When Sport Meets Business: Capabilities, Challenges, Critiques - Softcover

I had great joy reading fine chapters on subjects like the development of sporting goods and globalisation vs. the local/national applied to sport talent development. The contributions included blow "fresh air" into a genre flooded with too much of the same, as they focus on underrepresented sports, insufficiently covered subjects and not exactly overused theories. It invites data, researchers and research from sports and sport contexts other than "the usual suspects" (football, arena sports in general, major events like the Olympics). This is essential, as the dominance of "the usual suspects" is leaning towards the absurd in previous publications in this genre. A welcome and valuable contribution to the field. (Hans Lundberg)

Organized around four broad themes—the sport environment, sport marketing and media, sport and finance, and sporting events (the two concluding chapters are on the Olympics)—these 15 stand-alone chapters, authored by European sport-management or marketing professors have little in the way of coverage of US sports. The editors and contributors assess the volume’s appeal to students in sport-related courses in business, economics, and other social sciences; more appropriately, the audience will likely be limited to students and faculty members at European institutions. Solid and plentiful references: goal! Summing Up: Recommended. (A. R. Sanderson)

Written by European professors and focusing on the specificities of European sport, When Sport Meets Business analyses the growing commercialisation of professional sport in recent years and explains how it has developed into a major global industry.

Structured into four sections, the book covers the key issues in the Business of professional sport:

The New Sport Environment – Analysing the consequences of increasing commercialisation by looking at the multi-billion dollar sports goods industry; the effects of globalisation and how commercial influences have made running one of Europe’s most popular sports.

Sport Marketing and Media – Investigating the role media and marketing has in commercialisation, with emphasis on the growth of sponsorship; media rights in European club football and the growing influence of social media in sport.

Sport and Finance – Relating to the economics of European sport: there is an investigation into the financial policies employed by European Football clubs, specifically in regards to the Financial Fair Play regulations, and the topical issue of high level corruption.

Sporting Events – Looking at additional factors that affect professional sport: highlighting the impact an Olympic Games can have on a host city and the longevity of an Olympic urban legacy.

The authors have included insightful case studies from across the continent, including anti RB-Leipzig media campaigns in Germany, financial policies at England’s Chelsea FC, French Tennis Federation corporate responsibility, Media rights in Spain’s LaLiga, the sponsorship viability for Ukraine’s Klitschko brothers and the case of Denmark’s Viborg F.F.

Suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students in sport related courses, including sport management, sport economics, sport marketing and the sociology of sport.