Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer
IntroductionWhile most of the available literature on competitive balance analyses its impact on ticket sales and TV audiences, less empirical research is available that examines the observable variation in competitive balance across leagues and over time. This paper studies the concentration of pla...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sports and Active Living |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1148122/full |
| _version_ | 1797856393135390720 |
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| author | Bernd Frick Tommy Kweku Quansah Markus Lang |
| author_facet | Bernd Frick Tommy Kweku Quansah Markus Lang |
| author_sort | Bernd Frick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionWhile most of the available literature on competitive balance analyses its impact on ticket sales and TV audiences, less empirical research is available that examines the observable variation in competitive balance across leagues and over time. This paper studies the concentration of player talent and end-of-season league points to empirically assess whether leagues with a more equal distribution of player talent produce a more balanced competition than leagues with less equal distribution.MethodsThe longitudinal data we use to estimate our empirical model comes from professional soccer leagues in twelve Western European countries from 2005/06 thru 2020/21, yielding 5,299 club-season observations.ResultsOur empirical analysis indicates that talent concentration in a league significantly and positively impacts points concentration in that league. However, in specifications controlling for year, country, and division, this impact is only weakly significant or insignificant, suggesting that talent concentration does not significantly affect competitive balance in that league. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that the relationship between talent and points concentration does not vary considerably across the European leagues or over time.DiscussionOur results suggest that repeated participation in the UEFA Champions League, with its considerable monetary returns by (more or less) the same subset of teams, does not increase competitive imbalance in the respective national league. Thus, with relatively few additional regulatory interventions, the promotion and relegation system in the open European soccer leagues seems effective in ensuring a balanced competition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T20:39:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-05f996b9da2f4ce5bcab1137e192dedd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9367 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T20:39:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sports and Active Living |
| spelling | doaj.art-05f996b9da2f4ce5bcab1137e192dedd2023-03-30T05:14:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sports and Active Living2624-93672023-03-01510.3389/fspor.2023.11481221148122Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccerBernd Frick0Tommy Kweku Quansah1Markus Lang2Management Department, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, GermanyInstitute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstitute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandIntroductionWhile most of the available literature on competitive balance analyses its impact on ticket sales and TV audiences, less empirical research is available that examines the observable variation in competitive balance across leagues and over time. This paper studies the concentration of player talent and end-of-season league points to empirically assess whether leagues with a more equal distribution of player talent produce a more balanced competition than leagues with less equal distribution.MethodsThe longitudinal data we use to estimate our empirical model comes from professional soccer leagues in twelve Western European countries from 2005/06 thru 2020/21, yielding 5,299 club-season observations.ResultsOur empirical analysis indicates that talent concentration in a league significantly and positively impacts points concentration in that league. However, in specifications controlling for year, country, and division, this impact is only weakly significant or insignificant, suggesting that talent concentration does not significantly affect competitive balance in that league. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that the relationship between talent and points concentration does not vary considerably across the European leagues or over time.DiscussionOur results suggest that repeated participation in the UEFA Champions League, with its considerable monetary returns by (more or less) the same subset of teams, does not increase competitive imbalance in the respective national league. Thus, with relatively few additional regulatory interventions, the promotion and relegation system in the open European soccer leagues seems effective in ensuring a balanced competition.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1148122/fullcompetitive balanceprofessional team sporttalent concentrationEuropean soccerplayer market values |
| spellingShingle | Bernd Frick Tommy Kweku Quansah Markus Lang Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer Frontiers in Sports and Active Living competitive balance professional team sport talent concentration European soccer player market values |
| title | Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer |
| title_full | Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer |
| title_fullStr | Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer |
| title_full_unstemmed | Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer |
| title_short | Talent concentration and competitive imbalance in European soccer |
| title_sort | talent concentration and competitive imbalance in european soccer |
| topic | competitive balance professional team sport talent concentration European soccer player market values |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1148122/full |
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