Birkbeck Sport Business Centre

Interview with Roberto Donadoni

Roberto Donadoni, manager of the Italian national football team, was interviewed for a podcast on the 28th April 2008 by Sean Hamil, Director, Birkbeck Sports Business Centre (podcast link).

The Organization and Management of Professional Football in Scandinavia

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 – Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 14th May 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"The Organization and Management of Professional Football in Scandinavia"

Given by:

Professor. Hallgeir Gammelsæter, Professor in Social Change, Organization and Management, Molde University College, Norway

Synopsis:

The three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden are small in population (around 20 million people) and as such they are commercially in the backyard of European football. To a large extent the same can be said about the sporting success of their clubs and national teams. Despite this, in all the three countries football is the biggest sport both in terms of the number of athletes participating and as a spectator sport. Compared to football in the UK, however, football is differently organized and managed.

Historically, football in Scandinavia came to be organized by voluntary non-profit organizations. Hence, football clubs comprise both elite football and youth and grass-root football. Up until recently there have been few proponents of separating the organization of elite football from the organization of amateur and grass-roots football. The predominating idea has been that the thinly populated Scandinavian countries could not produce international players unless their organizations have a wide reach that can secure a rich supply of talent.

In the presentation Professor Gammelsæter will explore the organization of Scandinavian male professional football and some of the tensions that the football organizations must deal with in a new era. Perhaps surprisingly, given the presumption that Scandinavia is still a fairly homogenous region which also characterizes its traditions in sport, there are some marked differences between the countries in organizing the sport. The presentation will therefore outline the paths that the Scandinavian countries have followed in managing their football, and also suggest some explanations for the diverging paths. Questions that will be raised are:

What are the similarities and differences at the association level, i.e. the way football is organized at the national level?
What is the impact of the two most important interest groups in men’s football; the league associations and the player associations?
How are the top professional clubs in the three countries organized, and how can we explain the diversity between them?

Reading:

Gammelsæter, Hallgeir and Jakobsen, Stig-Erik (2008) 'Models of Organization in Norwegian Professional Soccer', European Sport Management Quarterly, 8:1, 1 – 25
Gammelsæter, H. (forthcoming 2008), The organization of top football in Scandinavia. In Carlsson, B. and Andersson T. (eds.), Football in Scandinavia, Routledge. Can be obtained from the author: hallgeir.gammelsater@himolde.no
Gammelsæter, Hallgeir and Frode Ohr (2002). Kampen uten ball. Om penger, ledelse og identitet i norsk fotball. (The Match Played without Ball. About Money, Management and Identity in Norwegian Football). Oslo: Abstrakt forlag

Biography:

Hallgeir Gammelsæter is Professor in Social Change, Organization and Management, currently teaching Sport Organization and Management at undergraduate level and Forms of Organization and Management at post-graduate level at Molde University College, Norway. For the past six years Hallgeir’s research has gradually turned to the management of football in Scandinavia, including a research project on the organization of Norwegian clubs from which scientific journal articles are now being published. At present Hallgier is involved in a benchmarking study on Swedish and Norwegian football and in setting up a development program for top managers in Norwegian premier league clubs. In 2002 he published the book “Kampen uten ball” (The Match Played without Ball) with co-author Frode Ohr, focussing on the money, management, and identities in Norwegian professional football.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

Turnover maximization, Sports Competitive Pressure, Emotional Attachment and Soft Budget Constraints: The Peculiar Logic of Professional Team-Sports

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 – Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 7 May 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"Turnover maximization, Sports Competitive Pressure, Emotional Attachment and Soft Budget Constraints: The Peculiar Logic of Professional Team-Sports"

Given by:

Professor Klaus Nielsen

Synopsis:

The profit maximization hypothesis is a core assumption in mainstream economics. However, few scholars assume that profit maximization is an adequate description of what is actually going on in the typical firm, and auxiliary hypotheses or alternative explanations are deemed necessary to explain actual firm behaviour. This being the case when analysing economic activities on a ‘normal’ market, the failures of the theoretical framework only get bigger when deploying it on sports. Sports business is characterized by specific features that sets it apart from what mainstream economic theory was originally set up to deal with. The economic behaviour of the typical team-sports business is irrational when judged from the normative perspective of the profit maximization hypothesis. The purpose of this seminar is to review new empirical evidence and to discuss possible explanations of the seemingly ‘irrational’ behaviour of professional team sports clubs.

