IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rde/rivdes/202101didomizio_caruso.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analisi Economica E Prospettive Del Progetto "Super League"

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Di Domizio
  • Raul Caruso

Abstract

This article aims at discussing the issue of the football Super League as it emerged in the proposal of the 12 «rebels» clubs in April 2021. The idea of a European League managed by the most powerful clubs out of the UEFA shield is not a novelty in the history. The reaction of media, politicians, and fans has been so harsh against the project inducing the clubs, firstly the English teams, to give it up, with the exemption of Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid even menaced by UEFA to be fined or excluded from the European competitions in the next season. Our paper contributes to the debate on Super League by discussing key elements that recently, in our opinion, may have forced the proposers to overturn the European football organization. We examine the economic and financial situation of the 12 clubs adhering to the Super League by scrutinizing the financial reports to test the hypothesis if the abovementioned project may be considered as the final fling prior their bankruptcy, or a natural step towards the process of "americanization" of European football. The financial situation has been also explored considering the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis that increased the financial instability of the football system. In our opinion the Super League projects has not been determined firstly by the risk of solvency of the 12 clubs, but as in the past, by the willingness to exclude the international organization (UEFA) from the control of the increasing earnings generated by the football events. In addition, by organizing a «semi-closed» competition, the clubs aim at reducing the financial risky associated to worst sporting performances. The collapse of the projects revealed its fragility since a new design of international competition may not be considered the solution of the wide problems faced by football nowadays. A more comprehensive perspective needs to be adopted to solve the difficulties of clubs in terms of wages bubbles, revenues polarization, results crystallization and calendar saturation.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Di Domizio & Raul Caruso, 2021. "Analisi Economica E Prospettive Del Progetto "Super League"," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 17(1), pages 85-107, luglio.
    • Handle: RePEc:rde:rivdes:202101didomizio_caruso
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.rdes.it/RDES_1_2021_DI_DOMIZIO_CARUSO.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hammerschmidt, Jonas & Durst, Susanne & Kraus, Sascha & Puumalainen, Kaisu, 2021. "Professional football clubs and empirical evidence from the COVID-19 crisis: Time for sport entrepreneurship?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "Income Inequality, Competitive Balance and the Attractiveness of Team Sports: Some Evidence and a Natural Experiment from English Soccer," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 9, pages 182-201, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "Team sports and finance," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00270368, HAL.
    4. Thomas Hoehn & Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Americanization of European football," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Football Economics and Policy, chapter 3, pages 52-96, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. John J. Binder & Murray Findlay, 2012. "The Effects of the Bosman Ruling on National and Club Teams in Europe," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(2), pages 107-129, April.
    6. 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.
    7. Egon Franck, 2018. "European Club Football after “Five Treatments” with Financial Fair Play—Time for an Assessment," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-19, December.
    8. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "Team sports and finance," Post-Print halshs-00270368, HAL.
    9. Umberto Lago, 2006. "The State of the Italian Football Industry," Chapters, in: Wladimir Andreff & Stefan Szymanski (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Sport, chapter 50, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "Broadcasting rights and competition in European football," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00270140, HAL.
    11. Beiderbeck, Daniel & Frevel, Nicolas & von der Gracht, Heiko A. & Schmidt, Sascha L. & Schweitzer, Vera M., 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on the European football ecosystem – A Delphi-based scenario analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    12. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "Team Sports and Finance," Chapters, in: Wladimir Andreff & Stefan Szymanski (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Sport, chapter 76, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "Broadcasting rights and competition in European football," Post-Print halshs-00270140, HAL.
    14. Sloane, Peter J, 1971. "The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club as a Utility Maximiser," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 121-146, June.
    15. Terry Robinson & Robert Simmons, 2014. "Gate-Sharing and Talent Distribution in the English Football League," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 413-429, November.
    16. Raul Caruso, 2008. "Il calcio tra mercato, relazioni e coercizione," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 4(1), pages 71-88, Aprile.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Wladimir Andreff, 2006. "New Perspectives in Sports Economics: A European View," Working Papers 0605, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    2. 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.
    3. Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: Competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," Post-Print halshs-00677436, HAL.
    4. Warnke, Arne Jonas & Sittl, Roman, 2016. "Competitive Balance and Assortative Matching in the German Bundesliga," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145838, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Scelles, Nicolas (Сели, Николя) & Duran, Christophe (Дюра, Кристоф) & Bonnal, Liliane (Бонналь, Лилиан) & Goyeau, Daniel (Гойюс, Даниэль) & Andreff, Wladimir (Андрефф, Владимир), 2016. "Do all sporting prizes have a significant positive impact on attendance in a European national football league? Competitive intensity in the French Ligue 1 [Действительно Ли Все Спортивные Призы Ок," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 3, pages 82-107, June.
    6. Meletakos, Panagiotis & Chatzicharistos, Dimitrios & Apostolidis, Nikolaos & Manasis, Vasilios & Bayios, Ioannis, 2016. "Foreign players and competitive balance in Greek basketball and handball championships," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 391-401.
    7. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "French professional football: how much different?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01244492, HAL.
    8. Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: Competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00677436, HAL.
    9. 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.
    10. Wladimir Andreff, 2014. "French professional football: how much different?," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 18, pages 298-321, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. 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.
    12. Antonio Samagaio & Eduardo Couto & Jorge Caiado, 2009. "Sporting, financial and stock market performance in English football: an empirical analysis of structural relationships," CEMAPRE Working Papers 0906, Centre for Applied Mathematics and Economics (CEMAPRE), School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.
    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. Raul Caruso & Francesco Addesa & Marco Di Domizio, 2019. "The Determinants of the TV Demand for Soccer: Empirical Evidence on Italian Serie A for the Period 2008-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 25-49, January.
    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. Tim Pawlowski & Christoph Breuer & Arnd Hovemann, 2010. "Top Clubs’ Performance and the Competitive Situation in European Domestic Football Competitions," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(2), pages 186-202, April.
    17. 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.
    18. Halicioglu Ferda, 2009. "Research on the Prediction of the likely Winners of the Euro 2008 Football Tournament," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 5(3), pages 1-15, July.
    19. Jardin, Mathieu, 2009. "Efficiency of French football clubs and its dynamics," MPRA Paper 19828, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Ferda HALICIOGLU, 2005. "Forecasting the Professional Team Sporting Events: Evidence from Euro 2000 and 2004 Football Tournaments," Industrial Organization 0508001, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Super League; European Football; Financial Indicators; Revenues Polarization; Results Crystallization.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • Z28 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Policy

    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:rde:rivdes:202101didomizio_caruso. 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: Raul Caruso (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.rdes.it/ .

    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.