30.06.2022

Countries’ political relations and the demand for relocated soccer games

A new study by Felix Otto, Georgios Nalbantis, and Tim Pawlowski (Institute of Sports Science) explores for the first time the impact of countries’ political relations on the demand for relocated soccer games.

In recent years, European soccer leagues have strengthened their internationalization efforts by relocating games abroad. In a new study, Felix Otto, Georgios Nalbantis, and Tim Pawlowski analyze the demand for such relocated games by exploring the impact of political relations between an importing country (here the USA) and the countries of origin (here the big 5 European leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). The results show that willingness-to-pay for admission to relocated games is significantly higher if the country of origin is perceived as friendly. Overall, the findings suggest that the political relations between importing and exporting countries may be important for internationalization processes and efforts in professional sports.

The research paper was recently accepted for publication in the European Sport Management Quarterly.

Reference: Otto, F., Nalbantis, G., & Pawlowski, T. (2022). Political relations and sports: Exploring the demand for relocated soccer games. European Sport Management Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2022.2092171