" Quirk and Fort (1992)

These definitions should be balanced by the popular notion that it is good for a league and all of its teams if the teams from the larger markets are relatively dominant, but not at the expenses of competitive balance:

"The optimal level of balance in a sports league is a function of the distribution of fan preference, fan population base, and fan income across host cities. "The league will maximize revenues when teams from large, rich, and fan intensive cities win more often" Zimbalist (2002).

European football clubs have historically not had a great competitive balance. According to one study done in 2006, of the previous 10 seasons, the champion and runner-up from the premier leagues from Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, France and England were the same top two clubs in those countries two-thirds of the time. The typical European premier league has 20 teams....
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