Valuing sport as a public good(Case study: Iran's participation in the Asian Nations Cup

The purpose of this research was to value sport as a public good (case study: Iran's participation in the Asian Nations Cup).

The research method was descriptive and it was in the category of applied research. The statistical population of this study included the population of Kermanshah province in an unlimited number, from whom 385 people were selected based on Morgan’s table and random stratified sampling. To investigate the research variables, the Humphreys et al. (2018) questionnaire, consisting of 15 yes/no items, was used. To analyze the data, the inferential statistics of logistic regression and diagnostic logistic regression were used by SPSS software.

The findings showed that the variables of honor, encouragement, satisfaction, performance and interest in paying attention to the community were more important than other factors. The age groups of above 61 years old, 60-46 years old, and income groups of above 5 million and 3-5 million were more willing to pay more for winning the championship title than other age and income groups. Findings also revealed that 0.38% were willing to pay to win the title of the national football team in the Nations Cup, and 0.62% were reluctant to pay.

Therefore, community policymakers should focus on solving peoples’ economic problems, so that by increasing income and improving people's livelihoods, they will be more inclined to support the national football team. The relevant authorities can help improve the performance of the national football team in international competitions by providing full support to those teams in terms of finances, technology, facilities, equipment, etc., so that the reputation of the national team will rise globally, creating pride for the people of the country and increase their willingness to pay.