From Homophonic to Polyphonic Organization: European Team Sports Clubs in Transformation

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 93-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Storm

From Homophonic to Polyphonic Organization: European Team Sports Clubs in Transformation Several European sports - especially association football - have rapidly evolved from amateur status into high-income professional sports in the last two decades or so. During this development the scope and objectives of the clubs have been broadened as the clubs to a growing degree serve several concurrent goals such as striving for profit maximization, a high winning percent, fan loyalty, spectator attendance and TV viewers, coupled with satisfying demands from the environment for various kinds of community engagement and sometimes even social or cultural aspects. Taking this development as its point of departure, this paper aims at deploying a theoretical framework capable of better understanding the objectives of European football clubs as they have developed into a complex situation of professionalism. This is done by deploying a systems theoretical approach, thus regarding the clubs as evolving from homophonic towards polyphonic organization.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Litvishko ◽  
Roman R. Veynberg

Purpose of the study.The introduction of financial discipline rules by the Union of European Football Associations started a new stage in the development of the football industry. According to the UEFA statistical report in 2017, football clubs for the first time reported a total profit of more than 600 million Euros, while a few years earlier the total losses of clubs representing the highest European football divisions were 1.7 billion Euros. This fact indicates a possible change in the investment attractiveness of sports clubs. The purpose of this study is to assess the presence of the investment potential of the football industry as a possible object of capital investment.Materials and methods.The study analyzed the data obtained from the official statistical sources, including a comparative UEFA report for 2017 on the licensing of clubs “Landscape of European Club Football”, normative legal acts regulating public relations in the field of professional sports, publishing in periodicals and the Internet, illustrating the practice and problems of professional sports development, as well as statistical data from the portals www.stoxx. com and www.investing.com. The study applies such methods of scientific cognition as a method of statistical and economic analysis, comparison, analogies, synthesis, as well as the method of measuring and aggregating data, the graphical and tabular method.Results of the research.When considering the shares of professional sports clubs as objects of capital investment, it is advisable for investors to pay attention to the functional type of assets that such organizations possess and the degree of diversification of their activities. The structure of non-current assets and the share attributable to tangible assets - sports infrastructure and other objects, is an important factor affecting the specific risks inherent in the activities of sports subjects, which allows to compensate losses incurred as a result of not achieving the goal set for the team for the season due to revenues from other activities that affect the investment attractiveness of the club.Conclusion. Based on the results, we can draw the following conclusions. The football industry has significant revenue growth potential. The increase in the financial profitability of professional sports subjects is accompanied by a rise in the stock index quotes, which accumulates the shares of European public football clubs. The comparative analysis carried out in the research indicates the attractiveness of these financial instruments as an investment object. However, such investments are characterized by a high degree of risk due to the specificity inherent in the professional sports industry. From the total number of factors affecting the exchange rate fluctuations of football clubs' shares, one can single out the most significant indicators such as the outcome and significance of the match, the nature of the tournament, and the sports (physical) form of the team.


2019 ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. V. Litvishko ◽  
O. M. Golikova

The precarious financial condition of sports clubs, combined with negative cash flows and permanent losses, can be the cause of the further collapse of the entire football industry. This is largely due to the European model of the implementation of sports activities, when in the pursuit of a sports result, the basic principles of building a business and financial efficiency go to the background. The article has been devoted to the search questions of an effective business model for the further development of the professional sports industry, taking into account the modern requirements of a market economy. The arguments, that the financial rules, introduced by Union of European Football Associations, will make football clubs profitable projects attractive to investors, are given in the article.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-166
Author(s):  
Vanja Smokvina ◽  
Patricia Ribarić Smokvina

The paper aims at analysing Croatian professional sport and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on it. Football was taken as a model for other team sports because of the share of professional sports clubs in the Republic of Croatia in football. In addition, the legal framework set in football may apply to other sports for successfully developing a similar pattern. The analyses are conducted into the revenues (sponsorships, ticketing and TV rights), and expenses (expenses on behalf of players remuneration) of the football clubs in the First Croatian Football League, providing an overview of the professional status of sports clubs, athletes and coaches. It also encompasses an analysis into measures taken by the Government of the Republic of Croatia to support Croatian sport during the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 crisis has been taken as a possible starting position for better regulation of sports in future, especially as regards the professional sports in the Republic of Croatia contributing significantly to the promotion of the Republic of Croatia worldwide.


Games ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aloys L. Prinz

An evolutionary model of European football was applied to analyze a two-stage indirect evolution game in which teams choose their utility function in the first stage, and their optimal talent investments in the second stage. Given the second-stage optimal aggregate-taking strategy (ATS) of talent investment, it was shown that teams may choose a mix of profit or win maximization as their objective, where the former is of considerably higher relevance with linear weights for profits, and is more successful in the utility function. With linear weights for profit and win maximization, maximizing profits is the only evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) of teams. The results change if quadratic weights for profits and wins are employed. With increasing talent productivity, win maximization dominates in the static and in the dynamic versions of the model. As a consequence, it is an open question whether the commercialization of football (and other sports) leagues will lead to more profit or win maximization.


