{"id":292,"date":"2008-03-14T16:27:01","date_gmt":"2008-03-14T16:27:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2016-10-20T10:19:13","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T15:19:13","slug":"competitive-balance-in-mens-and-womens-basketball-the-cast-of-the-missouri-valley-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/competitive-balance-in-mens-and-womens-basketball-the-cast-of-the-missouri-valley-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Competitive Balance in Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Basketball: The Cast of the Missouri Valley Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
Submitted by: Martin M. Perline, Ph.D. & G. Clayton Stoldt, Ed.D.<\/div>\n

Abstract:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Competitive balance typically fosters fan interest. Since revenue associated with men\u2019s sports is typically greater than with women\u2019s, one might expect to find greater levels of competitive balance in men\u2019s sport than women\u2019s sport. The purpose of this research was to test this hypothesis by comparing the competitive balance in a high revenue intercollegiate sport, basketball, for both men and women over a 10-year period in the Missouri Valley Conference.\u00a0 Three measures of competitive balance were employed. In each case, competitive balance was found to be greater among the men\u2019s teams than the women\u2019s. The findings support the hypothesis that where there is greater revenue potential, there should be greater competitive balance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the important differences between sports organizations and other industrial organizations is the issue of competitive balance.\u00a0 Whereas most industrial enterprises attempt to keep competition to a minimum, a lack of competition in the case of sport teams makes for boring games and ultimately fans lose interest (Depken & Wilson, 2006; El Hodiri & Quirk, 1971; Kesenne, 2006; Quirk & Fort, 1992; Sanderson & Siegfried, 2003).\u00a0 This lack of interest would lead to a loss of revenue, as fewer fans would attend games or listen to or watch media presentations. While fans certainly prefer to see their teams win, they want them to at least have a chance of losing.\u00a0 Economists refer to this as the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (Leeds & Von Allmen, 2005).<\/p>\n

In professional sports some teams, frequently those in large markets, normally receive more revenue than their competitors. Those teams are in a position to sign better players and win more frequently, leading to the problem of competitive imbalance.\u00a0 Efforts to alleviate this problem have included salary caps, luxury taxes, revenue sharing, and reverse order of finish drafts.\u00a0 In intercollegiate athletics, attempts to alleviate competitive imbalance are undertaken by the NCAA through its various rules and regulations (National Collegiate Athletics Association, 2006). Likewise, various intercollegiate athletic conferences do this through budgeting and scheduling requirements and the selection of institutional membership (Rhoads, 2004).<\/p>\n

In order to maintain fan interest, competitive balance is important in all sports. From the viewpoint of program administrators, it would appear to be particularly important in sports such as basketball and football, in which there are potentially large sources of revenue involved.\u00a0 Similarly, because revenue is typically so much greater for men\u2019s than for women\u2019s sports, one might expect to find greater efforts being made to bring about competitive balance in men\u2019s sports than in sports for women.\u00a0\u00a0 This might be singularly true where there was a post-season tournament, thus a need to keep fan interest intense throughout the season to help insure interest for post-season play.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that one would expect to find more competitive balance in men\u2019s than in women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0 More specifically, the researchers compared the degree of competitive balance in both men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) for the 10-year period 1996-97 through 2005-06. The MVC was selected because it annually holds a post-season tournament, and the authors had access to financial data indicating that there was significantly larger revenue associated with men\u2019s basketball than women\u2019s basketball (Missouri Valley Conference, 2006a). The particular time frame was selected as a period of stable membership within the conference.<\/p>\n

The Missouri Valley Conference<\/em><\/p>\n

Established in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the MVC is the oldest collegiate athletic conference west of the Mississippi River and the fourth oldest league in the nation (Markus, 1982).\u00a0 The league has been comprised of 32 member institutions at varying times through its history, and it has seen members win national titles on 25 occasions (Missouri Valley Conference, 2006b).<\/p>\n

