“Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues: An Introduction”

Fort, Rodney; Maxcy, Joel

doi:10.1177/1527002503004002005

Cited by 162 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This quantity complements existing methods addressing varying length seasons and in particular, competitive balance that is based on standard deviations in winning percentages (Fort 2003). We demonstrated the utility of this measure via a comparative analysis that shows that soccer and baseball are the most competitive sports.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Parity and Predictability of Competitions

Ben‐Naim¹,

Vázquez²,

Redner³

2006

Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports

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We present an extensive statistical analysis of the results of all sports competitions in five major sports leagues in England and the United States. We characterize the parity among teams by the variance in the winning fraction from season-end standings data and quantify the predictability of games by the frequency of upsets from game results data. We introduce a novel mathematical model in which the underdog team wins with a fixed upset probability. This model quantitatively relates the parity among teams with the predictability of the games, and it can be used to estimate the upset frequency from standings data.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Parity and Predictability of Competitions

Ben‐Naim¹,

Vázquez²,

Redner³

2006

Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports

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“…In this case, the data capture a 53 year time frame. Second, it provides another example of how organizational theories (like institutional theory) can shed light on the strategic and competitive issues underlying a sports organization's competitive environment (Fort and Maxcy, 2003;Washington and Patterson, 2011). In this case, institutional theory has provided some perspective on the motivations underlying the pursuit of competitive balance by the NFL, mainly, that the presence of competitive balance serves as a uniting force among the independently-owned NFL sports organizations as they attempt to compete with the various entertainment choices available to their current and potential fans.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Longitudinal Exploration of Strategic Isomorphism: The Case of the National Football League

York

Miree

2015

AJBM

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Within any given industry, firms are faced with the pressure to strive for increased uniqueness. The purpose of the current study is to explore a phenomenon known as strategic isomorphism (or increased homogeneity among firms as a result of deliberate strategic choice). To this end, this research used seven different statistical techniques, to examine performance data within the National Football League (NFL) across fifty-three NFL seasons in an effort to determine if the NFL had isomorphic characteristics (as measured by competitive balance). In testing for presence of competitive balance in the NFL, we found a low standard deviation in winning percentage across teams in the seasons 1960-2012, indicating that the NFL has been a league of teams of nearly equal strength. From a longitudinal perspective we found that the NFL has not been dominated by a few strong teams nor has any single NFL team has been able to maintain dominance across multiple seasons. The current study is one of very few longitudinal studies that examine strategic isomorphism within a competitive context. Its results provide evidence that under certain competitive conditions, striving for increased similarity among competitors may be appropriate strategic choice.

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“…The need of some balance on the field is getting more discussed not only for soccer leagues (Grier & Tollison, 1994;Zimbalist, 2002;Fort & Maxcy, 2003;Fort & Quirk, 2004;Michie & Oughton, 2004;Goossens, 2005;Groot 2007;Lee, 2010), but also for other team sports (Kesenne, 2000;Richardson, 2000;Schmidt & Berri, 2001;Humphreys, 2002;Utt & Fort, 2002;DuBois & Heyndels, 2007;Lenten, 2013). A few teams should not be too strong.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competitive Balance in the Austrain, Czech, Hungarian and Ukranian Soccer Leagues

Šíma¹,

Procházka²

2015

Auc Kinanthropologica

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This study deals with measuring and evaluating the static competitive balance in four chosen national soccer/football leagues. These are (in alphabetical order) the premier leagues in the Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, and Ukrainian soccer/football divisions.Static balance shows how teams in the league tables of each year differ from each another. It is determined by a calculation of determinant divergences in the percentages of winnings.The results of this work provide graphic illustrations of the development of the competitive balance in the aforementioned contests over the latest forty-two years. They identify the development trend of this phenomenon. Of the contests studied, it is the Czech premier league which used to show the highest static balance. However, nowadays, the Austrian and Hungarian leagues are more balanced in the short term. On the contrary, it is the Ukrainian league which is the least balanced. There is an apparent longterm decline of competition balance within all of the analyzed competitions. However, this decline varies a lot within the group.

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“Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues: An Introduction”

Cited by 162 publications

References 24 publications

Parity and Predictability of Competitions

Parity and Predictability of Competitions

A Longitudinal Exploration of Strategic Isomorphism: The Case of the National Football League

Competitive Balance in the Austrain, Czech, Hungarian and Ukranian Soccer Leagues

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