The determinants of stadium attendance in elite women’s football: evidence from the FA Women’s Super League

Figures & data

Table 1. FA WSL reconfiguration overview.

Year	Teams	Matches	Calendar
2011	8	56	April–August
2012	8	56	April–October
2013	8	56	April–September
2014	8	56	April–October
2015	8	56	March–October
2016	9	72	March–November
2017	9	72	April–June
2017/18	10	90	September–May
2018/19	11	110	September–May
2019/20	12	132	September–May

Table 2. Description of variables.

Variable	Description	Measure	Source
Attendance	Number of spectators at the game	Ln (attendance)	women.soccerway.com
Income	Income per capita in the corresponding NUTS3 region for the home/away team	Ln (income)	Eurostat (ec.europa.eu)
Distance	Distance between home and away teams	Ln (distance)	distancefromto.net
Weekend	Whether the match is on a weekday	Dummy: 1 = weekend; 0 = weekday
Temperature	Temperature in the host city on match day	Temperature in °C	timeanddate.com
Rain	Rain in the host city on match day	Dummy: 1 = rain 0 = no rain
Capacity	Stadium capacity	Ln (stadium capacity)
Points	Home/away team’s points per game prior to the match	Points won/Number of games	women.soccerway.com
Title	Home/away team in contention for the title prior to the match	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
UWCL	Home/away team in contention for UWCL qualification prior to the match	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Relegation	Home/away team in contention for relegation prior to the match	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Uncertainty of outcome	Level of uncertainty based on betting odds	Theil measure	oddsportal.com
Win probability H	Predicted home team’s probability to win based on betting odds	Adjusted home team’s probability to win in percentage based on betting odds
Men’s team popularity	Popularity of respective men’s team for home/away integrated club	Average stadium attendance in season t for respective men’s team of home/away club	european-football-statistics.co.uk
Men’s game	Any concurrent game featuring the men’s team of the same club	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Men’s league home	Concurrent league home game featuring the men’s team of the same club	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Men’s UCL	Concurrent UEFA Champions League game featuring the men’s team of the same club	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Men’s EL	Concurrent UEFA Europa League game featuring the men’s team of the same club	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no
Double-header	Games of men’s and women’s teams of the same club played in temporal succession	Dummy: 1 = yes 0 = no

Table 3. Descriptive statistics.

Variable	Mean	Median	Std. deviation	Min	Max
Attendance	895.550	733	619.402	103	5,265
IncomeH	31,473	27,525	22,119.718	7862	99,358
IncomeA	31,391	27,525	21,742.712	7862	99,358
Distance	185.122	175.46	96.886	0	448.27
Weekend	0.710	1	0.454	0	1
Temperature	14.197	14	5.132	2	27
Rain	0.207	0	0.406	0	1
Capacity	7,138.712	4850	5,133.606	1500	20,229
PointsH	1.390	1.333	0.825	0	3
PointsA	1.419	1.382	0.819	0	3
TitleH	0.134	0	0.341	0	1
TitleA	0.143	0	0.350	0	1
UWCLH	0.027	0	0.163	0	1
UWCLA	0.036	0	0.186	0	1
RelegationH	0.063	0	0.243	0	1
RelegationA	0.053	0	0.223	0	1
Uncertainty of outcome	0.851	0.917	0.217	0.337	1.094
Win probabilityH	0.430	0.409	0.266	0.029	0.912
Men’s team popularityH	32,788.869	38,920	19,081.110	0	60,079
Men’s team popularityA	33,163.487	39,043	19,093.897	0	60,079
Men’s game	0.531	1	0.500	0	1
Men’s league home	0.056	0	0.232	0	1
Men’s UCL	0.008	0	0.091	0	1
Men’s EL	0.002	0	0.046	0	1
Double-header	0.008	0	0.091	0	1

Note: Data for Attendance, Income, Distance, Capacity, and Men’s team popularity variables are presented without log in this table. Ln of these variables are tested in regression models (see the Results and Discussion section below).

Figure 1. Average FA WSL attendance per season.

Table 4. Regression results for stadium attendance at WSL matches.

	Model 1a		Model 1b		Model 2a		Model 2b
	β	Sig.	β	Sig.	β	Sig.	β	Sig.
Income H	8.98	**	8.19	*	7.11	*	6.35
Income A	−4.56		−3.79		−6.14		−5.49
Distance	−.08	***	−.08	***	−.08	***	−.08	***
Weekend	.23	***	.23	***	.23	***	.22	***
Temperature	.04	**	.04	**	.04	**	.04	**
Temperature^2	−.00	**	−.00	**	−.00	**	−.00	**
Rain	−.17	**	−.18	**	−.16	**	−.16	**
Capacity	.62	***	.62	***	.64	**	.64	**
Points H	.08	*	.06		.07	*	.06
Points A	.08	**	.10	**	.07	*	.09	**
Title H	.02		.02		.00		.01
Title A	−.03		−.01		−.04		−.02
UWCL H	−.08		−.09		−.09		−.08
UWCL A	−.05		−.05		−.04		−.06
Relegation H	−.10		−.10		−.09		−.11
Relegation A	.02		.03		.05		.05
Uncertainty of outcome	−.34	**			−.31	**
Win probability H			−.57				−.52
Win probability^2 H			1.10	**			1.03	**
Men’s team popularity H	.15		.19		.13		.17
Men’s team popularity A	.19		.15		.26		.23
Men’s game	−.09	**	−.09	**
Men’s league home					−.27	**	−.27	**
Men’s UCL					−.70	**	−.70	**
Men’s EL					.33		.31
Double-header	.94	***	.92	***	1.09	***	1.09	***
Constant	−48.04		−48.17		−12.82		−12.63
Season	Yes		Yes		Yes		Yes
Home team	Yes		Yes		Yes		Yes
Away team	Yes		Yes		Yes		Yes
Obs.	344		344		344		344
Adj. R^2	69%		69%		70%		70%

Note: The dependent variable is Ln Attendance; * p < .10; ** p < .05; ***p ≤ .01. Coefficients are displayed in the first columns of each model.