The MVC now features 10 league members:\u00a0 Bradley University, Creighton University, Drake University, the University of Evansville, Illinois State University (ILSU), Indiana State University (INSU), Missouri State University (MSU), the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), Southern Illinois University (SIU), and Wichita State University (WSU).<\/p>\n

While the conference\u2019s membership has changed on several occasions since its founding, the most recent changes occurred in the early and mid 1990s.\u00a0 The MVC and the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference merged in 1992 (Benson, 2006; Markus, 1982; Missouri Valley Conference, 2006b; Richardson, 2006).\u00a0 The merger resulted in the addition of UNI to bring total league membership to 10 institutions (Carter, 1991; Richardson, 2006).\u00a0 It also resulted in the establishment of MVC championship programs in women\u2019s sports for the first time in conference history.<\/p>\n

In 1994, Evansville joined the conference, giving the conference an all-time high 11 league members (Richardson, 2006).\u00a0 Conference membership dropped back to 10 institutions in 1996, when the University of Tulsa left the MVC to join the Western Athletic Conference (Bailey, 2005; Richardson, 2006)<\/p>\n

Measuring Competitive Balance<\/em><\/p>\n

There are several ways of measuring competitive balance, and there is some debate as to which approach is best.\u00a0 Each method attempts to measure something different. \u00a0Which is best often depends on what the parties to the debate find most useful for their purposes (Humphreys, 2002).\u00a0 Among the more popular measures are the standard deviations of winning percentages of the various teams in the conference or league, the Hirfindahl-Hirschman Index, and the range of winning percentages.<\/p>\n

Winning Percentage Imbalance<\/em><\/p>\n

One popular measure of competitive balance calculates each team\u2019s winning percentage in the conference in a given season.\u00a0 Since there will, outside of a tie, always be one winner and one loser for each game, the average winning percentage for the conference will be .500.<\/p>\n

In order to get some idea of competitive balance, the researchers needed to measure the dispersion of winning percentages around this average.\u00a0 To do this, they measured the standard deviation.\u00a0 This statistic measures the average distance the observations lie from the mean of the observations in the data set.
\n_________________
\n\u03c3 = \u221a \u03a3 (WPCT – .500)<\/span>2<\/sup>
\nN<\/p>\n

The larger the standard deviation, the greater the dispersion of winning percentages around the mean, and thus the less the competitive balance.\u00a0 (If all teams had a winning percentage of .500, there would be a standard deviation of zero, and there would be perfect competitive balance.)<\/p>\n

Championship Imbalance<\/em><\/p>\n

Whereas the standard deviation as a measure of competitive balance provides a good picture of the variation among the winners, it does not indicate whether it is the same teams winning every season or if there is considerable turnover among the winners from one season to the next.<\/p>\n

Therefore, another method economists use to measure competitive imbalance is the Hirfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), which was originally used to measure concentration among firms within an industry (Leeds & Von Allmen, 2005).\u00a0 Since the standard deviation is used to measure percentage winning imbalance, the HHI is used to measure championship imbalance \u2013 how the championship or first place finish is spread amongst the various teams.\u00a0 Using this method, the greater the number of teams that achieve championship status over a specific time period, the greater the competitive balance.<\/p>\n

The HHI can be calculated by measuring the number of times that each team wins the championship, squaring that number, adding the numbers together, and dividing by the number of years under consideration.\u00a0 Using this measure, it can be concluded that the lower the HHI, the more competitive balance among the teams.<\/p>\n

Range of Winning Percentage Imbalance<\/em><\/p>\n

As suggested above, the standard deviation of winning percentages explains variation around the mean, but it does not specifically reveal if it is the same teams winning or losing from season to season.\u00a0 Likewise, the HHI provides perspective on the number of teams which win the championship over a period of time, but it does not indicate what is happening to the other teams in the conference.\u00a0 It is possible that a few teams could always finish first, but that the other teams could be moving up or down in the standings from one year to another.<\/p>\n

