The Impact of Football Clubs on Urban Economic Development: Evidence from China

In this paper, the author uses the research approach of bibliography, mathematical statistics, and expert interviews and selects the relevant economic indicators that measure the level of urban economic development, then carries on the regression analysis with the data of Chinese Super League club's athletic performance and the audience number. The clubs of CSL are mainly concentrated in economically developed cities, where the city mostly municipalities and provincial capitals. There is a significant positive correlation between the competitive performance of the club and the per capita GDP of the city, the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents, the per capita disposable income of urban residents, the regional GDP, and the savings deposits of urban and rural residents. There are significant positive correlations between fan attendance and the regional GDP and the balance of savings deposits between urban and rural residents but with the per capita GDP, per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents, per capita disposable urban residents Income, and urban residents Engel coefficient and no significant correlation.