The Impact of Stadium Renaming on the Expected and Realized Sporting Performance of European Football Clubs

Details

Supervisors

Verardi, Vincenzo

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enThis thesis examines whether stadium renaming affects the sporting performance of professional football clubs. While stadium naming rights have become an increasingly important source of revenue in European football, their impact on on-field performance has received little attention in the academic literature. The empirical analysis is based on a panel dataset of nine clubs from six European football leagues covering the period from 2007 to 2024. Using match-level data, the study estimates four econometric models, relying primarily on a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator with fixed effects, complemented by a linear fixed-effects regression. Three hypotheses are tested: whether stadium renaming influences bookmakers' expectations, whether it has different effects on home and away performances, and whether it affects goals scored and goal difference. The results provide no statistically significant evidence that stadium renaming influences either expected or realized sporting performance. None of the three hypotheses can therefore be confirmed. Overall, the findings suggest that stadium naming rights should primarily be viewed as a financial and commercial strategy rather than as a means of improving sporting outcomes. This thesis contributes to the existing literature by providing new empirical evidence on a topic that has received limited academic attention and highlights avenues for future research, particularly regarding commemorative stadium renamings and supporter attachment.