Winning a Match vs. Winning Strategically

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by rick.oliver

The best way to ensure that each team plays to win every match is to ensure that the seeding system rewards that behavior. Qualifying points based on wins and ties with tie breaker points based on a team's own alliance performance (not the opposing one's) should do that.

This is the system in place for this year. The remaining incentive which may influence behavior is the draft process. In my opinion, drafting 1 to 8 in both rounds would remove any incentive for a team to "throw" a match.

Under these circumstances, I cannot think of an ethical (or even gray area) which would justify a team "throwing" a match.

If the wildcard still exists then there is a very big incentive for a team to try to be an alliance captain on the opposite side of the bracket from the Wildcard generating alliances (often the #1 seed/alliance). Several times this season it has been beneficial for our team to lose. I tell my drivers to never throw a match but you can tell they have no incentive to win (we still won nearly all those matches).