IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jepppp/jepp-03-2019-103.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global brands in sports: identifying low-risk business opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Alice Aguiar-Noury
  • Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to accomplish several goals. First, it studies the relevance of the sports sector as part of the entertainment industry. Second, it identifies promising markets within the sports industry, paying special attention to the relative importance of soccer in the context of team-sport leagues. Finally, the paper helps entrepreneurs to recognized market opportunities in the sports industry by identifying the soccer clubs that were found to be low-risk global brands. Design/methodology/approach - To evaluate the relevance of the entertainment and sports industries, both in the USA and EU-28, the authors rely on their respective contribution to the domestic product and to employment. Two procedures are proposed for establishing the status of global sport leagues: one is based on the annual revenues and the other on the degree of interest that the public shows for each professional sport league. (The latter is performed by comparing the intensity with which internet users search for contents related to each of the Top-10 sports leagues worldwide.) Finally, by estimating the fixed effects of a model in which sport performance is filtered out, we calculate the expected low-risk revenues that clubs generate due to their heterogeneous brand value. Findings - This paper reaches some few relevant results. First, we find that the greater employment opportunities in the European sport industry are concentrated in the UK, Spain, France and Germany, which may orientate entrepreneurs to start projects in promising sport markets. Then, data on annual revenues is used to rank the main team-sport leagues worldwide: NFL, MLB, NBA, Premier League and NHL. Another rank is based on the degree of interest of fans (as captured by Google Trends) yields a different result, where the NFL, NBA and the UEFA Champions League are, respectively, at command. Besides, the paper also ranks clubs as valuable assets by identifying which of them are low-risk soccer brands. The empirical study provides insights to select business opportunities by targeting the less-risky clubs or leagues, by calculating the expected annual revenues of clubs regardless of their recent sports performances. Originality/value - This paper is innovative in two ways. First, it develops an analysis based on Google Trends to establish the comparative status of team-sport leagues worldwide. Second, by adopting an original empirical approach, it identifies markets and brands to carry out low-risk entrepreneurial projects. The expected potential revenues derived from this procedure are not contingent to the risk due to poor sport achievements in a particular season. To our knowledge, researchers have not computed in the past such calculations as that we name here low-risk revenues.

Suggested Citation

  • Alice Aguiar-Noury & Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio, 2019. "Global brands in sports: identifying low-risk business opportunities," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(1), pages 62-83, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:jepppp:jepp-03-2019-103
    DOI: 10.1108/JEPP-03-2019-103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEPP-03-2019-103/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEPP-03-2019-103/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/JEPP-03-2019-103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Florian Hemme & Dominic G. Morais & Matthew T. Bowers & Janice S. Todd, 2017. "Extending sport-based entrepreneurship theory through phenomenological inquiry," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 92-104, January.
    2. Roberto Gásquez & Vicente Royuela, 2014. "Is Football an Indicator of Development at the International Level?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 827-848, July.
    3. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Economic Design of Sporting Contests," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 1, pages 1-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Stefan Szymanski & Ron Smith, 2010. "The English Football Industry: Profit, Performance and Industrial Structure," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 1, pages 1-26, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Hemme, Florian & Morais, Dominic G. & Bowers, Matthew T. & Todd, Janice S., 2017. "Extending sport-based entrepreneurship theory through phenomenological inquiry," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 92-104.
    6. Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 8(1), pages 3-27, June.
    7. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Francesc Pujol, 2007. "Hidden monopsony rents in winner-take-all markets-sport and economic contribution of Spanish soccer players," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 57-70.
    8. Ratten, Vanessa, 2010. "Developing a theory of sport-based entrepreneurship," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 557-565, September.
    9. Korzynski, Pawel & Paniagua, Jordi, 2016. "Score a tweet and post a goal: Social media recipes for sports stars," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 185-192.
