How celebrity athletes boost star status
Philippine Times (ANI) Wednesday 18th January, 2012
Pro athletes need to be mindful of the evolution of their star status in order to capitalize on their earnings and endorsements, researchers say.
It is a combination of not only personal performances and team records that makes a star shine even brighter in the world of pro sports but also includes the markets that athletes play in and the star calibre of the athletes they compete with.
The study authored by professors Yupin Yang of the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Mengze Shi from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, described the rise and fall of celebrated athletes using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1987 to 2008.
To measure star status, they measured the number and share of votes received by pro basketball players for the annual NBA all-star game.
It turned out that the careers of star athletes have a natural life cycle. In the early years, individual performance is more important - but as time passes, winning a team championship becomes more imperative than personal statistics or accolades.
The results of the research, which arguably vindicate Lebron James for managing his career so deliberately, showed that stars should play for a winning team - which not only helps an athlete rise up to being a star, but also extends a star athlete's playing career.
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