Research Line 2: Leagues & Competitions

This Research Line intends to contribute to optimizing the design of sports leagues and competitions based on empirical (demand) studies. A focus is put on disentangling the relevance of different uncertainty, surprise and suspense elements for sport consumers. As such, studies in this Research Line are closely linked to research on decision making under uncertainty in other contexts, such as financial and insurance markets.

Research Line 2 is embedded into the Institute’s Research Line Performance. Selected studies were conducted on behalf of leagues (such as Major League Soccer) and funded with research grants from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

• Competition and fan substitution between professional sports league. Review of Industrial Organization, 2022 (co-authored by T. Wallrafen, G. Nalbantis & T. Pawlowski)
• US Demand for European Soccer Telecasts – A Between-Country Test of the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis. Journal of Sports Economics, 2019, doi 10.1177/1527002518817598 (co-authored by G. Nalbantis & T. Pawlowski).
• Substitution in sports – The case of lower division football attendance. Journal of Sports Economics, 20(3), 319-343, 2019 (co-authored by T. Wallrafen, T. Pawlowski, & C. Deutscher).
• Perceived game uncertainty, suspense and the demand for sport. Economic Inquiry, 56(1), 173-192, 2018 (co-authored by T. Pawlowski, G. Nalbantis & D. Coates)
• The behavioural economics of competitive balance: theories, findings and implications. International Journal of Sport Finance, 12, 109-122, 2017 (co-authored by O. Budzinski & T. Pawlowski).
• The fans’ perception of competitive balance and its impact on willingness-to-pay for a single game. Journal of Sports Economics, 18(5), 479-505, 2017 (co-authored by G. Nalbantis, T. Pawlowski & D. Coates).
• On the release of players to national teams. Journal of Sports Economics, 16(7), 695-713, 2015 (co-authored by O. Gürtler, M. Lang & T. Pawlowski, T).
• Testing the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis in European professional football - A stated preference approach. Journal of Sports Economics, 14(4), 341-367, 2013 (authored by T. Pawlowski).
• The (monetary) value of competitive balance for sport consumers - A stated preference approach to European professional football. International Journal of Sport Finance, 8(2), 112-123, 2013 (co-authored by T. Pawlowski & O. Budzinski).
• Stadium attendance in German professional football – The (un)importance of uncertainty of outcome reconsidered. Applied Economics Letters, 19(16), 1553-1556, 2012 (co-authored by T. Pawlowski & C. Anders).
• Top clubs’ performance and the competitive situation in European domestic football competitions. Journal of Sports Economics, 11(2), 186-202, 2010 (co-authored by T. Pawlowski, C. Breuer & A. Hovemann).