Up for the Cup

Stefan Szymanski

Published: December 2001

Measured by attendance of football fans, the FA Cup is in decline. This paper reviews the evidence of this decline and suggests that the underlying cause may be the growing imbalance of competition in the Cup. The paper considers the drastic innovation that the FA introduced in 2001 to stem that decline: the allocation of prize money. The prize money scheme is described and its likely impact on the outcome of the competition is discussed.