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Competitive Balance in the Eyes of the Sports Fan

Author

Listed:
  • R. Alan Bowman
  • James Lambrinos
  • Thomas Ashman

Abstract

There are many measures of competitive balance in the sports economics literature, each with their strengths and weaknesses. This study uses point spreads to measure competitive balance which has the advantages that they are prospective rather than retrospective and that they are determined by the sports fans and not just the outcome of a game. A total of six measures of competitive balance are developed from point spreads. These measures show a general trend toward improvement in competitive balance in the National Basketball Association over the past 20 years with no clear trend emerging for competitive balance in the National Football League.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Alan Bowman & James Lambrinos & Thomas Ashman, 2013. "Competitive Balance in the Eyes of the Sports Fan," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(5), pages 498-520, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:14:y:2013:i:5:p:498-520
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002511430230
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jones, Calvin & Jordan, Declan, 2014. "Competitiveness in Soccer Leagues: An ordinal time series approach with evidence from the Premier League 1993 to 2014," MPRA Paper 61193, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Dec 2014.
    2. Julio del Corral & Andrés Maroto & Andrés Gallardo, 2017. "Are Former Professional Athletes and Native Better Coaches? Evidence From Spanish Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(7), pages 698-719, October.
    3. Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez & Julio del Corral & R. Todd Jewell & Jorge García-Unanue & Cornel Nesseler, 2019. "A Prospective Analysis of Competitive Balance Levels in Major League Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(1), pages 175-190, February.

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