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Socio-economic factors that affect the demand for tickets in all Brazilian league tiers
The influence of socio-economic factors on the demand for football is under-investigated. This paper aims to offer evidence about the effects of socio-economic factors and historical success of clubs in the demand for tickets in all Brazilian League tiers. All football clubs that have participated at least once in one of the four Brazilian League Divisions from seasons 2013 to 2015 have been analyzed. The econometric approach consists of panel data ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions. Interaction terms are included to see the effect of historical success and socio-economic factors in different divisions. As a methodological contribution, an index to measure the historical success of clubs has been developed. This indicator evidences that successful clubs in the past are still driving fans attention together with current performance, increasing then seasonal attendance rates. Finally, this paper offers evidence that higher socio-economic indicators play an important role in attracting fans at lower levels as well.