Beyond ‘Moneyball’ to Analytics Leadership in Sports: An Ecological Analysis of FC Bayern Munich’s Digital Transformation

Since Michael Lewis’ thesis on Oakland Athletics’ analytical approach to assemble a competitive baseball team and the release of the feature film “Moneyball”, the interest in sports analytics has grown rapidly. Existing research on sports analytics, though nascent and limited, paints a rather different picture compared to data analytics in the business context, mostly due to the nature of the sports industry and its organizations. Therefore, it is our focus in this study to further unpack such differences through a case study of FC Bayern Munich and its digital transformation to achieve analytics leadership. More specifically, we strive to understand 1) what analytics leadership entails for professional sports teams; and 2) what type of IT-enabled capabilities are required to realize such leadership position within a sporting and entertainment ecosystem. Our initial analysis identified three main applications of analytics, namely player and team performance, event management, and customers.