Political relations and sports: exploring the demand for relocated soccer games

Research question In recent years, European soccer leagues have strengthened their internationalization efforts by relocating games abroad. In this context, we empirically investigate the impact of the political relations between the importing and the exporting countries on on-site demand for such games. While there is a rich literature addressing this issue in more general settings, it has never been explored in sports.Research methods We use a stated-preference approach and survey data of a representative sample of soccer-interested US residents, which we combine with data from the American Community Survey. The effects are estimated using Tobit regressions and an instrumental variable approach.Results and findings We find that the willingness-to-pay for admission to relocated games is higher if the country where the competing teams come from is perceived as friendly.Implications We provide preliminary empirical evidence that the political relations between importing and exporting countries may be important for international demand of spectator sports. As such, the public perception about political relations between countries may constitute a crucial component for sport leagues' expansion strategies.