The Centre for Sports Business has held its first research seminar of the new academic year.
The Centre for Sports Business was delighted to welcome Professor Dr Raphael Flepp, Assistant Professor of Sports Data Based Management and Economics at the University of Zurich to the University of Liverpool Management School on 16 October for the Centre’s first research seminar of 2025/26.
The seminar, ‘Suspense and surprise’ in European football, was an engaging talk on the how the attractiveness of matches arises from competitive balance, and the policy implications associated with this.
Raphael’s research included analysis of over 25,000 men’s matches between 2010/11 and 2023/24, and 725 women’s matches in the 2023/24 season from Europe’s top football leagues and found that an average match generates lower suspense compared to the benchmark range of a perfectly balanced match.
The resulting proposal is that league organisers and managers should utilise match-level suspense and surprise as alternative policy targets.