Let’s meet as usual: Do games on non-frequent days differ? Evidence from top European soccer leagues

Daniel Goller and Alex Krumer

No 1907, Economics Working Paper Series from University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science

Abstract: Balancing the allocation of games in sports competitions is an important organizational task that can have serious financial consequences. In this paper, we examine data from 9,930 soccer games played in the top German, Spanish, French, and English soccer leagues between 2007/2008 and 2016/2017. Using a machine learning technique for variable selection and applying a semi-parametric analysis of radius matching on the propensity score, we find that all four leagues have a lower attendance as the share of stadium capacity in games that take place on non-frequently played days compared to the frequently played days. In addition, we find that in all leagues except for the English Premier League, there is a significantly lower home advantage for the underdog teams on non-frequent days. Our findings suggest that the current schedule favors underdog teams with fewer home games on non-frequent days. Therefore, to increase the fairness of the competitions, it is necessary to adjust the allocation of the home games on non-frequent days in a way that eliminates any advantage driven by the schedule. These findings have implications for the stakeholders of the leagues, as well as for coaches and players.

Keywords: Performance; schedule effects; soccer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D00 D20 L00 Z20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big, nep-cul, nep-eur and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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