The seminar is based on a paper co-authored with Rasmus Storm (Danish Centre for Sports Studies). The paper is structured as follows: In the first part of the paper, after a brief review of data on European professional football clubs, new data on the economics of Danish football and team handball are presented in more detail. We conclude that the specific institutional context of team-sports business in Denmark and in most other European countries favours optimisation of winning percent rather than optimisation of profit margins. Apart from a few exceptions, professional team-sports clubs operate with a primary goal of winning, subject to budget constraints around break-even or often deficits. Turnover maximization is suggested as an alternative genera hypothesis concerning the economic behaviour of professional team-sports clubs. In the second part, we provide possible explanations regarding this particular behaviour. Sports competitive pressure in an institutional context, that provides major gains from winning and major losses from failing, stimulates risky, high spending behaviour. Small investors are to a significant degree emotionally attached to the sporting success of their clubs and only marginally motivated by financial gain. For large investors emotional attachment is also important, and goodwill and asset gains often substitute profits as goals. These mechanisms combined with the willingness of other stakeholders to contribute resources and provide solutions in case of financial troubles, make budget constraints soft. To some extent, the typical professional team-sports club behaves similarly to firms in a planned economy with privileged access to central resources. As these findings challenge mainstream economic theory, we conclude with propositions and research questions for further research into the peculiar logic of professional team-sports in order to develop a proper theoretical framework.

Reading:

K. Nielsen and R. Storm (2008): “Turnover maximization, Sports Competitive Pressure, Emotional Attachment and Soft Budget Constraints: The Peculiar Logic of Professional Team-Sports”. Working Paper. Available form Monday the 28th of April.

Biographies:

Klaus Nielsen is Professor of Institutional Economics at the Department of Management, Birkbeck, University of London.
Rasmus Storm is Research Director at the Danish Centre for Sports Studies.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

Football, Culture and Society Course

Football, Culture & Society Course:
The Faculty of Lifelong Learning

Dear Colleagues

I wish to draw your attention to a course programme entitled:

Football, Culture & Society

which is organised by my colleague in the Faculty of Lifelong Learning, Birkbeck College - Stephen Parrott.

Details of the course can be found at: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/ce/crimsoci/ and here (pdf).

The course runs for six consecutive Thursday evenings - 6pm-9pm - Thursday 1st May - Thursday 12th June.

This course, as its name implies, has a much more sociological orientation than the Birkbeck Sports Business seminars organised by myself. It is testimony to its quality and enduring appeal that this pioneering course has now been running for over fifteen years, originally being established to focus on the problem of football hooliganism which was very prevalent at the time of its foundation; hence its position within the criminology and sociology portfolio of course programmes in the Faculty of Continuing Education. However, the topics covered are now much broader. Over the years several hundred people have attended and indeed I have actually attended the course as a student myself on two occasions. A particularly strong element of the programme is the diverse background of the students who enrol; each presentation is inevitably followed by a lively debate.

For further details follow the links on the webpage above or contact course programme administrator Emily Rubython on:

e.rubython@bbk.ac.uk
020 7631 6640

Current Birkbeck students pay half price. In order to do so they must register by contacting Emily Rubython direct.

I understand that the full running order for course will be appearing shortly.

Yours sincerely
Sean Hamil

Feet-drain: an opportunity for player and a loss for nations?

‘Feet-drain’: an opportunity for players and a loss for nations?

