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Fair elimination-type competitions

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  • Arlegi, Ritxar
  • Dimitrov, Dinko

Abstract

We study the impact of two basic principles of fairness on the structure of elimination-type competitions and perform our analysis by focusing on sports competitions. The first principle states that stronger players should have a larger chance of winning than weaker players, while the second principle provides equally strong players the same chances of being the final winner. We apply these requirements to different kinds of knockout competitions, and characterise the structures satisfying them. In our results, a new competition structure that we call an antler is found to play a referential role.

Suggested Citation

  • Arlegi, Ritxar & Dimitrov, Dinko, 2020. "Fair elimination-type competitions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(2), pages 528-535.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:287:y:2020:i:2:p:528-535
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.03.025
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    Cited by:

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    4. Juan D. Moreno-Ternero & Tim Pawlowski & Shlomo Weber, 2024. "Domestic Competitive Balance and International Success: The Case of The Football Industry," Papers 2402.08396, arXiv.org.
    5. Csató, László, 2023. "How to avoid uncompetitive games? The importance of tie-breaking rules," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1260-1269.
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    7. Hou, Ting & Zhang, Wen, 2021. "Optimal two-stage elimination contests for crowdsourcing," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    8. Csató László, 2022. "The effects of draw restrictions on knockout tournaments," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 18(4), pages 227-239, December.
    9. Yongjie Yang & Dinko Dimitrov, 2021. "Weak transitivity and agenda control for extended stepladder tournaments," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 9(1), pages 27-37, April.
    10. Arlegi, Ritxar & Dimitrov, Dinko, 2020. "Manipulative agendas in four-candidate elections," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).

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