Competitive balance is an important issue in professional sport in
general and European football in particular. However, competitive
balance is difficult to quantify because competitiveness is
multidimensional and particular sports are distinctive. We aim to
identify the most appropriate index for a holistic view of competitive
balance in European football. We use data from eight domestic European
football leagues over a time span of 60 years. The indices we consider
are specifically designed to capture competitiveness at different levels
of performance and in this way reflect the peculiarities of European
football leagues. Our findings support the longstanding uncertainty of
outcome hypothesis. A bivariate index that captures competitiveness in
the top K places is shown to have the highest association with
attendance. A seasonal index of champions' domination is also found to
have a large association with attendance. Finally, ranking mobility is
found to have a slightly higher association with attendance than
seasonal performance. These results imply that sports policy makers
should use these indices to assess strategic decisions that may
influence competitive balance
