The AFL Pick Trading Market as a Coasian Utopia

Abstract

Sporting leagues have various competitive balance measures including player drafts, where teams are awarded picks based on prior performance. Teams, however, have the option to either exercise this pick or trade it as they see fit. An analysis of this trading market in the NFL stated that players obtained through traded picks contributed more to their recruiters in comparison to their counterparts. This paper retested this within the AFL and disproved this fact, establishing the Coasian notion of the efficient allocation of resources, based on some differences between the list management systems between the two leagues.