Discussion paper

DP16171 How Sensitive are Sports Fans to Unemployment?

We analyze attendance of professional football matches in England finding that it is related to unemployment over a very long period of time. More unemployment leads to lower attendances. Distinguishing between leagues, we find that the relationship is larger for lower leagues, i.e. attendance of lower quality football events are more sensitive to fluctuations in unemployment.

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Citation

Reade, J and J van Ours (2021), ‘DP16171 How Sensitive are Sports Fans to Unemployment?‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 16171. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp16171