ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses competitive balance from the perspectives of the fan and the owner and explores how economists measure competitive balance, how leagues try to alter competitive balance in a league, and why such efforts might not be successful. It also explores why owners and fans may care about competitive balance and explains master the use and interpretation of the different measures of competitive balance. The chapter compares the tools that leagues use to promote competitive balance and the limitations of those tools. Fans and owners alike have a conflicted relationship with competitive balance. While the Rangers' fans seem to enjoy the rout, as a casual fan, quickly become bored because the talent on the two teams is very uneven. For baseball fans everywhere, spring is a special time of year that brings the promise of a new baseball season and the chance that "this could be the year" that their team wins it all.
