Question

• Do you think the presence of live spectators attending a game/match makes a difference in sports competition outcomes and impacts competitive balance (consider the changes made because of covid-19)?
• How effective is the reverse-order draft for a professional sports team focused on profit-maximization? For a team focused on win-maximization?

Answer 1

Presence of live spectators attending a game/match does make a difference in sports competition outcomes to some extent as players were used to that sort of ambience. One realises the enormity of the game when there is an audience and companies get to see how many seats are occupied to gauge audience reaction and seek advertisement revenue. Players are enthusiastic to gain that experience and are motivated when they are cheered on which influences sports competition outcome to some extent. Now as there is no audience to cheer, they might be not as motivated, which might influence the outcome of the game. This ultimately will lead to some impact on the competitive balance, but once players get used to this sort of ambience than the competitive aspect might return back to normal if a virtual audience is broadcasted.

Reverse order draft is essentially when players are recruited from worst to best players. The weakest team in the league is the first one to chose talent. While the strongest team gets the last chance. It levels out talent between all the teams, thus it increases the competitive nature between teams and teams sometimes lose intentionally to have the first choice in choosing a player, thus as the competitive nature increases, the chances of profit maximisation lessen, as players are also paid less and teams also earn less as there is no guarantee that they are going to win for sure.

Same applies for win-maximisation as the teams are leveled, anyone can win, thus reverse order draft is not effective for a team focused on win-maximisation as well.