Hosting a football club as a source of social trust and civic pride

Abstract

This research conducted an analysis to ascertain the role that a professional sports club plays in the development of social capital and civic pride within its host community. We analysed the determinants of social trust and civic pride by means of an ordered Probit model and a standard binary Probit model based on the information provided in a survey. Our results suggest the existence of a link between club identification and civic pride, but there is no relationship with social trust (the proxy of social capital). The proposed models offer a clearer understanding of the intangible and indirect impacts on a community associated with hosting a professional football club. They emphasize certain social and community impacts that exhibit characteristics of non-pecuniary public goods.