Competitive balance in Conference USA football: The effects of membership churning

Abstract

Conference USA a major college athletic conference that experienced a number of membership changes in 2005. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of those changes on competitive balance in the sport of football. Three measures of competitive balance were employed, and while results were mixed, the findings indicated slightly more competitive balance in the five years following the membership changes than in the five years before. This result supports the findings of previous studies on the effects of membership churning in other conferences on competitive balance in football.