A novel model for soccer match attendance rate incorporating star effect: Empirical evidence from the China Super League

In view of the interrelations between the economy and the sports market, the star effect has become a popular economic phenomenon. Although previous studies have examined the superstar effect in soccer matches, they have rarely discussed the whole star effect of a competition team. Hence we use the data of 710 matches in the Chinese Super League and build a novel model for attendance rate incorporating the influence of star effect. The result shows that the group star effect does exist in the attendance rate of soccer matches from the lens of sports demand. The effect is most pronounced when star players are defined as the top 2% of a team's total value. Additionally, we take the interaction between star players in home countries and abroad, star players and game uncertainty, host and guest teams into account. The results reveal that these interactions are significant, which have not been researched in other studies.