas Mavericks 36 74.3
Utah Jazz 36 58.3
Houston Rockets 34 62.4
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER

Phoenix Suns 33 64.0

KRATKI NAUNI LANAK

Portland Trailblazers 28 68.5

Minnesota Timberwolves 26 56.8
Golden State Warriors 23 65.0
Sacramento Kings 22 46.9
New Orleans Hornets 21 64.6

Legend/Legenda: NBA clubs - NBA klubovi; Number of won games in the season 2011/2012 -
Broj pobjeda u sezoni 2011/2012; Amount of money spent (expressed in millions of dol-
lars) - Utro{eni novac (miliona dolara).

Tabela 2: Deskriptivna statistika.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics.

n M SD Min Max
NGW 30 33.00 10.30 7.0 50.0
AMS 30 64.52 9.15 46.9 86.0

Legend/Legenda: NGW - Number of won games in the season 2011/2012 (Broj pobjeda u sezoni
2011/2012); AMS - Amount of money spent, expressed in millions of dollars (Utro{eni
novac, miliona dolara); n - Number of entities (Broj entiteta); M - Mean (Aritmetika sredi-
na); SD - Standard deviation (Standardna devijacija); Min - Minimum (Minimum);
Max - Maximum (Maksimum).

160
JUNGI, S.: KORELACIJA IZME\U SPORTSKOG REZULTATA... Zbornik radova 2012, 157162

Tabela 3: Pearsonov koeficijent korelacije .

Table 3: Pearsons correlation coefficient.

NGW AMS
NGW 1.000 .531
p .003
AMS .521 1.000
p .003

Legend/Legenda: NGW - Number of won games in the season 2011/2012 (Broj pobjeda u sezoni
2011/2012); AMS - Amount of money spent, expressed in millions of dollars (Utro{eni
novac, miliona dolara); p - Probability (Vjerovatnoa).

Tabela 4: Koeficijent determinacije.

Table 4: Determination coefficient.
R R2 R2c df MS F p
.531 .282 .256 28 8.882 10.993 .003

Legend/Legenda: R - Multiple correlation coefficient (Vi{estruki koeficijent korelacije);

R2 - Determination coefficient (Koeficijent determinacije); R2c - Corrected determination
coefficient (Korigovani koeficijent determinacije; df - Degrees of freedom (Stepeni slobo-
de); MS - Middle square (srednbji kvadrat); F - Fishers test for statistically significance de-
termination (Fi{erov test za utvrivanje statistie znaajnaosti); p - Probabilty (Vjerova-
tnoa)

Tabela 5: Regresiona analiza.

Table 5: Regression analysis.

Unstand. Standard.
Coeff. Coeff. Depends
Entity t p
Variables
B SE
Constant -5.557 11.747 -.475 .639
NBA clubs AMS
NGW .598 .180 .531 3.316 .003

Legend/Legenda: NGW - Number of won games in the season 2011/2012 (Broj pobjeda u sezoni

SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER

KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
2011/2012); AMS - Amount of money spent, expressed in millions of dollars (Utro{eni
novac, miliona dolara); - beta standardize partial contribution; SE - Standard error of the
estimate (Standardna gre{ka u procejni); t - T-test (T-test); p - Probability (Vjerovatnoa);
Unstandardized coefficients - Nestradandizovani koeficijenti; Standardized coefficients -
Stadardizovani koeficijenti; NBA clubs - NBA klubovi; Depend variables - Zavisne varija-
ble.

Conclusion Zakljuak

Based on calculation of the correlation coefficient, which is
.531, it has been determined that there is a statistically sig-
nificant correlation between the amount of the money
spentand the number of won games during the regular part
of the season. Furthermore, the linear regression coefficient
has been calculated, which is .598, and that means that
there is a significant influence of the invested money on the
number of the achieved victories. With this, the paper hy-
pothesis has been confirmed.
To sum up, the influence of money on score in NBA league
exists undoubtedly. However, it is necessary to point out
that the influence of money is not crucial and that there are
other factors that influence the sport result and this is not
only characteristic of the NBA league. Those factors are:
professionalism of human resources within an organization,
organizational structure, interpersonal relations, etc.
Na osnovu izraunavanja koeficijenta korelacije, koji je
iznosio 0,531, utvreno je da postoji statistiki znaajna
povezanost izmeu koliine utro{enog novca i broja ostva-
renih pobjeda u regularnom dijelu sezone. Takoe, izraunat
je koeficijent linearne regresije, koji iznosi 0,598, {to znai
da postoji znaajan uticaj uloenog novca na broj ostvarenih
pobjeda. Time je potvrena radna hipoteza.
Dakle, nesumnjivo je da postoji uticaj novca na rezultat u
NBA ligi. Ipak, treba rei da uticaj novca nije presudan i da
postoje drugi faktori koji utiu na sportski rezultat, ne samo
u NBA ligi. U te faktore ubrajamo: strunost ljudskih resur-
sa unutar organizacije, organizacionu strukuturu, meuljudske
odnose itd.

161
 Jungi, S.: CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SPORT RESULT...
For the following papers, I recommend the inclusion of ad-
ditional variables that are going to present the influence of
money on the number of victories in NBA league with more
details. Furthermore, the influence of other factors on sport
results in NBA league should also be determined.
Reference
Forrest, D., & Simmons, R. (2002). Outcome Uncertainty
and Attendance Demand in Sport: The Case of English
Soccer. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 51(2),
229241.
Leeds, M. (2008). Salary Caps and Luxury Taxes in Profes-
sional Sports Leagues: Economic Perspectives on
Sport. In B. R. Humphreys and D. R. Howard, Busi-
ness of sport (vol 2). Amazon publishing.
Mihajlovi, M. (2005). Menadment sportskih organizacija
Management of sports organizations. Beograd, RS:
SHORT SCIENTIFIC PAPER
KRATKI NAUNI LANAK
162
Proceedings 2012, 157162
U narednim radovima preporuujem da se uvrsti vi{e vari-
jabli koje e detaljni manifestovati uticaj novca i na broj
pobjeda u NBA ligi. Takoe, trebalo bi odrediti koliki je
uticaj drugih faktora koji utiu na sportski rezultat u NBA
ligi.
Fakultet za menadment u sportu Univerziteta Braa
Kari.
NBA players salaries. (n.d). Retrived from http://www.
insidehoops.com.
NBA stats. (n.d). Retrived from http://www.nba.com
Scambler, G. (2007). Sport i dru{tvo Sport and Society.
Beograd, RS: Agora.
Tomi, M. (2006). Osnove sportske organizacije Funda-
mentals of sports organizations. Beograd, RS: Zavod
za udbenike i nastavna sredstva
Korespodencija/Correspondence to:
Sini{a Jungi
Phone: 00387 65 34 63 76
E-mail: jungic.sgmail.com