The Impact Of a Team’s Performance in Front a Fan Audience at the Soccer Stadium

Abstract

Soccer clubs currently use various forms of storage. One of them, and perhaps the most traditional, is box office, which represents how much the club earns with ticket sales. On this matter, several clubs have worked to increase the number of fans in their games, mainly with the purpose of obtaining higher revenue. Literature has pointed to some determinants that influence the number of fans at the stadium, and one of the determinants is the performance of the team, more specifically the results they delivered in previous matches. Although this is a theoretical statement, very few works seek to measure whether the championship team performance in previous matches influences the amount of fans at the stadium. Seeking to fill up that gap, this study investigated whether the performance in previous matches influences the public in games of the B Series of the Brazilian Championship in 2013. Analyzing public reports published on the Brazilian Soccer Confederation (CBF) website, and comparing the results with the ratings of the clubs in the League by means of regression, we observed that the placement of the club (team performance) does not influence the number of fans at stadiums for most clubs investigated. We also noted, by means of the T-test, that, for most clubs, there are differences in audience when a club receives a great opponent as compared to similar opponents. Theoretical and managerial contributions are discussed throughout this article. The main scientific contribution points to the fact that the performance of teams is not enough to bring more fans to the stadium. On the other hand, a major opponent does lead to that effect. As a practical contribution, we suggest that clubs that do not fully trust in their club’s performance to attract fans should get more involved with the fans.