Controversy Over Recent NBA Referee Study

A study released yesterday claims that white NBA referees call more fouls on black basketball players. The same study claims that those same referees tend to call less fouls on white basketball players.

The study by a University of Pennsylvania assistant professor and Cornell graduate student also found that black officials called fouls more frequently against white players than black, but noted that that tendency was not as pronounced. White referees displayed a greater tendency to make a call against a player of a different color. The results have caused the NBA to fight back against these claims.

The pair explained that the difference in calls "is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew." It took nearly 13 seasons of data to reach this conclusion. They also found that the racial makeup of a three-man officiating crew affected calls by up to 4½ percent.

The NBA strongly criticized the study, which was based on information from publicly available box scores, which show only the referees' names and contain no information about which official made a call. They believe that the pair are only assuming their own results without actually completing a true scientific study. The NBA strives itself on analyzing their referees on a daily basis.There was no comment from either side at the time this article was published.

Sources:

www.espn.com
www.newyorktimes.com