Limitations of the relative standard deviation of win percentages for measuring competitive balance in sports leagues

Dorian Owen

No 908, Working Papers from University of Otago, Department of Economics

Abstract: The relative standard deviation of win percentages, the most widely used measure of within-season competitive balance, has an upper bound which is very sensitive to variation in the numbers of teams and games played. Taking into account this upper bound provides additional insight into comparisons of competitive balance across leagues or over time.

Keywords: Competitive balance; Relative standard deviation; Idealized standard deviation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2009-07, Revised 2010-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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http://www.otago.ac.nz/economics/research/otago077123.pdf Revised version, 2010 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Limitations of the relative standard deviation of win percentages for measuring competitive balance in sports leagues (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:otg:wpaper:0908

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