Distance and Decision Makers – The heterogeneity in Irish Sports Capital Funding

Work on geographically targeted spending and its electoral connections, particularly in a sporting context is a well-studied phenomena. However, much, if not all examination has tended to focus on grants as being homogenous without taking into the account the heterogeneity of awards. Therefore, this paper decomposes grants into different types of facilities (All, Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Soccer and Multisport) and tests whether the theory of “sports-pork” holds for all. Secondly, the common binary measure to examine bias is replaced with a new distance variable, which measures the distance between an individual’s hometown and successful club. Finally, for the first time a new relationship is examined, noting the difference between a grant a club applied for relative to what it received. Successful applicants geographically proximate to the Minister for Sport, Finance and Taoiseach receive larger awards, however also lower portions of applied funding. Moreover, examining individual specific effects the bias in distribution for both the Minister of Sport and Taoiseach has decreased under recent individuals