Teams in professional sports leagues who are drawn and scheduled to face the most difficult in their league, often suffer from slow starts to the season that damages their momentum. Teams who draw much easier rivals benefit from a confidence boost in winning early in the season. It gives them an advantage and greater self-confidence, which results in the team trying harder to win as many games as possible. It propels them towards better results.

Teams who receive the hardest rivals to play against first (and lose), often become dispirited, losing hope they can successfully compete throughout the season and win titles. With this in mind, schedules should be competitive, but fair. Games should be evenly distributed, with a good mix of challenging and easier competitors. Otherwise some teams will be steamrolled who may have otherwise had a better showing.

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