PLOS ONE RESEARCH ARTICLE Common international trends in football stadium attendance 1,2,3 Jan C. van OursID * 1 Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus Center of Applied Sports Economics (ECASE) and Tinbergen Institute (Rotterdam), Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2 Department of Economics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia, 3 CEPR, London, United Kingdom *
[email protected] Abstract This paper examines long-term developments in stadium attendance in professional football a1111111111 in the Netherlands. As in many other European countries attendance had a U-shaped devel- a1111111111 opment with the lowest numbers in the mid-1980s. The developments in the Netherlands do a1111111111 not seem to have been affected by hooliganism but by socioeconomic factors. Furthermore, a1111111111 the association with stadium attendance in other European leagues in particular the English a1111111111 Premier League is very high. This suggests that stadium attendance is affected not only by national developments but also by common international trends in the interest in football matches. OPEN ACCESS Citation: van Ours JC (2021) Common international trends in football stadium attendance. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0247761. https://doi.org/ 1 Introduction 10.1371/journal.pone.0247761 For many supporters, football is like a religion. During the season, they usually meet once a Editor: Stijn Baert, Ghent University, BELGIUM week alternating between the home stadium and an away stadium. Songs are sung, joy and Received: December 2, 2020 happiness are shared in case of a win, sadness and disappointment are internalized in the com- Accepted: February 13, 2021 panionship of fellow supporters. For many supporters, being at a match of their favorite team Published: March 3, 2021 is like sitting in a roller-coaster of emotions.