    10. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "The Sports Business as a Labor Market Laboratory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 75-94, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & J. James Reade, 2023. "The Impact of Uncertainty on Fan Interest Surrounding Multiple Outcomes in Open European Football Leagues," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    2. Guillermo Sanahuja-Peris & Víctor Agulló-Calatayud & Rocío Blay-Arráez, 2021. "David against Goliath: Diagnosis and Strategies for a Niche Sport to Develop a Sustainable Fan Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & J. James Reade, 2022. "Does certainty on the winner diminish the interest in sport competitions? The case of formula one," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 1059-1079, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Stefan Szymanski, 2009. "Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(1), pages 45-68, February.
    2. Jonas Hammerschmidt & Fabian Eggers & Sascha Kraus & Paul Jones & Matthias Filser, 2020. "Entrepreneurial orientation in sports entrepreneurship - a mixed methods analysis of professional soccer clubs in the German-speaking countries," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 839-857, September.
    3. Jeffery Borland, 2003. "Demand for Sport," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(4), pages 478-502, Winter.
    4. Jonas Hammerschmidt & Fabian Eggers & Sascha Kraus & Paul Jones & Matthias Filser, 0. "Entrepreneurial orientation in sports entrepreneurship - a mixed methods analysis of professional soccer clubs in the German-speaking countries," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-19.
    5. Wladimir Andreff, 2009. "Équilibre compétitif et contrainte budgétaire dans une ligue de sport professionnel," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 60(3), pages 591-633.
    6. PEETERS, Thomas & SZYMANSKI, Stefan, 2012. "Vertical restraints in soccer: Financial fair play and the English Premier League," Working Papers 2012028, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    7. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini & Riccardo Rialti & Giacomo Marzi & Andrea Caputo, 2020. "Sport entrepreneurship: A synthesis of existing literature and future perspectives," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 795-826, September.
    8. repec:lic:licosd:26510 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:lan:wpaper:3702 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. B Frick & R Simmons, 2005. "The impact of managerial quality on organizational performance: evidence from German soccer," Working Papers 566927, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    11. Braun, Erik & Gyimesi, András, 2021. "Van-e esélyük a feljutó csapatoknak a bennmaradásra? Az európai labdarúgó-bajnokságok összehasonlítása az első osztály előnye alapján [Do novice top teams have a chance of remaining?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 863-889.
    12. Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso & Marco Di Domizio, 2021. "Relative wages, payroll structure and performance in soccer. Evidence from Italian Serie A (2007-2019)," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0015, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    13. Pedro Garcia‐del‐Barrio & Francesc Pujol, 2009. "The Rationality of Under‐employing the Best‐performing Soccer Players," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(3), pages 397-419, September.
    14. repec:osf:osfxxx:xdbr5_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Thomas Peeters & Stefan Szymanski, 2014. "Financial fair play in European football [v. National Football League, 560 (The Supreme Court May 24, 2010)]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 29(78), pages 343-390.
    16. Hoey, Sam & Peeters, Thomas & Principe, Francesco, 2021. "The transfer system in European football: A pro-competitive no-poaching agreement?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    17. Bernd Frick & Robert Simmons, 2008. "The impact of managerial quality on organizational performance: evidence from German soccer," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(7), pages 593-600.
    18. Sébastien Dessus & Gaël Raballand, 2011. "L'Etat peut-il rendre compétitif les clubs de football français," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 11048, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    19. Marco Di Domizio & Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso, 2022. "Payroll dispersion and performance in soccer: A seasonal perspective analysis for Italian Serie A (2007–2021)," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 513-525, July.
    20. Luca Fumarco & Neil Longley & Alberto Palermo & Giambattista Rossi, 2024. "Strategic behaviours in a labour market with mobility-restricting contractual provisions: evidence from the National Hockey League," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 76(4), pages 1189-1203.
    21. Deschamps, Pierre & De Sousa, José, 2021. "Labor mobility and racial discrimination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    22. Erik E. Lehmann & Günther G. Schulze, 2007. "What does it take to be a star? The role of performance and the media for German soccer players," Discussion Paper Series 1, Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg, revised Mar 2008.
    23. Thomas Peeters & Steven Salaga & Matthew Juravich, 2015. "Matching and Winning? The Impact of Upper and Middle Managers on Team Performance in Major League Baseball," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-115/VII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 03 Mar 2020.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:jepppp:jepp-03-2019-103. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.