...Richard Evans Purpose What can be inferred about the financial and sporting ambitions of football club owners when promoted to the English Premier League (EPL)? Does this effect the competitive balance of the league? Do parachute payments effect sporting outcomes in the EPL? Design/methodology...

...Raúl Serrano; Isabel Acero; Stuart Farquhar; Manuel Antonio Espitia Escuer Purpose The paper analyzes the effects of financial fair play (FFP) in the competitive balance of European football industry throughout a long-term perspective. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze...

...Bill Gerrard; Morten Kringstad Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of designing league regulatory mechanisms given the multi-dimensionality of competitive balance and the proliferation of empirical measures. Design/methodology/approach A three-stage approach is adopted...

...Ayushi Dutta; Sarthak Mondal; Shiny Raizada Purpose This paper analyses competitive balance in the “big five” women's football leagues in Asia longitudinally between 2010 and 2019. Design/methodology/approach Competitive balance has been measured using recognised measures of concentration...

...Henry E.T. Wetherall; Mark F. Stewart; Trong Anh Trinh Purpose Competitive balance is critical for the survival of athletic leagues. A relationship between “uncertainty of outcome” and fan interest has been found in many sports all over the world. This paper examines competitive balance...

...Daniel Plumley; Girish Mohan Ramchandani; Robert Wilson Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine competitive balance in European football leagues before and after the inception of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations by Union of European Football Associations in 2011, designed to bring...

...-field (-ice) performance of MLB and NHL. Given that MLB has adopted market-based tax incentives to regulate payroll (the competitive balance tax), and the NHL has imposed strict payroll limits (hard salary cap), the authors at once consider MLB’s innovative revenue-sharing system alongside the NHL’s...

...Kenneth M. York; Cynthia E. Miree Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure the effect of the National Hockey League (NHL) collective bargaining agreement (CBA) of 2005 between the NHL owners and the NHL Players Association, to determine whether competitive balance in the NHL increased after...

... individuals or teams. Hence, not knowing who will win a game or a race is what defines competitive sport and imbues it with the strengths and qualities that consumers and organisations find attractive. Competitive balance – in order to maximise the uncertainty of outcome, sport requires evenly balanced...