The Competitive Balance Levels in Turkish Basketball and Football Leagues

This is a pioneering effort to understand and compare the dynamics of the competitive balance in Turkish First Division basketball and football leagues. Sports leagues need a certain degree of competitive balance in order to survive. If the score of the matches could be predicted before the match times, the overall leagues will become more predictable and won’t be able to maximize the revenue that could be generated from the spectators. Since revenue associated with football leagues is typically greater than with basketball’s in Turkey, one might expect to find greater levels of competitive balance in football than basketball. In this study, the determinants of competitive balance have been argued. The long term impact of competitive balance in sports industry has been investigated. In the analysis part of this study, determining and comparing the path of competitive balance level over a 16 year period of the Turkish First Division Basketball and Football League has been aimed. To this aim, match outcomes for the leagues and C5 Competitive Balance Index and Normalized Herfindahl - Hirschman Index have been used. The findings show that in Footballl Leagues although the competitive balance was converged from time to time, in general a path far from the competitive balance level was followed. In contrast there is an optimal competitive balance level was ccurred in Basketball leagues. We discuss the implications of the empirical results from a sports management perspective and suggest that the major football clubs and the regulatory bodies should develop and support policies towards coexistence and cooperative competition among the other clubs.