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Promotion and Relegation in Sporting Contests

In: The Comparative Economics of Sport

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Szymanski

    (Imperial College London)

  • Tommaso M. Valletti

    (Imperial College London & CEPR)

Abstract

The conventional model of a team sports league is based on the North American major leagues which have a fixed number of members, entry is rare and only granted by permission of the incumbents (the closed system). European soccer leagues operate a system of promotion and relegation, effectively permitting entry on merit to all-comers (the open system). This paper examines the impact of openness on the incentive of teams to invest (expend effort) and share resources (redistribution) in the context of a Tullock contest. The main conclusion of the paper is that openness tends to enhance effort incentives, but diminishes the incentive to share income. JEL Codes: L83, P51.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Szymanski & Tommaso M. Valletti, 2010. "Promotion and Relegation in Sporting Contests," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 6, pages 198-228, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-27427-3_6
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230274273_6
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Baptiste Dherbecourt & Bastien Drut, 2009. "Who will go down this year ? The Determinants of Promotion and Relegation in European Soccer Leagues," Working Papers hal-04140848, HAL.
    2. Giorgo Sertsios, 2007. "¿Puede el Diseño de un Torneo Deportivo Afectar su Asistencia?," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 44(129), pages 59-89.
    3. Luigi Buzzacchi & Stefan Szymanski & Tommaso Valletti, 2003. "Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome: Open Leagues, Closed Leagues and Competitive Balance *#We thank the Editor and an anonymous referee for helpful comments," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 167-186, September.
    4. Nicola Giocoli, 2007. "Competitive balance in football leagues when teams have different goals," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 54(3), pages 345-370, September.
    5. Matthieu Llorca & Thierry Teste, 2016. "Dépenses salariales et performance dans l’industrie du football," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(2), pages 125-145.
    6. Dietl, Helmut & Duschl, Tobias, 2012. "The organization of professional sports leagues: A comparison of European and North-American leagues from the perspective of platform organization," Edition HWWI: Chapters, in: Büch, Martin-Peter & Maennig, Wolfgang & Schulke, Hans-Jürgen (ed.), Sport und Sportgroßveranstaltungen in Europa - zwischen Zentralstaat und Regionen, volume 4, pages 111-126, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    7. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Champions League and the Coase Theorem," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 10, pages 202-225, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Peter Sloane, 2014. "Club objectives," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 1, pages 13-22, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Braun, Erik & Gyimesi, András, 2021. "Van-e esélyük a feljutó csapatoknak a bennmaradásra? Az európai labdarúgó-bajnokságok összehasonlítása az első osztály előnye alapján [Do novice top teams have a chance of remaining?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 863-889.
    10. John Jasina & Kurt Rotthoff, 2012. "A model of promotion and relegation in league sports," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 36(2), pages 303-318, April.
    11. Puterman Martin L & Wang Qingchen, 2011. "Optimal Dynamic Clustering Through Relegation and Promotion: How to Design a Competitive Sports League," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-34, May.
    12. Pelnar, Gregory, 2007. "Antitrust Analysis of Sports Leagues," MPRA Paper 5382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Stefan Szymanski, 2009. "Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(1), pages 45-68, February.
    14. Helmut Dietl & Martin Grossmann & Andreas Hefti & Markus Lang, 2015. "Spillovers in Sports Leagues with Promotion and Relegation," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 59-74, February.
    15. Matthias Brachert, 2021. "Regional effects of professional sports franchises: causal evidence from four European football leagues," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 295-306, February.
    16. Brachert, Matthias, 2018. "The regional effects of professional sports franchises: Causal evidence from four European football leagues," IWH Discussion Papers 10/2018, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Revenue Sharing; Major League Baseball; Comparative Economic; Competitive Balance; Contest Success Function;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

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