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Financial Restrictions and Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues

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  • Sonin, Konstantin
  • Grabar, Vsevolod

Abstract

A dramatic surge in revenues from TV broadcasting and brand-selling forced modern football clubs, simultaneously involved in domestic and European competitions, to operate in a new environment. In response, the Union of European Football Associations introduced the Financial Fair Play Regulations, a set of financial regulations that affect all major European clubs. To assess the impact of financial restrictions (e.g., salary caps) on the default risk for individual clubs and competitive balance, we construct a game-theoretic model where clubs make decisions on the amounts they borrow and spend on the team. The impact of financial restrictions on competitive balance is positive; the total amount of debt also decreases at equilibrium. Finally, we show that financial restrictions create more incentives to invest in second-tier clubs compared to the situation in which there are no financial regulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonin, Konstantin & Grabar, Vsevolod, 2018. "Financial Restrictions and Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues," CEPR Discussion Papers 13154, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13154
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Uefa financial fair play; Competitive balance; Investment tournaments; Financial regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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