In order for football clubs to stay financially competitive commercialisation is vital, Hamil & Chadwick (2010:475) describe commercialisation as “a phase in the evolution of a sport as a business, in which the professionalised sport and its organisations form business relationships with organisations outside the sport, such as sponsors, broadcasters, endorsers, etc”.
A key event leading to the development and commercialisation of the football industry, was the FA's decision to relax Rule 34 and allow the stock market flotation of clubs. A result of this was English football attracting a new breed of entrepreneur, for example Alan Sugar at Tottenham Hotspur. The attention of businessmen on English football clubs in turn attracted a lot of businessmen from overseas, who viewed these clubs as the key to reaping in overseas revenue. A contrast was created between the professionalism era, where English football clubs were under local ownership, to commercialisation where foreign ownership began to increase; “by the 2007-2008 season, 9 of the 20 premier league clubs had foreign ownership” (John Beech,2010). Football clubs are structured by one of the three types of ownership model, the Stock Market Model, the Supporters Trust Model or the Foreign Investor model - that became increasingly popular through commercialisation. Many clubs seen foreign billionaires take over, such as Manchester City who got taken over by the Abu Dhabi United group, owned by Sheikh Mansour. Through investing in English football, many overseas owners were looking for achievement, status, and self-actualisation. With owners now looking at football clubs from a business perspective, focusing on their potential revenues and profits, ticket prices started to increase, and they began to market various club related products to commercialise themselves. This has caused a lot of football fans to be unhappy, as they have witnessed huge increases in the price it costs for them to go and support their team.
By the twentieth century, football had developed into part of the English culture, and directors of football clubs began to recognise the financial potential of marketing strategies such as being in the media, TV Commercials, and trackside advertising. When the English Premier League was first formed in 1992, by 22 teams that broke off from the first division, their goal was to make large sums of money through television rights “which would lure them some of the best footballing talent” (The Guardian). Another key event leading to the development and commercialisation of the football industry is therefore the Television rights of football, especially with the Premier League; as due to its game level competitive balance it’s the most watched league to date. Football clubs wanted to utilise their relationships with media companies for them to gain financially, therefore coverage by the media is vital as it provides exposure, income, and a source of communication with a range of stakeholders. At first many football clubs were worried about the impact televised football would have on the attendance of match days, however, it is unlikely football would have grown into the massive business it is without the assistance of TV; therefore making it one of biggest contributing factors to the development and commercialisation of the football industry.
Sponsorship in football is also a key event that lead to the development and commercialisation of the football industry, because the relationships between sport organizations or individual athletes and corporations, are frequent topics of discussion in the press; also they have potential for massive profits. During the professionalised era, local businesses often sponsored football clubs, however by 2008 global businesses, with little association with the club, began to sponsor their shirts or stadium. The companies sponsoring the higher leagues football shirts often reflected the market, for example in the eighties Japanese electrical companies were very successful and this could be seen through the sponsors of clubs in the Premier League: Liverpool and Hitachi, Arsenal and JVC, and Everton and NEC. Professional football attracts millions of spectators therefore there is a real benefit for companies whom sponsor a club, as their business logo will be worn by professional athletes, be worn by football fans, and will appear in the media. In the opinion of James Skinner (2010), sponsorship has overall had a positive impact on the development and commercialisation of the football industry as “sponsorship, merchandising, and stadium rights do provide clubs, national teams, and governing bodies such as FIFA a revenue base from which to build the sport”(Managing Football; An International Perspective:115). Not everyone has always been happy with corporate sponsorship in football, and at one point certain TV Companies even refused to show football highlights of teams which wore sponsors on their shirts. The largest opposition to sponsorship, however, has come from the fans of football clubs, as they have witnessed the history of their club being dismissed and their clubs culture change due to commercialisation. Arsenal F.C. is a prime example of a club who had a lot of fans unhappy due to sponsorship, as when they struck a deal with Fly Emirates not only was the company’s name to be on the teams shirts, but Arsenal also named their stadium the Emirates. Still to this date many of Arsenal’s fans will refer to the stadium as Ashburton Grove, as they did not agree with the clubs decision to bow down to corporate sponsorship.
To conclude there has been various factors that have played a part in the development and commercialisation of the football industry. Through the stock market flotation of clubs, many wealthy businessmen took to investing in football clubs, and focused on commercialising them as a sector of the entertainment business. With a handful of clubs in the Premier League having foreign owners, this also globalised English football and created fan bases across the world for popular teams such as Manchester United F.C. The media, especially through television, expanded on the popularity of the Premier League and its foreign fan base by allowing matches to be viewed globally. With the popularity of English football due to companies such as Sky, ITV and the BBC, the premier league attracted some of footballs best players and with the money generated from its TV rights could afford to buy them too. Furthermore through sponsorships, football clubs have used commercialisation by securing multi-million deals with global companies that has also allowed the industry to develop through increasing popularity. While each one is vital, TV rights and the media have played the biggest part in footballs commercialisation, as the money it generates accounts for a large sum of a football clubs revenue. Throughout the football industries stage of commercialisation, many fans, especially those who are defined as die-hard fans, have been left unhappy and now believe football is becoming too centred around business; they want to be viewed as fans not consumers. Where football was once the entertainment for the working man, through commercialisation increasing prices and popularity, the culture of football clubs have changed. Football has strong consumer loyalty, as it is rare a fan will stop supporting a club due to a bad decision being made, however if the football industry continues to commercialise without considering what their target market (the fans) want, then will football attendance inevitably begin to decrease?
By Ellie Bethan Reynolds
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