"Walrasian Fixed Supply Conjecture" Versus "Contest-Nash" Solutions to Sports League Models: Game Over?. (June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Madden, Paul
• Is Part Of: Journal of sports economics. Volume 16:Number 5(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: 540
• Page End: 551
• Publication Date: 2015-06
• Subjects: sports leagues -- talent investment -- revenue sharing; Sports -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Sports administration -- Periodicals; 338.47796
• DOI: 10.1177/1527002513502795
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1527-0025

Abstract

Winfree and Fort (WF) recently suggested an approach to modeling basic two-team sports leagues, which requires Nash equilibrium solutions to games where investments in (not levels of) talent are the strategic variables. I comment (a) it is crucial that talent investments are the strategic variables, reworking arguments from my earlier article; (b) with nuanced but important differences from Stefan Szymanski's conclusions regarding WF, Walrasian fixed supply conjecture solutions and the invariance principle are unlikely to emerge from this approach but Contest-Nash solutions can; (d) the long-running debate alluded to in the title of this article may have run its course.