One way of gaining some insight into the movement in the standings of all teams over time is to get the mean percentage wins for each team over a specific period.\u00a0 The closer each team is to .500, the greater the competitive balance over this period.\u00a0 If several teams had a very high winning percentage and others had a very low winning percentage, it would suggest that there was not strong competitive balance over time, but that the same teams were winning and the same teams losing year after year.<\/p>\n

Results:<\/strong>
\nIn order to arrive at conclusions concerning competitive balance in the MVC, the researchers employed each of the above measures and compared the results for men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball over the selected period.<\/p>\n

Standard Deviation of Winning Percentages<\/em><\/p>\n

Tables 1 and 2 display the winning percentages for the women\u2019s and men\u2019s basketball teams. Table 3 displays the standard deviations for both the women\u2019s and men\u2019s winning percentages each season.\u00a0 As indicated in Table 3, the men had a mean standard deviation of .2184 compared to a .2404 for the women.\u00a0 This is approximately a 10% difference favoring competitive balance among the men.\u00a0 It can also be noted that the men had a lower standard deviation than the women in seven of the 10 years studied.\u00a0 Likewise, it can be seen that the highest standard deviation for women .2644 (2004-95) exceeded the highest for men, which was .2551 (2002-03).\u00a0 Similarly, the lowest standard deviation for women .2010 (2002-03) was considerably higher than a comparable figure for the men, which was a very low .1527 (1998-99).<\/p>\n

Table 1. Winning Percentages- Missouri Valley Conference Women\u2019s Basketball<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nBradley<\/td>\nCreighton<\/td>\nDrake<\/td>\nEvansville<\/td>\nILSU<\/td>\nINSU<\/td>\nMSU<\/td>\nSIU<\/td>\nUNI<\/td>\nWSU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1996-97<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n0.111<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1997-98<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.944<\/td>\n0.056<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1998-99<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1999-00<\/td>\n0.167<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n0.167<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-01<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.889<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.167<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.889<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001-02<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.889<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.111<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002-03<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.167<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003-04<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.889<\/td>\n0.111<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004-05<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.056<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.111<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005-06<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.889<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mean<\/td>\n0.317<\/td>\n0.594<\/td>\n0.744<\/td>\n0.428<\/td>\n0.361<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.739<\/td>\n0.245<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.461<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Missouri Valley Conference 2005-06 Women’s Basketball Media Guide<\/p>\n

Table 2. Winning Percentages- Missouri Valley Conference Men\u2019s Basketball<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\nBradley<\/td>\nCreighton<\/td>\nDrake<\/td>\nEvansville<\/td>\nILSU<\/td>\nINSU<\/td>\nMSU<\/td>\nSIU<\/td>\nUNI<\/td>\nWSU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1996-97<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.788<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1997-98<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.888<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1998-99<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1999-00<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.788<\/td>\n0.722<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-01<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.788<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.167<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001-02<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.788<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.788<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002-03<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.111<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.888<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003-04<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.5<\/td>\n0.944<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004-05<\/td>\n0.333<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.389<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.556<\/td>\n0.833<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005-06<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.222<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.667<\/td>\n0.611<\/td>\n0.778<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mean<\/td>\n0.506<\/td>\n0.68<\/td>\n0.278<\/td>\n0.433<\/td>\n0.484<\/td>\n0.39<\/td>\n0.606<\/td>\n0.668<\/td>\n0.444<\/td>\n0.517<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Missouri Valley Conference 2005-06 Men’s Basketball Media Guide<\/p>\n

Championship Imbalance<\/em><\/p>\n

Using the HHI to measure competitive balance for men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball, the researchers found more competitive balance among the various institutions playing men\u2019s basketball than among their counterparts playing women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

Using the HHI for men\u2019s basketball, the researchers found that six teams achieved an outright first place finish (SIU 3, ILSU 2, Evansville 1, Creighton 1, INSU 1, and WSU 1) over the 10-year period studied.\u00a0 In one year, there was a tie for first place (SIU and Creighton in 2001-02).\u00a0 If one point for each outright first place finish and .5 point for each two way tie is given:<\/p>\n