Thursday May 1st 2008: 9.30am – 4.45pm

Birkbeck Sport Business Centre

Clore Management Building
School of Management and Organizational Psychology
Birkbeck, University of London, UK

The Birkbeck Sport Business Centre hosted a one-day conference on the phenomenon of ‘feet-drain’. Drawing a parallel with the term ‘brain-drain’ used to describe the emigration of skilled labour from one nation to another, the concept of ‘feet-drain’ has become increasingly relevant as globalisation and commercialisation in the sport industry have resulted in the migration of professional footballers, particularly towards Europe. The conference brought together, for the first time, leading academics working in the area of labour market migration and practitioners from within the football industry to discuss the concept of ‘feet-drain’.

Speakers included:

Professor Wladimir Andreff, Professor of Economics, University of Paris (pdf presentation)
Dr Paul Darby, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, University of Ulster
Dr Richard Elliott, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Southampton Solent University (pdf presentation)
Jean-Marc Guillou, Founder, JMG Academy
Solar Luis, Youth Academy Director at Athletic Bilbao (pdf presentation)
James MacDougall, European and International Officer, Central Council for Physical Recreation (pdf presentation)
Dr Raffaele Poli, Researcher at the International Center for Sports Studies, University of Neuchatel (pdf presentation)
Filippo Maria Ricci, Spanish correspondent for the Gazzetta dello Sport (pdf presentation)
Gordon Taylor, Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association

The conference was designed to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss key issues surrounding labour market migration in the football industry. The conference addressed a number of key topics including:

What are the key labour market trends within the football industry?
What effect does ‘feet-drain’ have on the development and standards of football in developing nations?
What are the key challenges brought about by the establishment of football ‘academies’ in developing nations, particularly in Africa?
What measures are being taken by the football authorities and by governments in developing nations to avoid ‘football trafficking’ and the exploitation of players?
What has been the impact of the rise in number of foreign players in English football?
Has ‘feet-drain’ had an impact on the opportunities for young English players?

Reading:

Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Chief Executive Gordon Taylor comments on the Feet Drain Conference
(http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news)

A Tale of Two Audiences: Gate Attendance and Broadcast Demand in European Football

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 – Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"A Tale of Two Audiences: Gate Attendance and Broadcast Demand in European Football"

Given by:

Dr Rob Simmons

Synopsis:

Policy makers and League administrators have long voiced concerns that telecasts of football matches can reduce gate attendance. This partly explains why the sale of broadcast rights in the English Premier League is restricted with less than one third of games being shown live on TV. This seminar will explore empirical evidence on gate attendance and television audience data in the English Premier League and Spain’s Primera Liga.

The seminar will report several research findings based on work by Dr Rob Simmons and Dr Tunde Buraimo on English and Spanish football:

Broadcasting of matches live on TV does reduce gate attendance, but not to an extent that club revenues are damaged.
However, televised matches that have lower gate attendance also have smaller television audiences, a form of complementarity that has not received sufficient recognition in discussion of broadcasting policy.
Most importantly, our research finds that gate attendance responds negatively to outcome uncertainty of a match, defined as difference in pre-match probabilities of the teams winning; fans inside the stadium dislike the prospect of a close game, other things equal. Yet sports economists have argued that fans prefer close contests. Empirical evidence defeats this conventional wisdom.
On the other hand, our research shows that television viewers respond positively to close contests. Since television viewers are inherently more fickle than supporters inside the stadium this is not surprising.

As revenues from sale of broadcast rights continue to grow, eventually surpassing revenues from gate receipts, these are important findings for clubs and League administrators. The seminar will close with a discussion of appropriate policies regarding interventions to reduce inequality of player talent across teams: should leagues increase the extent of revenue-sharing or introduce salary caps to reduce team inequality and increase uncertainty of outcome so as to raise television audience interest in games?

Reading:

D. Forrest, R.Simmons and S. Szymanski (2004) ‘Broadcasting, attendance and the inefficiency of cartels’, Review of Industrial Organization, 24, 243-265.
D. Forrest, R. Simmons and B. Buraimo (2005) ‘Outcome uncertainty and the couch potato audience’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 52, 641-661.
B. Buraimo and R. Simmons (2007) ‘A tale of two audiences: spectators, television viewers and outcome uncertainty in Spanish football’, Lancaster University Management School.

