Scoring goals: The impact of English Premier League football teams on local university admissions

Singleton, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8247-8830, Bell, A. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4531-0072, Chung, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4167-4012, Reade, J. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8610-530X and Urquhart, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8834-4243 (2024) Scoring goals: The impact of English Premier League football teams on local university admissions. Economics Letters, 244. 111957. ISSN 1873-7374 doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111957

Abstract/Summary

Anecdotal evidence suggests that co-location with an English Premier League (EPL) football team can boost university recruitment. But when a town or city loses its EPL team, it also loses some of the world’s attention. We test whether the EPL limelight does in fact affect university recruitment in England and Wales. We exploit the sharp annual cutoff between survival and relegation from the EPL, comparing the admissions outcomes of universities that have clear name association either side of that discontinuity. On average, losing association with an EPL team, for just one year after its relegation, significantly reduces a university’s undergraduate year-to-year admissions growth by 4-8 percent. These findings suggest not only that the EPL generates local externalities but also that university executives should support their local teams.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/117973
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111957
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Finance and Accounting Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
Publisher	Elsevier
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item