Do public subsidies and facility coverage matter for voluntary sports clubs?

•Our study combines data from databases with information about all 98 Danish municipalities, including information about direct and indirect municipal subsidies for sports clubs, the coverage of different types of sports facilities, the number of sports clubs and members registered within the municipality (generally and within selected sports), and selected municipal characteristics (e.g. the number of inhabitants and the tax base).•We show that the levels of direct and indirect subsidies from municipalities to sports clubs are uncorrelated or only weakly correlated with both the density of sports clubs and the participation in sports clubs among children and young people (below the age of 25 years) as well as adults (aged 25 years or above).•Our results underline the importance of facility coverage for the density of and participation in sports clubs. Positive correlations are identified between the supply of large sports halls and natural grass pitches on the one hand and the density of sports clubs on the other. Regarding sports club participation among children and young people as well as adults, positive correlations with the supply of large sports halls are identified.•With our data, we can differentiate the importance of municipal framework conditions within five selected sports (badminton, football, gymnastics, handball and swimming). Our analyses reveal that the supply of relevant facility types is – with few exceptions – positively correlated with sports club density and participation levels within each sport.•Overall, our results feed in to discussions about the prioritisation of funds in municipalities by showing that facility coverage seems to play a more important role for sports clubs than the levels of indirect and particularly direct subsidies.In many countries, voluntary sports clubs are the main recipients of public subsidies regarding the provision of recreational sport, and the economically most important level of government is usually the local government (i.e. the municipalities). The purpose of this article is to examine whether and how municipal framework conditions matter for sports clubs. Inspired by previous studies, we examine the role of direct and indirect public subsidies as well as facility coverage. The authors conduct analyses on a general level (for all sports) and specifically for five sports (badminton, football, gymnastics, handball and swimming). The differentiation between sports allows us to examine how municipal framework conditions might be associated differently with density and participation across sports. In the statistical analyses, the authors apply data collected among all 98 Danish municipalities. The results show that the municipal levels of direct and indirect subsidies are weakly correlated with both the density of and participation in sports clubs, while stronger correlations can be identified with regard to facility coverage. The analyses for the five sports reveal that the supply of relevant facility types is – with few exceptions – positively correlated with sports club density and participation levels within each sport. Thus, facility coverage seems to play a more important role for sports clubs than the levels of indirect and particularly direct subsidies.