Sport facilities and sporting success in Iran: The Resource Curse Hypothesis

In recent years, the Iranian Government has increased its expenditures on sport activities. The aims of these expenditures are: first, to develop recreational sport facilities to improve public health and to use sport as an instrument of social engineering; and second, to provide elite-level facilities to build a powerful sports nation. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between government expenditures on sport facilities (GXSF) and sporting success in the oil-rich economy, Iran. Applying regression analyses to the 31 provinces, our results indicated that a higher level of GXFS was not a significant determinant of sporting success. This result may have been due to the fact that national sport resources are directed toward the inefficient provinces because of a high level of patronage behaviors among political elites and the mismanagement of sport funds. Moreover, our results suggested that provinces with larger populations, hosting more sport events and having more investment in sports by the private sector have higher levels of sporting success. The implications of these findings are discussed.