The Impact of the Chinese Basketball Association’s Asian-born Player Policy on Competitive Balance

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between talent pool size and competitive balance in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). In particular, the focus of this analysis is on the impact of the Asian-born player policy, which gives CBA teams at the bottom of the standings the ability to sign an additional talented player. Prior theorization suggests that allowing weaker teams to sign additional talent—while also constraining other teams—should reduce the talent gap between teams, and hence improve competitive balance. Based on this, both within-season and cross-season competitive balance metrics were utilized in interrupted time series regressions to estimate whether this policy had an impact on parity. The results find that while the Asian-born player policy did not improve within-season competitive balance, it did lead to better reordering of where teams finished in the final standings. Overall, the findings have important implications in regards to how policy can impact competitive balance.

中国篮球协会亚裔球员政策对竞争平衡的影响

本研究旨在探讨中国篮球协会(CBA)人才库规模与竞争平衡的关系。特别是, 这个分析的重点是亚洲出生的球员政策的影响, 这使CBA球队在排名靠后的球队有能力签下更多有天赋的球员。先前的理论认为, 允许较弱的团队签下额外的人才——同时限制其他团队——应该减少团队之间的人才差距, 从而提高竞争平衡。基于此, 在中断的时间序列回归分析中, 利用季内和季间竞争平衡指标来估计该政策是否对平价产生影响。结果发现, 虽然亚洲出生的球员政策并没有改善赛季内的竞争平衡, 但它确实能更好地调整球队最终排名。总体而言, 这些发现对于政策如何影响竞争平衡具有重要意义。

Keywords:

• Competitive balance
• China
• Chinese basketball association
• talent
• policy

关键词：:

• 竞争平衡
• 中国
• 中国篮球协会
• 人才
• 政策

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hua Gong

Hua Gong is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina in the United States. His research interests are in the areas of sports economics, sport business and finance, and sports analytics.

Nicholas M. Watanabe

Nicholas M. Watanabe (Ph.D., University of Illinois, U.S.) is an Assistant Professor of Big Data and Analytics in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina in the United States. his research predominantly focuses on the intersection of economics and sport, and his work has been featured in the Journal of Sport Management, International Journal of Sport Finance, and the International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship. Currently, he serves on the editorial board for: Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, and Managing Sport and Leisure, and Journal of Leisure Research. In 2018, he was named a Research Fellow with the North American Society for Sport Management.

Matthew T. Brown

Matthew T. Brown (Ed.D., University of Northern Colorado, U.S.) is chair and associate professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina in the United States. His research interests include sport business and finance. His work has appeared in journals like the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and Sport Marketing Quarterly. He is the lead author of the text, Financial Management in the Sport Industry.

Mark S. Nagel

Mark Nagel (Ed.D., University of Northern Colorado, U.S.) is a professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina and the Associate Director of the College Sport Research Institute in the United States. He has coauthored 8 books and over 40 refereed publication. In addition, he has published numerous book chapters and articles in practitioner periodicals and has been invited to speak at various national and international conferences. In 2012, he was named a Research Fellow with the North American Society for Sport Management. Dr. Nagel studies a variety of sport management topics including the business of college sport, revenue development, and sport finance.