The influence of conference championship games on competitive balance in college football

Abstract

College football thrives on the ideas that each school has what it takes to be the best, rivalries are of major importance, and either team can win the game. Competitive balance is what keeps these thoughts alive, offering the last team in the conference the chance to beat their top-ranked opponent, or the mediocre middle-rank team the chance to win a post-season bowl game. Competitive balance provides the level of uncertainty of game outcome that keeps fans coming back every season. Previous research has examined many variables that have an effect on competitive balance. The purpose of this report is to step forward from where previous studies left off and examine the effect of the conference championship game on competitive balance. Five of the eleven NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences currently determine their conference champion by holding a championship game at the end of the season. Recent conference realignments bring about the possibility for two more conferences to establish championship games. Does hosting a conference championship game improve competitive balance within the league? This study examined several measures of competitive balance, including standard deviation measures, the competitive balance ratio, and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Results suggest a slightly higher level of competitive balance for conferences hosting championship games versus those that do not. However, these results are not statistically significant, and this higher level of competitive balance could be explained by the larger membership of conferences hosting championship games.