Evaluating sport events at European level: the Euro 2004

In this paper, we estimate the willingness to pay for a sporting event: the Euro 2004 Soccer Championships that will take place in Portugal in June/July 2004. The estimation is carried out by means of a Tobit regression model. We conclude that there is a small proportion of the population who are prepared to pay for the event, with a declared small amount. The WTP is positively related to the number of times that the individual attends a soccer game during the season and to the education level of the respondent. The WTP is negatively related to the household income, to the declaration that the individual is a fan of the soccer team and to the perception that the event is prestigious for the country. The results give rise to the conclusion that the Euro 2004 is not a Pareto improvement of the public good, since the aggregated willingness-to-pay is lower than the estimated total costs.