Centre Versus Periphery: The Impact of Hosting National Football Matches Outside the Capital City

Abstract

This study analyses the effect on interest in attending Danish national men’s team football matches when they are spread across different stadiums instead of playing them at the national stadium – in the Danish capital city – only. Our analysis covers all 32 home matches played at eight other stadiums in the period 2015–2019 and survey responses from more than 37,000 spectators. The findings show that spectators at national team matches outside the capital city are significantly more interested in attending future matches than spectators at games in the capital city. The matches played outside the capital city are training matches (as opposed to tournament qualification matches) which we believe strengthens the credibility of our findings. Further, our results suggest that hosting several games at the same stadium over a short period has a negative effect on spectators’ interest in attending future matches. This study contributes to the literature on match day attendance by adding knowledge about the impact on interest for national team matches by spreading these matches.