Player Transfer as an Outsourcing Activity in Sport: The Opinions of the Coaches and Managers

Year 2020, Volume: 22 Issue: 3, 490 - 499, 31.12.2020

Kadir Çalışkan Veli Onur Çelik Sabiha Gizem Engin

Abstract

The popularity and
accessibility of sports at global level allow the mobility (transfer) of
athletes worldwide as labor force. This is called ‘sport labor migration’ and
allows clubs to access a global market as an alternative to local market. In
this study, foreign player transfer is accepted as an outsourcing. In this
context, club managers and coaches were asked to evaluate their foreign player
transfers in terms of outsourcing. The data were collected through the
interviews conducted with the coaches and administrators of 9 teams, which were
chosen through purposive sampling method among 16 teams playing in Turkish
Women’s Basketball League. The participants were asked to provide their
opinions regarding the transfer of foreign players and evaluate them in terms
of three basic functions of outsourcing: (1) cost minimization, (2) quality
improvement and (3) resource access. According to the findings, while sports
clubs can increase the quality of their teams through foreign player transfers
that they can use globally, they can also reducing the player costs. Sports
clubs should be able to manage foreign player transfers correctly not only in
terms of sporting success but also in terms of their economic sustainability.
The results of this study may reveal that the transfer of foreign players as
outsourcing is seen as a successful activity of sports clubs.

Keywords

Foreign Player, Player Mobility, Labor Migration, Immigration, Productivity

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