An Analysis of Consumer Response to Corruption: Italy's Calciopoli Scandal

The Calciopoli episode affecting Italian football in the 2005–6 season serves as an opportunity for an empirical investigation into consumer (fan) behavior, following league‐imposed punishments on clubs whose officials were found guilty of corrupt practices. Using a difference‐in‐differences estimation method, we find that home attendances for convicted teams fell by around 16%, relative to those clubs not subject to punishment. We show further that the fall in attendances resulted in non‐trivial gate revenue reductions. Our results suggest that a sizeable number of fans of the punished clubs were subsequently deterred from supporting their teams inside the stadium.