HHI= 3.52<\/sup>+22<\/sup>+1.52<\/sup>+12<\/sup>+12<\/sup>+12<\/sup>\u00a0= 21.50\/10 = 2.150<\/p>\n

For women, over the 10-year period only four teams achieved an outright first place finish (Drake 3, MSU 3, Creighton 1, and INSU 1).\u00a0 In 2 years, there was a tie for first place 2000-01 MSU and Drake, and 2002-03 Creighton and INSU).\u00a0 Using the same point distribution as above:<\/p>\n

HHI= 3.52<\/sup>+3.52<\/sup>+1.52<\/sup>+1.52<\/sup>\u00a0= 29\/10= 2.9<\/p>\n

In this case, the HHI showed considerably more competitive balance among the men\u2019s basketball teams, than among the women\u2019s.\u00a0 Indeed, the HHI is about 33% higher for the women than for the men.\u00a0 As indicated above this competitive balance advantage for the men can also be seen by the fact that over the 10-year period six different men\u2019s teams achieved a first-place finish, while in the case of the women only four teams finished first.<\/p>\n

Range of Winning Percentage Imbalance<\/em><\/p>\n

If one arbitrarily sets .100 plus or minus the perfect balance, i.e., .500 as a range, which would suggest a high degree of competitive balance over the ten-year period, one once again finds more competitive balance among the men\u2019s teams than among the women\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Table 2 suggests that, using this approach, five teams (50%) fit this range.\u00a0 Those teams were Bradley, Evansville, ILSU, UNI, and WSU. Among the others, Creighton, MSU, and SIU seemed to be more consistent winners, while Drake and INSU were at the bottom.\u00a0 But even among the latter, INSU had a winning percentage in 4 of the 10 years.\u00a0 Indeed only one team\u2014Creighton had a winning season each of the ten years. When viewing the range from top to bottom, a variation of .680 (Creighton) to .278 (Drake) a range of .402 is found.<\/p>\n

Table 1 indicates that among the women\u2019s teams over this 10-year period a similar five teams fit this range.\u00a0 Those teams were Creighton, Evansville, INSU, NIU, and WSU.\u00a0 Drake and Missouri State were consistent winners, each having only one losing season over the period studied. Meanwhile Bradley, ILSU, and SIU were on the lower end, none of which had an actual winning season over the last 9 years.<\/p>\n

While both the men and women had five teams fitting our defined range for a high degree of competitive balance, it should be noted that the range from top to bottom was .499 for the women as compared to .402 for the men.\u00a0 This range is almost 25% greater for women, which again suggests less competitive balance among the women\u2019s teams<\/p>\n

Table 3. Standard Deviations of Winning Percentages in Women\u2019s and Men\u2019s Basketball<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Year<\/td>\nWomen<\/td>\nMen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1996-97<\/td>\n0.2078<\/td>\n0.2298<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1997-98<\/td>\n0.2538<\/td>\n0.2442<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1998-99<\/td>\n0.2606<\/td>\n0.1527<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1999-00<\/td>\n0.2746<\/td>\n0.201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000-01<\/td>\n0.258<\/td>\n0.1942<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001-02<\/td>\n0.24<\/td>\n0.2142<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002-03<\/td>\n0.201<\/td>\n0.2551<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003-04<\/td>\n0.2342<\/td>\n0.2313<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004-05<\/td>\n0.2644<\/td>\n0.1851<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005-06<\/td>\n0.2095<\/td>\n0.2208<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mean<\/td>\n0.2404<\/td>\n0.2184<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Authors\u2019 calculations based on data in Tables 1 and 2.<\/p>\n

Conclusions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The uncertainty of outcome hypothesis suggests that a lack of competitive balance among teams in a league or conference can lead to a lack of interest in the games outcome and thus a loss of revenue to teams sponsoring the games.\u00a0 If this were indeed the case, it should follow that the greater the potential revenue possible, the more likely there would be an attempt to bring about competitive balance.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this research was to test this hypothesis by comparing the competitive balance in a high revenue intercollegiate sport, basketball, for both men and women over a period of time.\u00a0 Expectations were that, because of the greater revenue associated with men\u2019s basketball, there would be greater competitive balance.<\/p>\n