Biography:

Dr Rob Simmons is a lecturer in economics at the University of Lancaster and has an international reputation as a sports economist with a labour market focus. He has published pioneering papers on attendance demand in football using a travel cost methodology, on football transfer markets using a sample selection model and on salary determination in Italian football using a rarely published data set. He is currently working on the economic analysis of sports broadcasting, the labour market for players in the US National Football League and further analysis of earnings in European football. Dr Simmons is a member of the editorial boards of International Journal of Sport Finance and Journal of Sports Economics.

Dr. Babatunde Buraimo is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Management and Sports Economics at the Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire. His doctoral thesis, An Econometric Analysis of Market Size and Audience Demand in Football, was an empirical analysis of the fundamental conjectures and theories of sports economics, which included the effects of market size in professional team sports and the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis. He is currently researching television audience demand for sport, the impact of televised sport on stadium attendance and wage discrimination in male and female sports.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

Club versus Country: the challenges of managing a national team in an era of increasing club power

Roberto Donadoni, manager, the Italian national football team

Roberto Donadoni was interviewed for a podcast on the 28th April 2008 by Sean Hamil, Director, Birkbeck Sports Business Centre (podcast link)

The Corporate Governance of Irish Sporting Government Bodies

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 – Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 23rd April 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"The Corporate Governance of Irish Sporting Government Bodies"

Given by:

Dr. Ann Bourke, UCD School of Business, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Synopsis:

Much attention has been given to governance matters in the business world and this now extends to sports bodies and organizations. This presentation focuses on the essence of governance as applied to national sport organizations. The unique roles and characteristics of sports governing bodies are identified and the various governance theories (agency, stewardship, resource dependency, stakeholder etc.) and models are discussed. Reference is also made to the enablers and constraints which may exist in facilitating effective governance arrangements.

Sport in Ireland is popular and widespread with the more popular team sports being Gaelic Football, Hurling, Rugby Union, Football (Soccer) and Field Hockey. Three leading Irish sporting governing bodies (the Football Association of Ireland (FAI); the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the Irish Rugby Football Union) are the focus of the presenter’s research. A short profile of each organization is provided and insights on each organization’s mission and structure presented drawing on primary and secondary source materials. The rationale underpinning governance arrangements within each body is examined and any similarities and differences are noted. The presentation will also focus on how roles and responsibilities of various parties / committees within these bodies are delineated.

Certain governance changes have occurred within these organizations in recent years and the factors (internal / external) contributing to these along with the outcomes (intended and unintended) will be discussed.

Reading:

Forester, J. 2006, Global Sports Organizations and their Governance, Corporate Governance, 6, 1, 72 – 83.
Hoye, R. and Cuskelly, G. 2007, Sport Governance, Oxford: Elsevier Publications.
Hums, M. and Maclean, J. 2004, Governance and Policy in Sport Organizations, Arizona: Holcomb Hathaway.

Biography:

Ann Bourke is Vice Principal for Teaching & Learning in the UCD College of Business & Law and a member of faculty within the School of Business. Her research interests include managing university sport; governance of sports clubs, organizations and governing bodies; career choice and international mobility among pre-elite and elite sports people. She is currently a Board Member of the European Association of Sport Management (EASM).

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

Competitive Balance in a Professional Sports League: A Simulation Exercise

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 – Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 16th April 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"Competitive Balance in a Professional Sports League: A Simulation Exercise"

Given by:

Professor Stefan Szymanski, Cass Business School

Synopsis:

The operation of economic competition between clubs in a sports league has been hotly debated by academics and policy makers in recent years. Conventional wisdom has it that economic inequalities will lead to a sporting competition that is so unbalanced that the league as a whole will suffer. On this basis redistributive policies are advocated in order to make competition more balanced and therefore more attractive. Using the standard economic model of a contest it is possible to construct a simulation exercise in which participants can play the role of club managers/owners, deciding how much to spend on purchasing talent in a non-cooperative environment. The simulation exercise can be played over several rounds. This exercise illustrates the concept of a Nash equilibrium and highlights some interesting properties of the competitive equilibrium that do not accord with the conventional wisdom.

