Scoring goals: The impact of English Premier League football teams on local university admissions

Carl Singleton, Adrian Bell, Andy Chung (), J Reade and Andrew Urquhart
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Andy Chung: Department of Economics, University of Reading

No em-dp2024-02, Economics Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Reading

Abstract: Anecdotal evidence suggests that co-location with an English Premier League (EPL) football team can boost university recruitment. But when a town or city loses its EPL team, it also loses some of the world’s attention. We test whether the EPL limelight does in fact affect university recruitment in England and Wales. We exploit the sharp annual cutoff between survival and relegation from the EPL, comparing the admissions outcomes of universities that have clear name association either side of that discontinuity. On average, losing association with an EPL team, for just one year after its relegation, significantly reduces a university’s undergraduate year-to-year admissions growth by 4-7 percent. These findings suggest not only that the EPL generates local externalities but also that university executives should support their local teams.

Keywords: professional football; relegation; local economy; regression-discontinuity design; higher education demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 R19 Z20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2024-03-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-spo and nep-ure
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Journal Article: Scoring goals: The impact of English Premier League football teams on local university admissions (2024)
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