Do sports facilities increases activity in sports clubs?

Abstract

Sports and sports activity have been an essential factor in my childhood, and as a grownup, I see the importance of sports activity. In this master thesis, I have investigated how the number of sports facilities affects sports clubs' activity in Norway. By using the methodology of causality with the provided data for Norges Idretsforbund, it has been possible to estimate how the number of sports facilities per capita affects the population's active share in the Norwegian municipalities. I have used a fixed-effects model to estimate the coefficients of those sports federations in Norway, who has been possible to match with a sports-specific facility. The results show that most sports federations have a positive effect when the number of sports facilities per capita increases. But there are significant differences between sports federations and municipalities.