The Austrian Bundesliga recently introduced a split league design format with three points awarded for a win
Question:
The Austrian Bundesliga recently introduced a ‘split’ league design format with three points awarded for a win and one for a draw. The league comprises 12 teams and each team plays the other once at home and once away in a first phase of fixtures yielding a total of 22 games per team. The league then ‘splits’ into two sections with the top six playing in a ‘Championship’ section and the bottom six in a ‘Relegation’ section. In the second phase of fixtures, each team then plays the others within its own section both at home and away yielding an additional ten games per team. The overall number of games played in the season is 32. The table below provides the league position of the 12 teams at the end of the first phase of fixtures.
Table 1: Austrian Bundesliga First Phase (2019/20)
Team | Games | Points | |
Salzburg | 22 | 52 | |
Rapid Vienna | 22 | 45 | |
LASK | 22 | 42 | |
Sturm Graz | 22 | 39 | |
Wolfsberger AC | 22 | 33 | |
WSG Tirol | 22 | 30 | |
Hartberg | 22 | 29 | |
Austria Vienna | 22 | 25 | |
St.Pölten | 22 | 21 | |
Rheindorf Altach | 22 | 21 | |
Ried | 22 | 16 | |
Admira Wacker | 22 | 14 |
(Question continues on the next page)
The following table provides the outcomes after the ‘split’ when the second phase of fixtures are completed:
Table 2: Austrian Bundesliga Second Phase (2019/20)
Team & Section | Games | Points | |
Championship Section | |||
Salzburg | 10 | 25 | |
Rapid Vienna | 10 | 14 | |
LASK | 10 | 14 | |
Sturm Graz | 10 | 9 | |
Wolfsberger AC | 10 | 11 | |
WSG Tirol | 10 | 8 | |
Relegation Section | |||
Hartberg | 10 | 18 | |
Austria Vienna | 10 | 17 | |
St.Pölten | 10 | 17 | |
Rheindorf Altach | 10 | 13 | |
Ried | 10 | 12 | |
Admira Wacker | 10 | 3 |
- What do you think the primary motive of the league administrators was in introducing this ‘split’ design?
- Compute and compare the relative standard deviation statistics for competitive balance for (i) the first phase of fixtures, and (ii) for the ‘Championship’ and the ‘Relegation’ sections. What do you conclude about any differences obtained?
Introduction to Probability and Statistics
ISBN: 978-1133103752
14th edition
Authors: William Mendenhall, Robert Beaver, Barbara Beaver