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arXiv · 1507.00634

Competitive balance measures and the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis in European football

Vasileios Manasis·Ioannis Ntzoufras·James Reade
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Abstract

Competitive balance is an important concept for professional sports and one of the key issues that European football has to address in order to ensure its long-term prosperity. However, the quantification of competitive balance is not an easy task. The difficulties are mainly associated with its multi-dimensionality character as well as the structure of each particular sport. This article uses data from eight domestic leagues over 60 years to identify the best index for a holistic view of competitive balance in European football. The findings support the longstanding Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis using indices designed for the important three identified levels of competition and offering a weighting pattern for ranking places. Important conclusions may be derived concerning the relative importance of different aspects of competitive balance depending on the specific features of the best index.

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Vasileios Manasis, Ioannis Ntzoufras, James Reade. 2015-07-02. Competitive balance measures and the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis in European football. https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.00634

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