Highway through the Danger Zone

Today we'll be musing about re-engineering sports to make them more enjoyable to watch. I stumbled upon this topic watching March Madness. I initially wondered about the origins of the three point shot. I asked my mom about it and she told me when she was in high school, in the late 1970's, the 3 point shot was still debated. After doing some research, I learned that the NBA only adopted the 3-point shot in 1979, after it was experimented with by the ABA (American Basketball Association). It wasn't until 1986 and '87 that the 3 point shot was universal in NCAA and high school basketball. Holy shit! That's pretty recent!

So, did the invention of the 3-point shot make the game better? Doing some more research, before the 3-point shot was implemented, players would always drive the ball to the hoop before taking a shot. This meant that size was always important in matchups. But once the 3-point shot was implemented, smaller teams had a better chance. It made the teams possible more varied. The game also became more of a "full-court" game. This is one example of a game that has been improved by re-engineering.

Before we talk about how to improve soccer, let's first nail down what factors make a sports game entertaining. The factors: strong competition, players indebted to winning, a sense of community between spectators and team, and perhaps the scoring frequency.

A sports game is entertaining when there is strong competition. Strong competition leads to amazing plays. When players are indebted to winning - when the competitors have their "skin-in-the-game." If the players don't care about winning - it's not fun to watch.  When spectators have a strong sense of belonging with their team. When the game is played on the whole field leading to less downtime and more variability of games. And although this is more technical, I think the frequency of the scoring has something to do with it. If scoring is frequent, it becomes less exciting when it happens. If scoring is infrequent, there is more downtime which makes the game more boring.

So, now that we've identified some factors, or target specifications, let's see if we can improve a game like soccer, from the American perspective. I specify from the American perspective because I know that the enjoyment of sports is also cultural and my perspective is American.

Soccer:
The scoring is infrequent and most of the plays that create a score happens it happens near the goal. We can add a 2 point line, this would spread out the game-play and make distance skills more valuable. We can make the players more indebted to the game by creating a penalty when the other team scores. In all seriousness, the players can wear bracelets that deliver shocks when the other team scores like TASERS. This is negative feedback - its like training a dog. The player receives this stimulus and they try harder. Another way to eliminate the downtime and make scoring more frequent would be to move the goals closer together. The ball is now in the "danger-zone" more often. Hence the title.