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Cristiano of Arabia: Did Ronaldo increase Saudi Pro League attendances?

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  • Carl Singleton

    (Department of Economics, University of Reading)

  • Dominik Schreyer

    (Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung (WHU))

Abstract

In December 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo, five-time Ballon d'Or winner and the most-followed person on Instagram, signed a reported 200million euros contract to play football in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for two and a half years. This marked one of several recent ground-shaking and expensive interventions by the KSA in global sports markets. We exploit the timing of this event, mid-way through a season of the Saudi Pro League, to estimate superstar effects. There are clear patterns showing that Ronaldo alone increased stadium attendance demand in the KSA, even before the influx of further stars in the summer of 2023. On average, Ronaldo helped to fill an additional 20% of the seats in his home team's stadium when he played, 15% of the seats in the stadiums he visited, and 3% of the seats where he did not even play. These effects may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of what policymakers will be hoping for. Regardless, they demonstrate that the astronomical sums being invested in sports markets by the Saudi state are not necessarily a total folly.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Singleton & Dominik Schreyer, 2023. "Cristiano of Arabia: Did Ronaldo increase Saudi Pro League attendances?," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-14, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2023-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • L39 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Other
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Z2 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics

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