Structural changes and competitive balance in the korean professional baseball league

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of structural changes on competitive balance in the Korean Professional Baseball League (KPBL). The study used standard deviation of winning percentages (SDWP) and Gini coefficient to measure competitive balance in the KPBL. Both measures were used as dependent variables in the model. The independent variables were the effect of free agency, amateur draft, the introduction of foreign players, a number of games in a regular season, and short-term shock due to an expansion of the league. The data consist of all regular seasons in the KPBL (1982-2016). The results of this styudy showed that only free agency and the number of games each team plays in a regular season were statistically significant in both SDWP and Gini models. The study found a significant decrease in standard deviation of winning percentages (SDWP) and Gini coefficient after the introduction of free agency in the KPBL. Also, competitive balance was increased as the number of games each team plays increase. However, this study did not found other structural changes to affect competitive balance in the KPBL. It may be due to the limited number of sample size based on the relatively short history of the KPBL(35 years). Since competitive balance is important for both the sport league and sport fans, baseball teams and the league should focus on maintaining and improving competitive balance in the KPBL.