IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scotjp/v51y2004i3p359-376.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revenue Divergence And Competitive Balance In A Divisional Sports League

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Dobson
  • John Goddard

Abstract

The North American model of resource allocation in professional sports leagues is adapted for English (association) football. Comparisons are drawn between the equilibrium allocations of playing talent under objective functions of profit maximisation and win percent maximisation subject to a financial constraint. Empirical revenue functions are reported for 1926–1999. These indicate a shift in the composition of demand favouring big‐city teams and an increase in the sensitivity of revenue to performance. An analysis of match results in the FA Cup suggests an increase in competitive imbalance between teams at different levels of the league's divisional hierarchy, as the theory suggests.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Dobson & John Goddard, 2004. "Revenue Divergence And Competitive Balance In A Divisional Sports League," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 51(3), pages 359-376, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:51:y:2004:i:3:p:359-376
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0036-9292.2004.00310.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0036-9292.2004.00310.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.0036-9292.2004.00310.x?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. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "Income Inequality, Competitive Balance and the Attractiveness of Team Sports: Some Evidence and a Natural Experiment from English Soccer," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 9, pages 182-201, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Stefan Késenne, 2000. "The Impact of Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 47(4), pages 422-430, September.
    3. 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.
    4. 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..
    5. repec:bla:scotjp:v:47:y:2000:i:4:p:431-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Rodney Fort, 2000. "European and North American Sports Differences(?)," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 47(4), pages 431-455, September.
    7. Andrew Weiss, 1997. "Specification tests in ordered logit and probit models," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 361-391.
    8. Simon Rottenberg, 1956. "The Baseball Players' Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(3), pages 242-242.
    9. Stephen Dobson & John Goddard, 1998. "Performance, revenue, and cross subsidization in the Football League, 1927-1994," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 51(4), pages 763-785, November.
    10. Thomas Hoehn & Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Americanization of European football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 3, pages 52-96, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Sloane, Peter J, 1971. "The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club as a Utility Maximiser," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 121-146, June.
    12. Eckard, E Woodrow, 2001. "Free Agency, Competitive Balance, and Diminishing Returns to Pennant Contention," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(3), pages 430-443, July.
    13. Brad R. Humphreys, 2002. "Alternative Measures of Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(2), pages 133-148, May.
    14. Rodney Fort & James Quirk, 2004. "Owner Objectives and Competitive Balance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 20-32, February.
    15. E. Eckard, 1998. "The NCAA Cartel and Competitive Balance in College Football," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 13(3), pages 347-369, June.
    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. Cunniffe Nik J & Cook Alex R, 2009. "Cruel and Unusual Punishment? An Analysis of Point Deduction in European Association Football Leagues," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 5(4), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Åse Jacobsen & Morten Kringstad & Tor-Eirik Olsen, 2021. "Extraordinary Funding and a Financially Viable Football Industry—Friends or Foes? A Norwegian Football League Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Antonio Samagaio & Eduardo Couto & Jorge Caiado, 2009. "Sporting, financial and stock market performance in English football: an empirical analysis of structural relationships," CEMAPRE Working Papers 0906, Centre for Applied Mathematics and Economics (CEMAPRE), School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.
    4. Michela Pierini, 2011. "Diritti Tv E Competitive Balance Nel Calcio Professionistico Italiano," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 7(2), pages 87-113, September.
    5. J. James Reade & Jan C. van Ours, 2024. "Consumer perceptions matter: A case study of an anomaly in English football," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-023/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Marco Arraya, 2016. "Resource categories and performance in Portuguese non-profit sports clubs," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 13(Special I), pages 80-101, November.
    7. Rockerbie, Duane W, 2012. "Exploring inter-league parity in North America: the NBA anomaly," MPRA Paper 43088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Montes, Francisco & Sala, Ramón, 2012. "Equilibrio competitivo en Liga española de futbol de Primera División: Un test de Montecarlo basado en datos funcionales/Competitive Balance in the First Division Spanish Soccer League: A Montecarlo T," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 513-526, Agosto.
    9. Łukasz Skrok, 2013. "Liczba widzów na meczach polskiej ekstraklasy piłki nożnej - metoda szacowania poziomu sportowego drużyn," Collegium of Economic Analysis Annals, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, issue 30, pages 273-290.
    10. Luca Ferri & Riccardo Macchioni & Marco Maffei & Annamaria Zampella, 2017. "Financial Versus Sports Performance: The Missing Link," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(3), pages 1-36, February.
    11. Barajas, Angel, 2004. "Modelo de valoración de clubes de fútbol basado en los factores clave de su negocio [Valuation model for football clubs based on the key factors of their business]," MPRA Paper 13158, 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. Wladimir Andreff, 2009. "Équilibre compétitif et contrainte budgétaire dans une ligue de sport professionnel," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 60(3), pages 591-633.
    2. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Economic Design of Sporting Contests," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 1, pages 1-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Allen R. Sanderson & John J. Siegfried, 2003. "Thinking about Competitive Balance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 4(4), pages 255-279, November.
    4. Ferda HALICIOGLU, 2005. "Forecasting the Professional Team Sporting Events: Evidence from Euro 2000 and 2004 Football Tournaments," Industrial Organization 0508001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kelly Goossens, 2006. "Competitive balance in european football: comparison by adapting measures: national measure of seasonal imbalance and Top 3," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 2(2), pages 77-122, Dicembre.
    6. Raul Caruso & Francesco Addesa & Marco Di Domizio, 2019. "The Determinants of the TV Demand for Soccer: Empirical Evidence on Italian Serie A for the Period 2008-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 25-49, January.
    7. Spiros Bougheas & Paul Downward, 2003. "The Economics of Professional Sports Leagues," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 4(2), pages 87-107, May.
    8. Dorian Owen, 2014. "Measurement of competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 3, pages 41-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Andrew Larsen & Aju J. Fenn & Erin Leanne Spenner, 2006. "The Impact of Free Agency and the Salary Cap on Competitive Balance in the National Football League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(4), pages 374-390, November.
    10. 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.
    11. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Markus Lang & Alexander Rathke, 2010. "Organizational Differences between U.S. Major Leagues and European Leagues: Implications for Salary Caps," Working Papers 0035, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    12. 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.
    13. Helmut Dietl & Egon Franck & Martin Grossmann & Markus Lang, 2009. "Contest Theory and its Applications in Sports," Working Papers 0029, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    14. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Stephan Werner, 2010. "The Effect of Luxury Taxes on Competitive Balance, Club Profits, and Social Welfare in Sports Leagues," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 5(1), pages 41-51, February.
    15. Thomas Peeters & Stefan Szymanski, 2014. "Financial fair play in European football [v. National Football League, 560 (The Supreme Court May 24, 2010)]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 29(78), pages 343-390.
    16. Ferda Halicioglu, 2005. "Can We Predict The Outcome Of The International Football Tournaments : The Case Of Euro 2000?," Microeconomics 0503008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang & Stephan Werner, 2009. "Social Welfare in Sports Leagues with Profit‐Maximizing and/or Win‐Maximizing Clubs," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(2), pages 375-396, October.
    18. Jan Šíma, 2013. "Static Competitive Balance of Three Chosen Central European Football Leagues," Ekonomika a Management, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(4).
    19. Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: Competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," Post-Print halshs-00677436, HAL.
    20. Helmut M. Dietl & Markus Lang, 2008. "The Effect Of Gate Revenue Sharing On Social Welfare," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(3), pages 448-459, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:scotjp:v:51:y:2004:i:3:p:359-376. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sesssea.html .

    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.