Optimal Tournament Design: Lessons From the Men’s Handball Champions League

László Csató
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: László Csató

Journal of Sports Economics, 2020, vol. 21, issue 8, 848-868

Abstract: This paper challenges the traditional seeding regime of round-robin tournaments that aims to create balanced groups. In particular, the design of the most prestigious European men’s handball club competition is compared to two alternative formats with equally strong groups via simulations. We find that it is possible to increase the quality of all matches played together with raising the uncertainty of outcome, essentially without sacrificing fairness. Our results have useful implications for the governing bodies of major sports.

Keywords: OR in sports; tournament design; handball; simulation; competitive balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jospec:v:21:y:2020:i:8:p:848-868

DOI: 10.1177/1527002520944442

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