i think if you put 1 in 3 you find plenty examples for three.
The other think 1 would punish a lot of team, since you most likely get a powerhorse at a league as your rival.
Please elaborate - I did not understood what you are trying to say.
you are saying, that biigger teams mostly have more rivalrys then smaller one. In my experience they have the same amount of rivalrys, then other teams(even when they are more important for the public and that why more known by the people).
I use german soccer example(since german basketball teams ain't well known i believe), Bayern München is the biggest club and the poeple love or hate him here. So people are more excited when they beat München and more happy(i believe that it was you mean with rich club have more rivalrys), but München cares about those looses like about every other one. Also the fans aren't totally sad, if they loose against Bayern since this is what they expect. So if you make all those game bidirected rival matches, it is untrue for Bayern München in every case and untrue for the other teams in term of a loss.
rivalry are more like games betwen Dortmund and Schalke, where a season is fine when you beat up the other team ;)
You are analyzing it completely wrong.
Rivalry does not mean that your fans expect a win, it means that they will want that more than other games.
Two teams that are closer at the leagues standings, will have some rivalry on that season, but it is not the rivalry disscused here.
It is like Espanol and Barca.
Do you think that Espanol believes they can match Barca on a regular day? Much less than those German teams exmple you've brought.
Did Espanol finds Barca to be their rivals? Sure thing they are.
They will get much happier in case they will win, but will not take a loss as seriously as losing some weaker team.
The reason - this rivalry is a biased one.
On
Biased-Rivalry, one team may gain much (fan's supportance) by wining the game, but lose much less.
On a
NON Biased-Rivalry (or at least, less biased one), the rivalry is "bi-directional" in the terms of fan's reaction both for a win and for a loss.
In case Munchen has lots of rivalries, those teams will put more against her (which is surely happens).
On regular seasons, a loss against them will not cause too much "depression", but a win will make a lot of noice and extatic reaction on the opponent fans' side.
But, in case that team, who finds Munchen to be a rival, will meet her on a season where they are a little more equal in performance, that will also be seen at the other team rivalry reaction.
Last edited by Pini פיני at 2/10/2012 6:59:22 PM