Media and Sport Participation with Emphasis on Socio-Economic Factors: An Econometric Model with Simultaneous Equations Approach

Media can play an effective role in promoting sports participation by distribution of sports information. Also, sports activities and events are important sources of information for the media. Also, developed countries perform better economically and socially in sports and the media. Therefore, purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction effect of media and sport participation with the emphasis on socio-economic factors. We develop an econometric model with simultaneous equations approach and using the 2SLS method for provinces of Iran between 2004 and 2017. The results showed that there is an interaction, significant, and positive effect between sports media and athletes' sport participation. Also, there is an interaction, significant, and positive effect between athletes' sport participation and non-athlete sport participation (referees and coaches). Sports media has a significant and positive effect on non-athletes sport participation but the effect of non-athletes' sports participation (referees and coaches) on the media was not significant. Also, Consumer Price Index (CPI) of food, clothing, housing and unemployment rate have a significant and negative effect on athletes' sports participation. The effect of GDP on the non-athletes sport participation is significant and positive; finally, the country's population has a significant and positive effect on sports media.