Skip to main content
Contribution to Book
Competitive Balance in the Chinese Soccer League
The Global Football Industry: Marketing Perspectives
  • Jie Xu
  • Scott Tainsky
  • Liang Wei
  • Natalie L. Smith, East Tennessee State University
Document Type
Book Contribution
Publication Date
1-29-2018
Description

This research examines the competitive balance of the CSL since its formation using two popular within-season balance measures. Findings show that balance has been more volatile since league reorganization, but is neither consistently more nor less balanced. Furthermore, we question whether it is coincidental that the CSL was most balanced across all teams in the seasons immediately following its establishment and reorganization, hypothesizing that the traditional Chinese cultural value of harmony may be the root cause. Simple comparisons of win concentrations of top Chinese and UEFA teams do not suggest league imbalance. Given Chinese fan penchant for national team games, we propose that (contrary to the UOH) league interest could potentially be increased by greater imbalance skewed toward the top teams.

Disciplines
Citation Information
Jie Xu, Scott Tainsky, Liang Wei and Natalie L. Smith. "Competitive Balance in the Chinese Soccer League" 1st EditionNew York, NYThe Global Football Industry: Marketing Perspectives (2018)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/natalie-smith/19/