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The Decline of Professional Football in Italy

Author

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  • Boeri, Tito

    (Bocconi University)

  • Severgnini, Battista

    (Copenhagen Business School)

Abstract

There are three main critical areas in the Italian football industry. First, we find that the revenues of teams playing in Serie A are low and highly concentrated on TV rights, hence vulnerable to changing conditions in the mass media industry. Second, we document that there has been an exponential growth of players' salaries, which has been historically driving up the total costs up to unsustainable levels. The third problem relates to a lack of credibility of the competition, due to a long list of scandals and its potential effects on revenues. In particular, the 2006 investigation on match rigging, and the new episodes on betting scandals in 2009 and 2010, have depressed the total revenues of all teams not only of those directly involved in match fixing. There can also be second round effects via a deterioration of the quality of games, which may also reduce revenues of the clubs. Possible ways out of these problems are discussed in the last section.

Suggested Citation

  • Boeri, Tito & Severgnini, Battista, 2012. "The Decline of Professional Football in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 7018, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Babatunde Buraimo & Giuseppe Migali & Robert Simmons, 2014. "An analysis of consumer response to corruption," Working Papers 64473209, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. Boeri, Tito & Severgnini, Battista, 2008. "The Italian Job: Match Rigging, Career Concerns and Media Concentration in Serie A," IZA Discussion Papers 3745, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Boeri, Tito & Severgnini, Battista, 2011. "Match rigging and the career concerns of referees," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 349-359, June.
    4. Claudio Lucifora & Rob Simmons, 2003. "Superstar Effects in Sport," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 4(1), pages 35-55, February.
    5. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-858, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Marco Di Domizio & Lorenzo Neri & Giambattista Rossi & Antonella Russo, 2019. "Sport O Business? Il Calcio-Mercato Si Rivela," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 15(2), pages 121-144, ottobre.
    3. Green, Colin & Lozano, Fernando & Simmons, Rob, 2015. "Rank-order tournaments, probability of winning and investing in talent: evidence from champions' league qualifying rules," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232, pages 30-40, May.
    4. Osokin, N. & Solntsev, I., 2017. "Constructing a Multidimensional Indicator of Sports Development: the Case of the Football Development Index," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 135-163.
    5. Varian, Hal R., 2021. "Seven deadly sins of tech?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Alex Bryson & Giambattista Rossi & Rob Simmons, 2014. "The Migrant Wage Premium in Professional Football: A Superstar Effect?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 12-28, February.
    7. Vincenzo Carrieri & Francesco Principe & Michele Raitano, 2018. "What makes you ‘super-rich’? New evidence from an analysis of football players’ wages," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(4), pages 950-973.
    8. Carrieri, Vincenzo & Principe, Francesco & Raitano, Michele, 2017. "What makes you "super-rich"? New evidence from an analysis of football players' earnings," Ruhr Economic Papers 681, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    9. Babatunde Buraimo & Giuseppe Migali & Robert Simmons, 2014. "An analysis of consumer response to corruption," Working Papers 64473209, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    10. C. P. Barros & G. Rossi, 2014. "A Bayesian stochastic frontier of Italian football," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(20), pages 2398-2407, July.
    11. Vincenzo Alfano & Massimo Guarino & Francesca Rotondo, 2023. "In Hoc Signo Vinces—an Exploratory Study on the Impact of Religion on Violence in Sport," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 200-214, September.
    12. Alexander John Bond & Francesco Addesa, 2020. "Competitive Intensity, Fans’ Expectations, and Match-Day Tickets Sold in the Italian Football Serie A, 2012-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(1), pages 20-43, January.
    13. Kotrba, Vojtěch, 2019. "Direct preferences of sports fans: Is there a superstar effect in the fantasy league?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 89-97.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    superstar effects; match fixing; career concerns;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations

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