Estimating the concession fee for the use of a football stadium

The concession for the use of real estate intended to provide public services is the tool often used by the public administration to obtain, with the recourse to private investment, the valorisation of the asset and a more efficient management of the service. A typical case is that of football stadiums, the management of which is normally entrusted in concession to companies that assume the burden of guaranteeing the safety and functionality of the facility to provide a satisfactory experience for the spectator. When the management of the asset entails profit margins for the concessionary company, the public service concession must provide for the payment of a fee as consideration for the use of the asset. This work deals with the issue of estimating the concession fee for football stadiums granted to clubs with teams playing in professional leagues. The issue is addressed through the implementation of a direct probabilistic and multi-parametric approach, which attempts to overcome the limitations of the procedures normally used in these cases, based on cost value or income analysis, resulting from the subjective nature that often characterises the choice of fundamental parameters. Specifically, a multiple regression analysis is developed on the basis of information and data from the examination of existing concession contracts for similar properties. The results show that the variance of the fees is explained by the level of the football league in which the concessionaire’s team plays, the capacity of the stadium, the year of construction of the stadium, and the year of the last major renovation on the building structure.