A model to explain support in Spanish football

This paper analyses the factors which affect support and influence revenues in Spanish professional football clubs. It focuses on the relationships between attendance and different sets of variables: those that relate to the socio-economic environment, the quality of product (results) and the quality of means of production (team squad). The main conclusions are, firstly, that the quality of the squad influences attendance through its performance on the pitch, secondly, that the level of attendance is explained by the population of the province in which the club is based, and by both the current and historical performances of the team, and thirdly, that the club’s sporting revenues can be explained by their attendances. Given the importance of support, and in particular attendance, to the revenues of football clubs, the conceptual model developed in this article might contribute significantly to the estimation of cash-flows in football clubs.