Reading:

Professor Szymanski’s most recent working papers on sports economics can be found at:

http://ideas.repec.org/e/psz8.html

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

The Value-Based Human Resources (HR) Strategy in Professional Football: The Case of Arsenal FC

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room B35 - Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX

Wednesday 19th March 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"The Value-Based Human Resources (HR) Strategy in Professional Football: The Case of Arsenal FC"

Given by:

Mr Antony Banfield, Arsenal FC Technical Director Italy and Europe (scouting and team assessment).

Synopsis:

As Grundy and Brown argue (2003, pages 6-8), Arsenal FC is an interesting case study highlighting how:

Besides the “value chain” normally associated with competitive strategy (Porter, 1985), the “people value chain” – the network of activities through which value is added to people – is equally important. This includes prospecting for, recruiting, inducting, developing, inspiring, rewarding and recognizing them.
An effective HR strategy can add tangible economic value to an organization, and this value can be quantified.
An effective and well-focused HR strategy can enable a smaller organisation to compete with larger/more dominant ones.

As an official representative of Arsenal FC and member of the HR football scouting department Antony Banfield will discuss the following key questions:

What is the meaning of HR strategy in football?
What is the importance of scouting in football in HR strategy?

What is the impact of a youth academy in HR strategy?

Reading:

Grundy, T. and L., Brown (2003). Value-based Human Resource Strategy: Developing your HR consultancy role, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.
Porter, M. (1985). Competitive Advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. The Free Press: MacMillan.

Biography:

Having played as a professional football player for West Ham, Leyton Orient, Dartford and Wimbledon, Mr. Banfield has since enjoyed a very successful career as a coach; for example at Portsmouth, Fulham, and Crystal Palace. Starting as a staff coach for the English Football Association in his early career, he was national coach to Kenya and Jordan, and has acted as a consultant to various other foreign national football associations on behalf of the British Council. He is currently Technical Director Italy and Europe Scouting for Arsenal FC responsible for 1st team-to-youth assessment.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

Launch of the 'Towards a Better Future for Youth Sport' Report

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

** The location of this event has been changed to: Lecture Theatre 2 (Basement), The Cruciform Building Gower Street, London, WC1E 6B

Wednesday 12th March 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"Launch of the 'Towards a Better Future for Youth Sport' Report"

Given by:

Hugh Robertson MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Sport and the Olympics.
Brigid Simmonds OBE, Chair, Central Council of Physical Recreation.

‘Towards a Better Future for Youth Sport’

The ‘Towards a Better Future for Youth Sport’ report is presented by sportsthinktank.com and hosted by Birkbeck College Sports Business Centre. Sportsthinktank.com is one the UK's leading independent research organisations devoted solely to developing new ideas and extending the boundaries of debate in the world of sport. The report is an independent analysis of the structure of sport in the UK based on interviews with leading figures across the sporting landscape and with particular emphasis on youth development.

Synopsis:

In delivering sport in the UK, successive governments have failed – and arguably no government has ever succeeded – in creating a successful sports policy. This new report examines the structures, practices and policies of sport in the UK and reaches a number of stark conclusions including:

The people of the UK are failing to get the sporting opportunities they deserve because sporting policies are disjointed.
Policies focus on niche areas for political gain rather than creating policies that give everyone access to sport.
The failure to produce a holistic, longitudinal and successful sports policy has resulted in a lack of opportunity and provision.

However, not only does the report provide a fascinating critique of the status quo, it makes a series of bold recommendations, urging policy makers to raise their game to ensure current and future generations are not left behind.

