Does local sporting success affect sport participation? An examination of Danish professional soccer's effect on club membership

Research question: The body of literature examining potential trickle-down effects from elite sport success to mass sport participation has grown considerably over the years. The evidence is mixed but generally suggests that when a nation's athletes win medals at international tournaments - for example the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup - it cannot be expected to inspire amateurs to take up sport themselves. So far, existing research has primarily focused on international elite success. Effects from local elite clubs playing in national leagues have only been examined once. Research methods: Since recent research indicates that national and cultural contexts can influence whether a potential trickle-down effect materialises, this paper aims to test these factors in another setting. By deploying panel data regression models on data from Danish top-tier professional soccer, we test whether local club performance affects local membership levels in Denmark. Results and Findings: We do not find direct positive effects from sporting success. However, we do identify negative effects on membership figures due to club relegation indicating that sporting failure can affect mass participation.