Point Score Systems and Competitive Imbalance in Professional Soccer

This article addresses effects caused by the transition from a 2-1-0 to a 3-1-0 award system in soccer. The first part of the article discusses consequences of the transition on offensive versus defensive play. This part may be seen as a valuable supplement to work by Brocas and Carrillo (2004) as the choice of a different game theoretic framework provides increased insight into the concept offensive/defensive play in soccer. The second and main part of the paper addresses additional effects induced by the award system transition, especially effects on competitive imbalance. It is shown by simple game theory that under a relatively general set of team descriptions, such a transition may affect competitive balance adversely. In the final sections of the paper some empirical examples strengthen the hypothesis on adverse competitive effects.