Using the standard deviation of winning percentages, the Hirfindahl-Hirschman Index, and the range of winning percentage imbalance to measure competitive balance, the researchers found in each case that there was greater competitive balance among the men\u2019s basketball teams than for the women\u2019s teams.\u00a0 These findings would support the hypothesis that where there is greater revenue potential, there should be greater competitive balance.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, the usual caveats are in order.\u00a0 It is possible that if the researchers analyzed a different time frame within the MVC, or if a different intercollegiate conference was chosen for analysis, a different conclusion may have been reached.\u00a0 It may also be that as women\u2019s basketball continues to grow and generate greater amounts of revenue from ticket sales, media rights fees, and corporate sponsorship, levels of competitive balance may also change.\u00a0 These possibilities provide further research opportunities to test the hypothesis.<\/p>\n

References :<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bailey, E. (2005, June 26). Hurricane settled. The Tulsa World, <\/em>B1.<\/p>\n

Benson, J. (2006, October 30). Valley holds Centennial celebration. Knight Ridder Business News<\/em>. Retrieved April 12, 2007 from http:\/\/proquest.umi.com\/pqdweb?did=1170880621&Fmt=3&clientId=328&RQT=309&VName=PQD&cfc=1.<\/p>\n

Carter, K. (1991, September 23). Schools jump starting future movement. The Sporting News, <\/em>212 (13), 57.<\/p>\n

Depken, C.A., & Wilson, D.\u00a0 (2006). The Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis in Division I-A College Football.<\/em> Manuscript submitted for publication.<\/p>\n

El Hodiri, M. & Quirk, J. (1971). An economic model of a professional sports league. Journal of Political Economy, 79,<\/em> 1302-19.<\/p>\n

Humpreys, B. (2002). Alternative measures of competitive balance.\u00a0 Journal of Sports Economics, 3<\/em>, (2), 133-148.<\/p>\n

Kesenne, S. (2006). Competitive balance in team sports and the impact of revenue sharing. Journal of Sport Management, 20<\/em>, 39-51.<\/p>\n

Leeds, M. & vonAllmen, P. (2005). The Economics of Sports. <\/em>Boston: Pearson-Addison Wesley.<\/p>\n

Markus, D. (1982, February) The best little conference in the country. Sport<\/em>. 73, 31.<\/p>\n

Missouri Valley Conference. (2006a). Finance committee report. <\/em>St. Louis: Author.<\/p>\n

Missouri Valley Conference. (2006b). This is the Missouri Valley Conference. Retrieved April 27, 2007 from http:\/\/www.mvc-sports.com\/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7600&KEY=&ATCLID=271380.<\/p>\n

National Collegiate Athletics Association (2006). 2006-07 NCAA Division I manual<\/em>. Indianapolis, IN: Author.<\/p>\n

Quirk, J. & Fort, R.D.\u00a0 (1992). Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports<\/em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n

Rhoads, T.A. (2004). Competitive Balance and Conference Realignment in the NCAA<\/em>. Paper presented at the 74th Annual Meeting of Southern Economic Association, New Orleans, LA.<\/p>\n

Richardson, S. (2006). A Century of Sports: Missouri Valley Conference<\/em>. St. Louis: Missouri Valley Publications.<\/p>\n

Sanderson, A.R., & Siegfried, J.J. (2003). Thinking about Competitive Balance<\/em>. Unpublished manuscript. Vanderbilt University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by: Martin M. Perline, Ph.D. & G. Clayton Stoldt, Ed.D.<\/div>\n

