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Shane D. Sanders

Professor

Department of Sport Analytics

Contact

315.443.0234 sdsander@syr.edu

Department

Location

MacNaughton Hall, #316
Syracuse, NY 13244

Biography

Shane Sanders is a Professor of Sport Analytics in SU Falk College. He came to the faculty of Falk College in August 2016, joining Founding Sport Analytics Program Director Rodney Paul days before the program’s launch.


Sanders holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Kansas State University with fields of specialization in Econometrics and Applied Game Theory and dissertation work in the topical areas of Sports Economics and Political Economy. He completed an undergraduate degree in Economics with a minor in Mathematics from Indiana University (Phi Beta Kappa, Sum Cum Laude, Dept. Honors). Sanders' early work in the field of Sports Economics was cited in an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in a major sport antitrust case. Subsequently, his work has been profiled by major media outlets such as NPR Here & Now, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (in a segment called Talkin' Sportz), NPR On Point, USA Today, The Globe and Mail, Fox Sports, MSNBC, True Hoop, and others.


In his research, Sanders enjoys the integration of probability theory with econometric and applied game theoretic analyses toward enhanced estimation/prediction of sport and related microeconomic decision-making data/topics. With this approach, he often seeks to perform market or decision-making paradigmatic tests of the neoclassical versus behavioral economic decision-making paradigms. Sanders has published 95 peer-reviewed articles, many in top journals of economics, statistics, finance, and related areas (Journal of Business & Economics Statistics, Journal of Behavioral & Experimental Finance (2), Economics Letters (4), Social Indicators Research, Journal of Sport Management (2), Journal of Sports Economics (5), MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Papers & Proceedings (2), and Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference Papers & Proceedings). He also has a book, The Economic Reason, published in 2020 (Springer). The book features essays in sports economics and microeconomics. His more recent popular writings can be found at SportQuant | Shane Sanders | Substack.


Sanders has been invited or selected to present at the top venues of the field. Twice, his coauthored work has garnered a top-6 finalist podium presentation at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Research Paper Competition (2024, 2025). In 2025, he and his co-authors (Alivia Uribe, Justin Ehrlich, James Reade, and Carl Singleton) won the Competition (The Ultimate Goal). Sanders has also been invited or selected to present co-authored work at the 2019 Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference Reproducible Research Competition (top-3 finalist prize), as well as at the 2025 Harvard University New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports, the 2025 Yale University Connecticut Sports Analytics Conference, the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology in 2025, the Indiana University Sport Analytics Symposium in 2022, the 2022 Gijon Sports Economics Conference (Gijon, Spain), the 2021 Korean Sport Interaction Science Conference, the 2019 SABR Analytics Conference, the 2019 Kennesaw State University Coles School of Business Symposium, at the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs in 2018, and at the UMass Amherst Sport Management Department in 2018.


Sanders' current and future research plans are to continue working at the intersection of behavioral microeconomics and sport.

Education

  • Ph.D., Summa cum laude, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, Area of Emphasis: Econometrics; Applied Game Theory
  • B.A., Summa cum laude, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, . Major: Economics Area of Emphasis: Mathematics (minor)

Teaching

Notable Courses

SPM 295 - Research Methodology
SAL 313 - Sport Data Analysis II
SPM 365 - Sport Economics
SAL 366 - Sport Economics II
SAL 607 Sport Econometrics II
SAL 614: Introduction to Basketball Analytics,

Currently Teaching

  • SAL 295 - Research Methodology for Sport Analytics

Published Scholarship

Publications

  • Sanders, S.D., 2024. Mechanism Design in Sport Matches: Competitive Balance, Intermediate Targets, and Effort Elicitation in a Three-Stage Contest Game. American Behavioral Scientist, [online] 70(1), pp.3–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642241254730.
  • Sanders, S.D. et al., 2025. Choice Aggregation Paradoxes when Ties are Possible: Novel Computational and Empirical Analyses of Weak Cycles. Computational Economics, pp.1–22 (lead article).
  • Boudreau, J. et al., 2025. Damaging conflict: All-pay auctions with negative spillovers and bimodal bidding.. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2025. Equal Financial Benefits? Title IX Gender Discrimination Behavior in National Collegiate Athletic Association Programs.. Journal of Sport Management.
  • Ehrlich, J. et al., 2025. F1 v. IndyCar in the Technological Competition for Race-Speed Supremacy: Continuous, GAM-Estimated Speed-Differential Estimates from a Shared-Course Natural Experiment.. American Behavioral Scientist.
  • Potter, J. et al., 2025. F1 versus Indy: Analyzing a unique shared-course natural experiment to determine the world’s fastest auto racing format. American Behavioral Scientist.
  • Mixon, F., Sanders, S.D. & Luccasen III, R.A., 2025. Fits Like a Glove: Seinfeld and the Economics of Liability Laws. American Business Review.
  • Potter, J., Sanders, S.D. & White, D., 2025. Guest editorial: On the contemporaneous growth of the modern economy and the industry of sport. Managerial Finance.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2025. How Does Stakes-Based Pressure Affect Performance? A Literature Review of the Yerkes–Dodson Hypothesis in Sport and Other Labor Settings. American Behavioral Scientist.
  • Ehrlich, J. & Sanders, S.D., 2025. Player Tracking, Shot Charts, and the National Basketball Association’s Three-Point Revolution: A Technology-Based Misspecification in a Primary Sport Management Setting?. Journal of Sport Management.

