Closer look at ref study

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry

The basketball world is buzzing today over an academic study on racial discrimination by NBA referees, which states that the racial composition of a three-man officiating crew can have an impact on a game's outcome.

In particular, the study states that the difference between how white referees treat black players and how they treat white players is "large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew."

Predictably, the NBA has launched a PR offensive defending its officials' work and saying its own study, which looked at individual refs who made a call rather than the results of a three-man crew, showed no bias by the officials.  
 

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  • John Hollinger John Hollinger

    John Hollinger began writing for ESPN.com Insider in 2005. He's best known for his analytical work, including creating the Player Efficiency Rating (PER), a statistical rating of an NBA player's per-minute productivity. He has developed several other statistical measures in recent years, and his PER and team rankings are updated daily on ESPN.com.

    Before joining ESPN, John authored four annual editions of the "Pro Basketball Forecast," which analyzed every NBA player and team and provided detailed advanced stats for each. His player and team profiles now live on ESPN.com's Insider section, along with all the stats. He also contributes to ESPN The Magazine, ESPNEWS and The New York Sun. His previous stints include work for SI.com and Oregonlive.com.

    John grew up in northern New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1993 with degrees in Economics and Environmental Science. He made stops in Washington, D.C., and Portland before moving to Atlanta, where he lives with his wife.

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