Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/50709 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Manchester Business School Working Paper No. 598
Publisher: 
The University of Manchester, Manchester Business School, Manchester
Abstract: 
Motivated by increasing supporter involvement in club governance in English football, the paper presents a simple model of a sports league in which club objectives are utility functions defined over profits, win percentages and fan (=supporter) welfare, formalising a seminal suggestion of Sloane (1971). Consequences of increased utility weight on fan welfare (capturing increased supporter involvement in governance) are unambiguously higher attendances, with more nuanced affects on ticket prices and player expenditure. The attendance affect is consistent with some limited, anecdotal data currently available from clubs with existing supporter boardroom representation. Normatively, positive profits for club owners indicate social sub-optimality.
JEL: 
L10
L83
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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