Tribune. Sports economists have, since the mid-1950s, reflected on the conditions under which the product “sports spectacle” generates consumer demand. The attractiveness of the show (in team sports) would be based mainly on two factors: the quality of the talents on the field and the uncertainty about the course and outcome of the match.
Recent events have taught us (or reminded us) that the quality of the “sports spectacle” product is based on a third element: the presence of the public and, to be more precise, of a substantial fraction of the public “actor of the event”. .
The closed-door meetings, which preceded and followed the confinement, had the virtue of demonstrating that the total absence of an audience degrades the quality of the finished product: for the viewer (the spectator being banned), the match in camera is an ersatz match and its maximum willingness to pay to consume the spectacle of professional sport is reduced.
Stakeholder spectators
The clubs are aware of this state of affairs. This is why they “subsidize” certain seats in the stadium: the price that spectators are made to pay for turns is low not only because the vision of the game is less good, but also because the kops which occupy them. loudly the meetings. Further reasoning, it should be asked whether, in certain circumstances, it would not be optimal to charge a “negative” price for the access to the stadium of the most expansive spectators, or, in other words, to pay them to attend meetings.
Some spectators are therefore stakeholders in the production of the sports spectacle through the atmosphere they produce. The virtue of this participation is to make the experience of other spectators and televiewers richer. Unfortunately, this fringe of spectators is sometimes turbulent and the relationship it has with the clubs is ambivalent.
In French football, for example, clubs are said to be very reluctant to pay the most ardent supporters. By taking certain precautions, they would nevertheless find a real interest in it: because he would be paid, the exuberant spectator would be encouraged to respect certain rules (no degradation, no insult, no violence) and to produce clamors and encouragement. which improve the quality of the sports spectacle.
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