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Dynasties versus pennant races: competitive balance in major league baseball
Author(s) -
Krautmann Anthony C.,
Hadley Lawrence
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
managerial and decision economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-1468
pISSN - 0143-6570
DOI - 10.1002/mde.1260
Subject(s) - league , attendance , balance (ability) , standard deviation , economics , econometrics , statistics , mathematics , psychology , economic growth , physics , astronomy , neuroscience
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.