Biographies:

Hugh Robertson is the Shadow Minister for Sport and the Olympics. He was elected as the Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent at the 2001 general election.
Brigid Simmonds is Chair of CCPR and Chief Executive of Business in Sport and Leisure. In June 2006, Brigid was awarded an OBE for Services to Sport in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Reading:

"A copy of the Towards a Better Future for Youth Sport" report can be read at: http://www.sportsthinktank.com (link is to a pdf)

Reservations:

As this event is expected to be very well-attended you will need to reserve a place by e-mailing Sean Hamil at s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

FIFA's World Order

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 - Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 5th March 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"FIFA's World Order"

Given by:

Steve Menary

Synopsis:

In this presentation, drawing on two years of research for his critically well-received book Outcasts: The Lands That FIFA Forgot, author and journalist Steve Menary discusses why he decided to write Outcasts, the story of those footballing national teams who have been unable to win recognition by football's governing body FIFA. In particular he will discuss the entry criteria for joining FIFA and how political considerations have interacted with sporting concerns to influence decision-making, underlining how politics and sport continue to be inextricably linked in world football. Outcasts is a story of how footballing nationality, or the need to establish a national identity through sport, continues be used and distorted for political means.

In addition he addresses some of the idiosyncratic and often bizarre manifestations which occur in football's national no-man's land such as: a dentist from Greenland who risked his career to play for his 'country'; the pitched battle amongst kit manufacturers to sponsor the Tibetan national football team; and why the Gibraltan 'national' football team might just force an end to centuries of dispute over the rock between Britain and Spain.

Reviews of Outcasts:

Outcasts has been shortlisted for the National Sporting Club football book of the year award. http://www.nationalsportingclub.co.uk/BritishSportsBookAwards08Nominate.htm
“Sportsbooks: The little guys that Fifa forgot”. The Daily Telegraph (17th January 2008). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/01/17/sobook117.xml
Book of the week. The Independent (December 2007) http://sport.independent.co.uk
“One book that might intrigue the discerning reader”. The Sunday Telegraph (23rd December 2007) http://www.telegraph.co.uk
“Once in a while, a book comes along with an unusual subject matter that captures the imagination and Menary's Outcasts falls into that category”. The Yorkshire Post. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
“Outcasts! is a must-read for all football fans” – Sporting Life. http://www.sportinglife.com
“Where is the soul of football? I think it's in this book” - Adrian Chiles. Preface to Outcasts.
“For readers who want to know their writers have given them 100%, there will be no doubts here … an absorbing, engaging and thought provoking account of the miracle which is football itself” - David Conn. Introduction to Outcasts.

Reading:

Menary. S (2007). Outcasts: The Lands That FIFA Forgot. Know The Score. http://www.amazon.co.uk
http://outcasts-book.blogspot.com/
‘When is a National team not a National Team' Sport in Society Volume 10 Number 2 March 2007
World Soccer magazine - http://www.worldsoccer.com/
http://londonist.com/2008/03/getting_to_know.php

Biography

Steve Menary trained as a chef but for the last dozen years or so has worked as a journalist. He was a city reporter at The Scotsman before becoming a freelance writer and author in 2001. He writes mostly about business and sport and is a regular contributor to World Soccer magazine, and has been saddled with supporting AFC Bournemouth for as long as he can remember.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

The Financial Performance of Middle-Ranking Football Clubs in Spain in the Context of Relegation

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 - Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 27th February 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"The Financial Performance of Middle-Ranking Football Clubs in Spain in the Context of Relegation."

Given by:

Dr Angel Barajas, University of Vigo, Spain

Synopsis:

In football, when sporting performance is positive, satisfaction and a euphoric climate reign, the stadiums are full and clubs have an easier way to assure profits. However, in professional football, a bad season, which implies relegation, brings with it the need for profound reform of the management model. Regrettably, the number of relegated clubs who genuinely do take the opportunity to reform are few, with disastrous financial consequences. For this reason, and in order to secure the business viability of such clubs in the long term, it is worthwhile to study the relegation and promotion problem and try to look for measures that offer management solutions to the clubs affected that, in addition, satisfy supporters’ over-riding desire for success on the field of play.