Abstract:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Competitive balance typically fosters fan interest. Since revenue associated with men’s sports is typically greater than with women’s, one might expect to find greater levels of competitive balance in men’s sport than women’s sport. The purpose of this research was to test this hypothesis by comparing the competitive balance in a high revenue intercollegiate sport, basketball, for both men and women over a 10-year period in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Three measures of competitive balance were employed. In each case, competitive balance was found to be greater among the men’s teams than the women’s. The findings support the hypothesis that where there is greater revenue potential, there should be greater competitive balance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[291,296,294],"tags":[80,76,25,8],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4btio-4I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5914,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/competitive-balance-in-ncaa-power-conferences-the-case-of-mens-and-womens-basketball\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":0},"title":"Competitive Balance in NCAA “Power Conferences:” The Case of Men\u2019s and Women’s Basketball","date":"August 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Authors: Martin M. Perline, Jeffrey S. Noble, G. Clayton Stoldt; Wichita State University Corresponding Author: Jeff Noble, Ed.D Department of Sport Management Wichita State University 1845 Fairmount Wichita, KS 67260-0127 jeffrey.noble@wichita.edu (316)978-5442 Competitive Balance in the NCAA \u201cPower Conferences:\u201d The Case of Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Basketball ABSTRACT The uncertainty of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports Management"","img":{"alt_text":"Table 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Table-1-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/the-effects-of-conference-realignment-on-national-success-and-competitive-balance-the-case-of-conference-usa-mens-basketball\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":1},"title":"The Effects of Conference Realignment on National Success and Competitive Balance: The Case of Conference USA Men\u2019s Basketball","date":"January 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin M. Perline, G. Clayton Stoldt, Mark C. Vermillion ### Abstract Collegiate athletic conferences serve multiple functions, including providing regular opportunities for members to compete in a relatively equitable environment and contributing to the financial well being of member institutions. Many conferences have undergone realignment in recent years, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/competitive-balance-and-conference-realignment-the-case-of-big-12-football\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":2},"title":"Competitive Balance and Conference Realignment: The Case of Big 12 Football","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Martin M. Perline, Ph.D. & G. Clayton Stoldt, Ed.D. Abstract: Past research has indicated that an effort to achieve greater competitive balance has been one factor in conference realignments within college athletics. The purpose of this study was to determine if greater levels of competitive balance in football\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6811,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/ncaa-realignment-impact-upon-university-olympic-sports\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":3},"title":"NCAA Realignment: Impact upon University ‘Olympic’ Sports","date":"January 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Authors: Stephen W. Litvin, Crystal Lindner and Jillian Wilkie Corresponding Author:Stephen W. Litvin, DBAProfessor, School of BusinessCollege of Charleston66 George StreetCharleston, South Carolina 29424litvins@cofc.edu843-953-7317 Stephen Litvin is a professor in the School of Business of the College of Charleston.\u00a0 Crystal Lindner and Jillian Wilkie are students at the College of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports Coaching"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Figure1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3862,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/big-12-football-competitive-balance-before-and-after-realignment\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":4},"title":"Big 12 Football: Competitive Balance Before and After Realignment","date":"July 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Authors: Jeffrey S. Noble*, Martin M. Perline, G. Clayton Stoldt Institutional Affiliation of Authors: Wichita State University *Corresponding Author: Jeff Noble, Ed.D Department of Sport Management Wichita State University 1845 Fairmount Wichita, Kansas 67260-0127 Email: jeffrey.noble@wichita.edu Phone: (316)978-5442 Abstract Conference realignment among athletic programs that compete at the Division I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research"","img":{"alt_text":"BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL WINNING PERCENTAGES","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Table-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":489,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/competitive-balance-in-conference-usa-football-the-effects-of-membership-churning\/","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":5},"title":"Competitive Balance in Conference USA Football: The Effects of Membership Churning","date":"March 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin M. Perline, G. Clayton Stoldt, Mark C. Vermillion The Effects of Membership Churning ABSTRACT Conference USA a major college athletic conference that experienced a number of membership changes in 2005.\u00a0 The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of those changes on competitive balance in the sport\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4493,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/4493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}