Gender differences in competitive balance in intercollegiate basketball

Abstract

This paper adds to the literature on competitive balance in college sports by comparing men's and women's NCAA basketball. Using data from the Division I National Championships, we find evidence consistent with the idea that women"s college basketball is less competitively balanced than men"s college basketball. We argue that this difference may be explained by a theory of player ability borrowed from evolutionary biology first promulgated by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould and subsequently utilized in Berri (2004). An implication of this idea is that competitive balance in women"s NCCA basketball will naturally improve over time. This is good news for those who are concerned with the long term success of the sport to the extent that competitive balance in women"s college basketball impacts fan demand. Nevertheless, we discuss why there may be reason to believe that women"s college basketball may not reach the same level of balance as men"s college basketball.

Comparing competitive balance between genders in team sports

“…Hence, if the Gould hypothesis is valid, this hypothesis may be a plausible explanation for the significant differences in competitive balance between the genders in football (soccer). Further, interpreting Treber et al (2013), there is an analogy from basketball, where the interest, the opportunities and the financial pay-off for players have been much higher for men. These aspects are very interesting for management of sports leagues and for future research, both because there is an increasing number of women players and because the wage level, at least in the bigger leagues, is growing.…”

“…Following the Gould hypothesis and the weaker competitive balance in women's football, a policy implication is to increase the number of women players willing to put their effort into reaching the required playing level. This is important both for domestic governing bodies as well as the UEFA and FIFA, and would also require attention to the matter of reducing the counter effects of a lack of financial rewards, following Treber et al (2013). Looking back to competitive balance in the NWSL, the level is in line or better than that of the men's European football leagues, indicating that their way of structuring the league play is more effective.…”

“…Therefore, one should expect the women's leagues to have a better competitive balance than their respective men's leagues, but this is not supported by the results in this study. The counter-effect of smaller financial rewards in women's basketball, mentioned in Treber et al (2013), may also be relevant in handball, where wages at least at the top level, seem to be higher for men, when a comparison is made between the highest paid male players (Arshad, 2018) with the highest paid female players (Handball Planet, 2018).…”

“…Empirical results on measuring differences in championship concentration between the genders are mixed. Treber et al (2013) look at intercollegiate basketball (NCAA) and find that championships are more concentrated in the women's league, just as they are in the MVC basketball (Perline & Stoldt, 2008). In Scandinavian football, the results were mixed (Kringstad, 2018) and when comparing the NBA with the WNBA, the differences were small (Berri & Krautmann, 2013).…”