This presentation will examine how to design a strategic change mechanism in management which can react effectively when serious alterations, as in the case of relegation, appear in the working environment of the core business. In particular, a case-study will be presented which analyses the effect on, and strategies adopted by, leading Spanish club Celta de Vigo as a consequence of the team’s relegation from La Liga in season 03/04. The case-study approach is useful as a means of analysing the peculiar characteristics of relegation and promotion in football as it affects negotiations with players, finance institutions and key sponsors designed to tailor requirements to the new lower-league environment.

Reading:

Barajas, A & Urrutia, I (2007): Real Club Celta de Vigo (DG-1516). Case study IESE Business School. IESE Publishing.
Barajas, A. (2006): “Celta de Vigo: The financial effects and strategies of relegation”, Sport Marketing Europe, Issue 3, winter 2006/07.
Barajas, A (2005): El valor económico del fútbol. Radiografía financiera del fútbol español, EUNSA.
Barajas, A. & Crolley, L. (2005):"A model to explain support in Spanish football,"MPRA Paper 3235, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!] (http://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/3235.html)
Barajas, A. & Fernández-Jardón, C. & Crolley, L. (2005):"Does sports performance influence revenues and economic results in Spanish football?," MPRA Paper 3234, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!] (http://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/3234.html)

Interview Podcast:

Online Video Link

Biography:

Angel Barajas is a lecturer of Finance at the Faculty of Business Administration and Tourism (University of Vigo). His research relates to the finances of football clubs and sports economics. He has been advisor to the General Manager of Celta de Vigo during season 2006/2007.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football

Birkbeck Sports Business Centre Seminar

ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football
Francesc Pujol, ESIrg, Department of Economics, Universidad de Navarra Wednesday 20th February 2008

The presentation by Professor Pujol in his Birkbeck Sports Business Centre Seminar presentation was quoted in the Sport.Es publication (21st February 2008) "El Barça, el club más mediático del mundo".

Link

ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football

The Business of Sport - Seminar Series

Room G01 - Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London WC1 7HX

Wednesday 20th February 2008 at 6pm
(For directions click here)

"ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football"

Given by:

Francesc Pujol, ESIrg, Department of Economics, Universidad de Navarra

Synopsis:

The ESIrg Biannual Report on Media Value in Football presents an analysis of media value through the measurement of intangible as well as tangible factors in the valuation mix. In this presentation the main results of the February 2008 edition of the ESIrg Biannual Report on Media Value in Football will be presented. Media value is estimated by a combination of measures of popularity (supporters’ interest) and notoriety (media coverage) of players and teams. An updated ranking of the media ranking of players and teams will also be presented. The previous rankings were headed respectively by Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United. The presentation will show the fair transfer value of players hired during the 2007/2008 winter window (amongst them, Nicolas Anelka), following a valuation method based on media value measures. The media value contribution of foreign players in the big three European Leagues will be presented. The media and market value of players coming from Academy sections of the clubs will also be outlined. Finally, an appraisal of shirt sponsorship in the German Bundesliga through media value analysis will be outlined.

Reading:

ESIrg Bi-Annual Report on Media Value in Football, June 2007 Edition.
www.unav.es/econom/sport
www.sport.es

Biography:

Francesc Pujol (Barcelona, 1969) is Professor of Economics at Universidad de Navarra. He was awarded his Ph.D. at University of Geneva, Switzerland. He has been invited researcher in the Universities of Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford, Bonn and Fribourg. He is co-founder of the Economics, Sport and Intangibles research group (ESIrg). This group has elaborated a new approach to analyse sport media value and economic value. He is the leading researcher on several research projects with public and private funding. He is member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship.

For further details on this Seminar Series contact:

Sean Hamil
Department of Management
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX

Email: s.hamil@bbk.ac.uk or Tel: 020-7631 6763

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ESIrg Report on Media Value in FootballFrancesc Pujol, ESIrg, Department of Economics, Universidad de Navarra Wednesday 20th February 2008

ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football

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ESIrg Report on Media Value in Football
Francesc Pujol, ESIrg, Department of Economics, Universidad de Navarra Wednesday 20th February 2008