Football Attendance Over the Centuries

J Reade

No em-dp2020-08, Economics Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Reading

Abstract: Attendance patterns at professional football matches in England and Wales over three centuries are analysed, with particular attention paid to the loyalty, or persistence, of spectators or fans at different football clubs over different periods of time. We find that about half of an attendance can be attributed to loyalty, and that patterns of loyalty have evolved considerably over time, and vary across regions within England and Wales, although there is little significant team-by-team difference. We also find that fans are not necessarily concerned about how balanced matches are expected to be, and that they are motivated by their own team's quality, and the geographic proximity of the visiting team.

Keywords: Economic History; Consumption; Sport Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 N0 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2020-04-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-spo
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Chapter: Football attendance over the centuries (2021)
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