Characterizing and Controlling the Perceived Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues

Authors: Pedro Vaz-de-Melo and Estéfano Vassoler

This paper introduces a novel framework for characterizing and controlling perceived competitive balance in sports leagues using the observed turning point, which measures how long a tournament remains statistically indistinguishable from a perfectly balanced competition. We propose an unbiased modification of this metric that mitigates scheduling effects, enabling fair comparisons across leagues and sports. We further present heuristics for influencing how balanced a competition appears solely through schedule design. This approach suggests that carefully crafted schedules can shape public perception of competitive balance without altering the underlying competitive structure.