Dynasties versus pennant races: competitive balance in major league baseball

✍ Scribed by Anthony C. Krautmann; Lawrence Hadley

• Book ID: 102499900
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 119 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0143-6570
• DOI: 10.1002/mde.1260

✦ Synopsis

This paper examines the impact of competitive balance on attendance in Major League Baseball. Two types of competitive balance are included in a single-equation model of attendance: intra-seasonal balance and inter-seasonal balance. The metric used to calibrate the first is the ratio of the actual standard deviation of season win percents divided by the ideal standard deviation. Inter-seasonal balance is calibrated with Markov transitional probabilities of teams making the playoffs in consecutive seasons. The results indicate that intra-seasonal balance does not significantly impact attendance, and that inter-seasonal balance has significant but small impacts on attendance in the American League. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

'Proper competitive balance will not exist until every well-run club has a regularly recurring reasonable hope of reaching postseason play. ' Blue Ribbon Panel (2000), p. 5