Presentations

  • Uribe, A., Sanders, S.D. & Ehrlich, J., 2025. Do Behavioral Considerations Cloud Penalty-Kick Location Optimization in Professional Soccer: Game Theory & Empirical Testing using Polynomial Regression and ML Gradient Boosting. In MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. MIT.
  • Uribe, A., Sanders, S.D. & Ehrlich, J., 2025. Do Behavioral Considerations Cloud Penalty-Kick Location Optimization in Professional Soccer? Classical/Statistical Game Theory & Empirical Testing using Polynomial and ML Regularized Lasso Regression. In Yale University Connecticut Sports Analytics Symposium. Yale University.
  • Uribe, A., Sanders, S.D. & Ehrlich, J., 2025. Do Behavioral Considerations Cloud Soccer Penalty-Kick Location-Optimization? Game Theory, GAM, and Lasso Analysis. In Harvard University New England Symposium on Statistics in Sports. Harvard University.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2024. Estimating NBA Team Shot Selection Efficiency from Aggregations of True, Continuous Shot Charts: A Generalized Additive Model Approach. In MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. MIT Sloan.
  • Ehrlich, J.A. & Sanders, S.D., 2024. Shot Selection Efficiency. In MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (submitted 2023; accepted 2024). MIT.
  • Ehrlich, J.A. & Sanders, S.D., 2023. True Shot Charts. In Harvard University New England Symposium of Statistics in Sports (Harvard NESSIS). Harvard University.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2018. In UMass Amherst Sport Management Department.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2018. In PARCC. Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2017. In School of Engineering, Syracuse University.
  • Sanders, S.D., 2017. In International Conference on Game Theory, Conflict Sessions. Stony Brook Center for Game Theory.

Consulting

  • Maccabi Tel Aviv (summers only), Tel Aviv, Israel. Analytic Personnel Scouting Consultant, EuroLeague and Israeli Basketball Super League (1st Division) Basketball Team, Organization

Active Service

Professional Service

  • Reviewer/Referee, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, Journal of Sports Economics, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, PLoS One, Journal of Conflict Resolution European, Journal of Political Economy, Public Choice, Conflict Management & Peace Science, Defence and Peace Economics, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Economics Letters, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Applied Economics, Applied Economics Letters, Sustainable Cities and Society, Managerial and Decision Economics, Managerial Finance, Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Economics and Finance, Academy of Economics and Finance Journal, Review of Network Economics, Perspectives on Economic Education Research, Southern Business & Economic Journal
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Managerial Finance (academic journal) (active since: 2020)
  • Editorial Review Board Member, American Behavioral Scientist (guest editor) (active since: 2025)
  • Editorial Review Board Member, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (guest editor) (active since: 2025)
  • Reviewer/Referee, Many journals and one teaching module repository (active since: 2025)

Honors, Awards, and Recognition

  • MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Research Paper Competition Overall First Place Award, MIT (received: 2025)
  • MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Research Competition Finalist Award, MIT Sloan (received: 2024)
  • Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference Reproducible Research Competition Finalist Award, Carnegie Mellon University (received: 2019)
  • Full Member of Graduate Faculty, WIU (received: 2013)
  • Excellence in Multicultural Teaching, College of Business and Technology, Western Illinois University
  • Excellence in Research/Scholarly Activities, College of Business and Technology, Western Illinois University

Memberships

  • North American Association of Sports Economists
  • Society for Social Choice & Welfare
  • Stony Brook Center for Game Theory

Recent Media Mentions:

  • Anon, 2025. Falk College Sport Analytics Students Win Multiple National Competitions.
  • Steph Curry, 'Moreyball' and the NBA's 3-point revolution (29 May 2025)
  • Zombie runners and bigger bases — bringing order to the chaos of sports (17 April 2025)
  • Anon, 2025. Falk College Research Team Wins Prestigious Sports Analytics Research Paper Competition.
  • 3s aren't Everything2024)
  • Are NBA teams taking too many 3-pointers? Yes. Here's why2024)
  • Talkin' Sportz2024)
  • Sports Analytics Expert Shares Lessons From James Holzhauer's Jeopardy Run (4 June 2019)
  • https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2019/06/03/professors-project-jeopardy-champ-james-holzhauer-wins-98-more-games/1316258001/ (3 June 2019)

Department

Location

MacNaughton Hall, #316
Syracuse, NY 13244
A group of 4 pose with a large check

Sanders and coauthors celebrate a win at the 2025 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Competition