The commercialization of sport since the 1990s has had a number of consequences. The market forces that have defined commercialization, notably pay-per-view television, whilst initially welcomed as important new sources of revenue, have also had the unanticipated consequences of de-stabilizing many sporting competitions and institutions, undermining the financial future of clubs in their traditional role as key social and cultural institutions. This has been manifested in the paradox of chronic financial loss-making amongst professional sports’ clubs in an era of exponential revenue growth, a trend exemplified by the experience of Italy’s Series A and the English Premier League – both cases examined in detail in this book.

But, at the same time, some traditional sporting organizations have sought with some success, to chart a middle way, retaining traditional sporting movement objectives whilst also embracing a form of commercialism. The Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland, the supporter-owned FC Barcelona football club, and New Zealand rugby union, offer illustrative examples of such strategies examined in detail. This book explores the background to this clash of commercial and traditional sporting objectives, and debates the consequences for wider sports governance.

This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

Contents

1. Introduction: models of football governance and management in international sport David Hassan and Sean Hamil 2. Financial performance in English professional football: ‘an inconvenient truth’ Sean Hamil and Geoff Walters 3. The governance and regulation of Italian football Sean Hamil, Stephen Morrow, Catharine Idle, Giambattista Rossi and Stefano Faccendini 4. Governance and the Gaelic Athletic Association: time to move beyond the amateur ideal? David Hassan 5. Who owns England’s game? American professional sporting influences and foreign ownership in the Premier League John Naurigohn Ramfjord 6. ‘Club versus country’ in rugby union: tensions in an exceptional New Zealand system Camilla Obel 7. The impact of televised football on stadium attendances in English and Spanish league football Babatunde Buraimo, Juan Luis Paramio and Carlos Campos 8. The model of governance at FC Barcelona: balancing member democracy, commercial strategy, corporate social responsibility and sporting performance Sean Hamil, Geoff Walters and Lee Watson

Author Bio

David Hassan is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ulster. He is Academic Editor of Sport in Society and joint Editor of Foundations in Sport Management, a new Routledge series. Dr. Hassan has published extensively in the politics and governance of sport in a range of international academic journals.

Sean Hamil is a Lecturer in the Department of Management at Birkbeck College, University of London. A co-founder of Birkbeck College’s Sport Business Centre, Sean has published extensively on the subjec...