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Income Inequality, Competitive Balance and the Attractiveness of Team Sports: Some Evidence and a Natural Experiment from English Soccer

Income Inequality, Competitive Balance and the Attractiveness of Team Sports: Some Evidence and a... Abstract This paper examines the relationship between financial inequality, competitive balance and attendance at English professional league soccer. It shows that while financial inequality among the clubs has increased, competitive balance has remained relatively stable and match attendance appears unrelated to competitive balance. A clearer test of the relationship is suggested by comparison with FA Cup matches. Because income inequality is primarily driven by inter‐ rather than intra‐divisional inequality, the FA Cup has been a much more unbalanced competition than the divisional championships. Attendance at FA Cup matches relative to the corresponding league matches has fallen over the last twenty years. This content is only available as a PDF. Author notes " I would like to thank Syariza Kamsan for valuable research assistance. I also thank Steve Ross, Chris Walters, seminar participants at Edinburgh University, Salford University, London Economics and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. © Royal Economic Society 2001 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Economic Journal Oxford University Press

Income Inequality, Competitive Balance and the Attractiveness of Team Sports: Some Evidence and a Natural Experiment from English Soccer

Szymanski,, Stefan
Economic Journal , Volume 111 (469) – Feb 1, 2001
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References (17)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© Royal Economic Society 2001
ISSN
0013-0133
eISSN
1468-0297
DOI
10.1111/1468-0297.00599
Publisher site
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Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between financial inequality, competitive balance and attendance at English professional league soccer. It shows that while financial inequality among the clubs has increased, competitive balance has remained relatively stable and match attendance appears unrelated to competitive balance. A clearer test of the relationship is suggested by comparison with FA Cup matches. Because income inequality is primarily driven by inter‐ rather than intra‐divisional inequality, the FA Cup has been a much more unbalanced competition than the divisional championships. Attendance at FA Cup matches relative to the corresponding league matches has fallen over the last twenty years. This content is only available as a PDF. Author notes " I would like to thank Syariza Kamsan for valuable research assistance. I also thank Steve Ross, Chris Walters, seminar participants at Edinburgh University, Salford University, London Economics and two anonymous referees for valuable comments. © Royal Economic Society 2001

Journal

Economic Journal – Oxford University Press

Published: Feb 1, 2001

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