2024-11-04, 07:40 PM - Word count:
Parity is something every sim league strives for. Every user needs to feel like they have a shot at winning the biggest trophy in the league. Otherwise it's easy to lose interest or put in very little effort if you know you won't have a true shot because of the team you were drafted to. A lot of users say they don't necessarily need to win awards and trophies to have a good time, and I believe them. But I also know that the experience of winning an individual or team award is one of the best feelings. Because that proves to you and everyone else that the effort you have put in truly mattered. Those articles and league jobs finally paid off.
So, with that preamble I want to share some data points around parity in the SSL. But as I'm a very new user in the current draft class, I won't have any personal insights or experiences to tell me how the league has evolved over time. And what measures have or haven't been taken around parity. Instead of anecdotes I will share two very basic graphs covering two of the data points that may be considered when determining if a league has parity or not: How often teams have won the league trophy, and the point spread season over season.
Please don't take this article as a claim that things are either perfect or terrible. I just found these numbers interesting, and I like graphs.
Starting with teams that have won the league trophy this data surprised me quite a bit, and doesn't necessarily paint a good picture. But I want to reiterate I'm new to the league, all I'm doing here is looking at very high level data.
![[Image: 0X1QDEd.png]](https://i.imgur.com/0X1QDEd.png)
We have only two teams who have won more than once over 16 seasons. Part of this comes from the fact that the early seasons of the SSL has less stability in the top league/division. We have had different number of teams participating, and had promotion and demotion of teams for a while. Which means any team that demoted would have a much harder path back to winning the top league. So while we take these numbers with a pinch of salt, the two standouts are hard to ignore.
I would claim that Hollywood FC was the first true dynasty in the SSL. Winning in season 2 and then not finishing worse than 4th, before they started their 4-season win streak lasting from season 6 to season 9. Quite literally a top team for half of the current lifetime of the SSL. Then Reykjavik United took over from Hollywood right after their dynasty ended. Since season 11, Reykjavik has finished in the top-2 every year. That's a fantastic achievement awarding them four trophies in that span.
With this in mind, it doesn't look like there has been too much parity in the SSL so far in terms of league winners. Two teams account for almost 60% of all league wins. But there's still some positive news we can see in this graph. Which is that the league winners the other 40% of the time have all been different teams. Meaning there's likely no team a player can be drafted to that stands no chance at winning the league during their career. Beyond the top two we can see a lot of parity over time.
The second graph is about the point spread in the league. Note that season 4 is a standout because it's the only season the SSL had 12 teams in the top league/division. Another note is that the median value more often than not represents the 4th best team in the league.
![[Image: TNxB48t.png]](https://i.imgur.com/TNxB48t.png)
In my mind this graph shows that the top league has been a lot closer over the years than the league winners graph would tell. Very few times have the winners completely run away with it. We even have two seasons where the winner couldn't be decided by points alone. While we have some seasons where there was a clear difference between the teams, overall this paints a balanced picture. Especially when considering that a 3-point difference only means a single game.
So, should we panic about parity in the SSL yet? I only covered two basic data points in this article, but I don't think we do. As a new user this makes me feel pretty good, and I won't be concerned in the slightest were I to be drafted to a non-dynasty team.
Please feel free to share your thoughts!
So, with that preamble I want to share some data points around parity in the SSL. But as I'm a very new user in the current draft class, I won't have any personal insights or experiences to tell me how the league has evolved over time. And what measures have or haven't been taken around parity. Instead of anecdotes I will share two very basic graphs covering two of the data points that may be considered when determining if a league has parity or not: How often teams have won the league trophy, and the point spread season over season.
Please don't take this article as a claim that things are either perfect or terrible. I just found these numbers interesting, and I like graphs.
Starting with teams that have won the league trophy this data surprised me quite a bit, and doesn't necessarily paint a good picture. But I want to reiterate I'm new to the league, all I'm doing here is looking at very high level data.
We have only two teams who have won more than once over 16 seasons. Part of this comes from the fact that the early seasons of the SSL has less stability in the top league/division. We have had different number of teams participating, and had promotion and demotion of teams for a while. Which means any team that demoted would have a much harder path back to winning the top league. So while we take these numbers with a pinch of salt, the two standouts are hard to ignore.
I would claim that Hollywood FC was the first true dynasty in the SSL. Winning in season 2 and then not finishing worse than 4th, before they started their 4-season win streak lasting from season 6 to season 9. Quite literally a top team for half of the current lifetime of the SSL. Then Reykjavik United took over from Hollywood right after their dynasty ended. Since season 11, Reykjavik has finished in the top-2 every year. That's a fantastic achievement awarding them four trophies in that span.
With this in mind, it doesn't look like there has been too much parity in the SSL so far in terms of league winners. Two teams account for almost 60% of all league wins. But there's still some positive news we can see in this graph. Which is that the league winners the other 40% of the time have all been different teams. Meaning there's likely no team a player can be drafted to that stands no chance at winning the league during their career. Beyond the top two we can see a lot of parity over time.
The second graph is about the point spread in the league. Note that season 4 is a standout because it's the only season the SSL had 12 teams in the top league/division. Another note is that the median value more often than not represents the 4th best team in the league.
In my mind this graph shows that the top league has been a lot closer over the years than the league winners graph would tell. Very few times have the winners completely run away with it. We even have two seasons where the winner couldn't be decided by points alone. While we have some seasons where there was a clear difference between the teams, overall this paints a balanced picture. Especially when considering that a 3-point difference only means a single game.
So, should we panic about parity in the SSL yet? I only covered two basic data points in this article, but I don't think we do. As a new user this makes me feel pretty good, and I won't be concerned in the slightest were I to be drafted to a non-dynasty team.
Please feel free to share your thoughts!
