Does competitive balance explain stadium attendance? Evidence from Finnish men’s football

Abstract

In this article, we examine the Finnish football league attendance characteristics. Sport leagues usually claim that outcome uncertainty is necessary to maintain interest among fans. In this paper, uncertainty of outcome hypothesis is tested applying football data from the highest tier in Finnish men’s football, currently known as Veikkausliiga. The time period covers 1947–2022. Empirical results show that Finnish football attendance is positively related to competitive balance between the rivalling teams. Increased alcohol consumption in the society is not related to football attendance, but we found that the number of games played during the season is positively related to ticket sales. Number of teams in the league seems to be negatively related to attendance. Further studies could investigate the time of the year, the condition of the stadium and the ticket pricing to see whether there is a correlation with on-site attendance.