Author(s):  
Alessio Faccia ◽  
Leonardo Josè Mataruna-Dos-Santos ◽  
Hussein Munoz Helù ◽  
Daniel Range

Sports are framed within the context of the Olympic spirit and are, therefore, within the vision and mission of the Olympic Committee, aimed at “building a better world”. This is identified as a fundamental value and sustainability is therefore explicitly considered to be a “working principle” of this. In this research an analysis of the performance of professional European football teams publicly listed on stock markets, restating the income statements according to the Value-Added perspective is carried out. This takes into account the effective sustainable contribution in the distribution of added value with reference to the human, structural, debt, infrastructural, and risk capitals of these organisations. The Value-Added Statement is considered as a part of the broader CSR Reporting and can be traced back to the late 1970s. However, it is in widespread contemporary use and is regarded as being both a credible and a tested measure. In this paper, the authors apply a slightly modified and simplified version of this tool to these publicly listed European football clubs as a proxy for wider professional sport. This research demonstrates that, although professional sports clubs are profit-oriented, the distribution of wealth generated by the added value is unbalanced. In most cases, at least in financial terms, shareholders are the most disadvantaged and athletes are the most rewarded.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9853
Author(s):  
Alessio Faccia ◽  
Leonardo José Mataruna-Dos-Santos ◽  
Hussein Munoz Helù ◽  
Daniel Range

All sports have their roots and connection in some way to the Olympic spirit, and therefore fall within the vision and mission of the Olympic Committee, which has a central aim of “building a better world”. This is a fundamental value of the Olympics and sustainability is a “working principle” of this. This research analyses the performance of professional European football teams that are publicly listed on stock markets, analysing their income statements and factoring in how the value-added perspective is impacting professional sport. The methodology we use considers the sustainable contribution of the distribution of added value. The Value-Added Statement is considered as a part of broader Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which can be traced back as a concept to the late 1970s. It is still in widespread use and is regarded as being both a credible and a tested measure. In this paper, the authors apply a slightly modified and simplified version of this value-added approach to all publicly listed European football clubs and use these as a proxy for wider professional sport. This research demonstrates that, although most professional sports clubs are profit-oriented, the distribution of wealth generated by the added value is unbalanced. In most cases, at least in financial terms, the data shows shareholders are the most disadvantaged, whereas athletes are the most rewarded.


Author(s):  
Christopher Hautbois ◽  
Patrick Bouchet

It has become common for academics and sports marketing professionals to study and explain the heterogeneity and complexity of sports spectators' behaviours and attitudes, with numerous works addressing this topic But these surveys are more about fans of professional sports clubs (soccer, basketball, baseball, hockey, etc) who attend regular season games in their favourite teams' home stadium or arena. To our knowledge, very few studies have been conducted into spectators of national teams. It is these spectators who are of the focus of this paper.


Author(s):  
Ilia Solntsev

In Europe, most football clubs have long been positioned as business projects, which are active in financial markets and apply various funding tools. The 2018 FIFA World Cup inspired a new wave of interest in Russian football and created attractive conditions for applying new funding tools. The specifics of the economy surrounding sports development in Russia have led to a situation whereby most sports clubs depend on limited apportionments of budgetary funds, and require novel sources of additional funding for different development purposes, e.g. constructing stadiums, training grounds, youth academies and everyday operations. The aim of this research is to examine the best foreign practice in the field of attracting funding by sports clubs and propose adaptations for Russian conditions. This work presents a practice-oriented review of the most modern funding tools used in football, and analyses the capital structure of European football clubs, their funding policies and preferences. The competitive level of the European and Russian clubs, their relative financial capabilities, and their development prospects were considered, and the analytical mapping process ascribed prospective investment ratings to the Russian clubs. In a similar manner, recommendations as to how practical funding examples from European clubs may be adapted and followed in the Russian context are described. By comparison and contrast, likely candidates among Russian clubs for similar economic strategies are identified. The sources of information utilised for this process include annual reports from European football clubs, research studies, and academic articles, along with any available contextual information on Russian clubs. The study was limited by the secrecy of reporting in Russian football and the weak financial position of most Russian clubs, which restricts their funding opportunities. However, despite the special development model of domestic Russian football and the harsh economic conditions, the proposals formulated in this work can be implemented into the practical activity of any club, regardless its scale and can contribute to improving financial sustainability, competitive results and the integrated development of Russian clubs. The methods proposed can act as a catalyst for the gradual corporatisation of Russian football clubs and will be of interest to investors, business analysts, economic scientists and football fans alike.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariela Caglio ◽  
Sébastien Laffitte ◽  
Donato Masciandaro ◽  
Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano

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