Zero-sum competition in sport: a critique

This article challenges the alleged zero-sum payoff structure of competition (zero-sum competition) as a description of the kind of competition we find in contemporary institutionalized sport. Drawing on von Neumann and Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior and other game theory literature, it introduces their concept of zero-sum games: games with a binary structure of payoffs in which one’s win implies the other’s loss, resulting in an overall sum of zero. It then discusses its application within the philosophy of sport, as introduced by Suits and further developed by Kretchmar and others, and reviews its adequacy. This article argues that, whilst zero-sum competition is characteristic of friendly one-off head-to-head matches, it fails to adequately characterize (in fact misrepresents) the kind of competition we find in contemporary institutionalized sport (e.g. leagues and tournaments). In contrast, contemporary institutionalized sport contests are better characterized by a payoff-sum structure that typically is variable-sum, and, in some cases, constant-sum (constant > 0). In addition, at the overall competition level, results are accumulated into an ordinal standings table – an architecture that exhibits contemporary institutionalized sport as an inclusive and humane practice, rather than a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog exercise.