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Game Theoretic Analysis of Basic Team Sports Leagues

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  • Paul Madden

    (University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, Paul.Madden@manchester.ac.uk)

Abstract

The article proposes a new ‘‘strategic market game’’ (SMG) approach to modeling strategic interactions between clubs in professional team sports leagues, and generalizes a basic framework used in previous literature (two clubs, fixed talent supply and club revenues that depend only on relative team qualities), to allow variable talent supply and club revenues that depend on absolute (and relative) team qualities. The new approach incorporates club talent market power (duopsony), overlooked by existing approaches; in both the basic and the more general framework, Nash equilibrium competitive balance is analyzed, with and without revenue sharing and with comparisons to existing analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Madden, 2011. "Game Theoretic Analysis of Basic Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(4), pages 407-431, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:12:y:2011:i:4:p:407-431
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002510381721
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Madden & Mario Pezzino, 2013. "Sports League Quality, Broadcaster TV Rights Bids and Wholesale Regulation of Sports Channels," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1304, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    2. Masaki Fujimoto, 2020. "Equal Revenue Sharing and the Optimal Distribution of Talent in the N-Team Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(2), pages 103-114, February.
    3. Paul Madden, 2012. "Welfare Economics of "Financial Fair Play" in a Sports League With Benefactor Owners," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1221, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    4. Roberto Burguet & Jozsef Sakovics, 2016. "To the highest bidder: The market for talent in sports leagues," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 275, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
    5. Paul Madden, 2018. "Collective Bargaining in a Basic North American Sports League Model," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1812, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    6. Paul Madden, 2019. "Collective Bargaining in a Basic North American Sports League Model With Broadcasting Revenue," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(8), pages 1088-1118, December.
    7. Paul Madden, 2015. "“Walrasian Fixed Supply Conjecture†Versus “Contest-Nash†Solutions to Sports League Models," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(5), pages 540-551, June.
    8. John Vrooman, 2015. "Sportsman Leagues," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 90-115, February.
    9. Michele Bisceglia & Assunta Gabriella Caputi & Luca Grilli & Vincenzo Pacelli, 2018. "Internal Balance and International Competitiveness: Sports Leagues Decision Models," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 567-578, November.
    10. Roberto Burguet & József Sákovics, 2019. "Bidding For Talent In Sport," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 85-102, January.
    11. Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang & Cornel Nesseler, 2017. "The Impact of Government Subsidies in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Working Papers 366, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    12. Duane W. Rockerbie & Stephen T. Easton, 2019. "Of Bricks and Bats: New Stadiums, Talent Supply, and Team Performance in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 3-24, January.
    13. Robert Driskill & John Vrooman, 2016. "It’s Not Over ‘til the Fat Lady Sings," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(4), pages 354-376, May.
    14. XiaoGang Che & Brad Humphreys, 2015. "Competition Between Sports Leagues: Theory and Evidence on Rival League Formation in North America," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 46(2), pages 127-143, March.
    15. Rocaboy Yvon, 2023. "Inter-league Competition and the Optimal Broadcasting Revenue-Sharing Rule," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 723-756, June.
    16. Helmut Dietl & Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez & Cornel Nesseler, 2017. "Are women or men better team managers? Evidence from professional team sports," Working Papers 364, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    17. Robert Driskill & John Vrooman, 2017. "Talent Versus Payroll as Strategic Variables in Game Theoretic Models of Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(6), pages 638-646, August.
    18. Masaki Fujimoto, 2023. "A Dynamic Analysis of Equal Revenue Sharing and Endogenous Salary Caps in the N-Team Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 624-638, June.
    19. Madden, Paul, 2012. "Fan welfare maximization as a club objective in a professional sports league," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 560-578.
    20. Paul Madden, 2017. "Comment on Driskill and Vrooman," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 271-281, April.
    21. Paul Madden, 2015. "Welfare Economics of “Financial Fair Play†in a Sports League With Benefactor Owners," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(2), pages 159-184, February.
    22. Rockerbie, Duane & Easton, Stephen, 2019. "A Real Options Approach to Multi-Year Contracts in Professional Sports," MPRA Paper 93062, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Antoine Feuillet & Mickael Terrien & Nicolas Scelles & Christophe Durand, 2021. "Determinants of coopetition and contingency of strategic choices: the case of professional football clubs in France," Post-Print halshs-02974491, HAL.

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