IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jospec/v11y2010i2p172-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Ebbs and Flows of the Game: Multiple Equilibria in a Sports League Model

Author

Listed:
  • Duane W. Rockerbie

    (Department of Economics, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, rockerbie@uleth.ca)

  • Stephen T. Easton

    (Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada)

Abstract

The history of professional sports leagues is rich with examples of clubs that enjoy success on the field for a number of seasons, only to fall back in subsequent seasons. Although some clubs achieve consistent success, and a few, consistent failure, most clubs display a cyclical pattern as they ‘‘make a run’’ for success, then take fallback positions. This behavior is difficult to explain using the now standard league model of Fort and Quirk. In this article, the authors discuss the likelihood of this cyclical behavior emerging in the standard model and then develop an extension to the model, which can generate movements between good (team success) and bad (team failure) equilibria. The authors then discuss the stability conditions for each equilibrium and the conditions under which a club might find one of these equilibria unsustainable in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Duane W. Rockerbie & Stephen T. Easton, 2010. "The Ebbs and Flows of the Game: Multiple Equilibria in a Sports League Model," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(2), pages 172-185, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:11:y:2010:i:2:p:172-185
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002510363102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1527002510363102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1527002510363102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bryan Graham & Jonathan Temple, 2006. "Rich Nations, Poor Nations: How Much Can Multiple Equilibria Explain?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 5-41, March.
    2. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1991. "Increasing Returns, Industrialization, and Indeterminacy of Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 617-650.
    3. Karayalcin, Cem & Mitra, Devashish, 1999. "Multiple equilibria, coordination, and transitional growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 297-316, December.
    4. Donald L. Alexander & William Kern, 2004. "The Economic Determinants of Professional Sports Franchise Values," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 51-66, February.
    5. Azariadis, Costas, 1996. "The Economics of Poverty Traps: Part One: Complete Markets," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 449-496, December.
    6. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2007. "Rational Expectations And Pro Sports Leagues," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 54(3), pages 374-387, July.
    7. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 1995. "Cross-subsidization, Incentives, and Outcomes in Professional Team Sports Leagues," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1265-1299, September.
    8. El-Hodiri, Mohamed & Quirk, James, 1971. "An Economic Model of a Professional Sports League," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 1302-1319, Nov.-Dec..
    9. Russell W. Cooper, 2005. "Estimation and Identification of Structural Parameters in the Presence of Multiple Equilibria," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 107-130, Winter.
    10. Azariadis, Costas, 1981. "Self-fulfilling prophecies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 380-396, December.
    11. Phillip Miller, 2006. "Private Financing and Sports Franchise Values: The Case of Major League Baseball," Working Papers 0626, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    12. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Duane Rockerbie & Stephen Easton, 2018. "Revenue Sharing in Major League Baseball: The Moments That Meant so Much," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Rockerbie, Duane & Easton, Stephen, 2021. "Multiple Equilibria and Unsustainable Runs in Major League Baseball: More Evidence," MPRA Paper 109971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Rockerbie, Duane & Easton, Stephen, 2017. "Risk Diversification from Revenue Sharing in a Professional Sports League: Measuring Welfare Gains," MPRA Paper 77431, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martin Grossmann & Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang, 2010. "Revenue Sharing and Competitive Balance in a Dynamic Contest Model," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 36(1), pages 17-36, February.
    2. M. Centorrino & F. Ofria & D. Farinella, 2010. "Convergence and divergence processes between the Mezzogiorno and the Centre- North ten years after the adoption of the EMU," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 453-486.
    3. Markus LANG & Alexander RATHKE & Marco RUNKEL, 2010. "The Economic Consequences Of Foreigner Rules In National Sports Leagues," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 31, pages 47-64.
    4. Helmut M. Dietl & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2011. "Competitive Balance and Revenue Sharing in Sports Leagues With Utility-Maximizing Teams," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(3), pages 284-308, June.
    5. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2011. "The Combined Effect Of Salary Restrictions And Revenue Sharing In Sports Leagues," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 447-463, April.
    6. Ferdinando Ofria, 2012. "Twelve Years on from the Adoption of the Emu: An Ex-Post Assessment on the Process of Convergence of Southern and Central-Northern Italy," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 2(Special 1), pages 326-339, May.
    7. Florian Englmaier & Markus Reisinger, 2008. "Information, Coordination and the Industrialization of Countries," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 54(3), pages 534-550, September.
    8. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and macroeconomics," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 373-383.
    9. Markus Lang & Martin Grossmann & Philipp Theiler, 2011. "The Sugar Daddy Game: How Wealthy Investors Change Competition in Professional Team Sports," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 167(4), pages 557-577, December.
    10. Startz, Richard, 1998. "Growth States and Shocks," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 203-215, September.
    11. Slobodyan, Sergey, 2005. "Indeterminacy, sunspots, and development traps," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(1-2), pages 159-185, January.
    12. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2009. "Contest Theory and its Applications in Sports," Working Papers 0105, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
    13. Mikhail Anufriev & Davide Radi & Fabio Tramontana, 2018. "Some reflections on past and future of nonlinear dynamics in economics and finance," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 41(2), pages 91-118, November.
    14. Geoffrey N Tuck & Athol R Whitten, 2013. "Lead Us Not into Tanktation: A Simulation Modelling Approach to Gain Insights into Incentives for Sporting Teams to Tank," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-10, November.
    15. Vincenzo Lombardo, 2008. "Dual Economy Models: A Primer for…Growth, Income Distribution and Poverty Analysis," Working Papers 12_2008, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    16. Jason Winfree & Rodney Fort, 2012. "Nash Conjectures and Talent Supply in Sports League Modeling," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(3), pages 306-313, June.
    17. Donald S. Allen & Leonce Ndikumana, 1999. "Income inequality and minimum consumption: implications for growth," Working Papers 1999-013, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    18. Arifovic, Jasmina & Bullard, James & Duffy, John, 1997. "The Transition from Stagnation to Growth: An Adaptive Learning Approach," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 185-209, July.
    19. Bloom, David E & Canning, David & Sevilla, Jaypee, 2003. "Geography and Poverty Traps," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 355-378, December.
    20. Bill Dupor, 2005. "Keynesian Conundrum: Multiplicity and Time Consistent Stabilization," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(1), pages 154-177, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:11:y:2010:i:2:p:172-185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.