Role models in sports – Can success in professional sports increase the demand for amateur sport participation?

•We develop a theoretical framework of sporting role models.•Ordered response regression models were applied to analyze whether professional sports success could motivate sport participation.•The results of a primary survey show that a motivational effect of professional sports on sport participation exists.•Increasing age and experience will decrease the motivational effect of professional sports.•A higher relevance of professional sports will increase the motivational effect of professional sports.

The determinants of the demand for sport participation have been extensively analyzed. This study intends to complement these determinants by examining the question of whether the success of professional athletes can spill over on the demand for amateur sport participation. A theoretical framework of sporting role models was developed and subsequently tested with a stated preference approach and primary data of N = 1413 amateur soccer players from Germany. The results show that past success of both the female and the male German national soccer teams had increased the demand for amateur soccer only slightly. However, present (hypothetical) success of the national teams considerably increases the demand for the frequency of soccer participation of already active players. The estimation of ordered logit regression models validates the constructed framework. Availability and relevance of the role models as well as similarity to the role models are the main predictors of their motivational effect.