The Football Industry - Essay Example

The Football Industry Number: Word Count: The Football Industry Football has been rated one ofthe most popular sport in the world today. This industry attracts a lot of revenue, since many people value this sport with passion. In the process of fans getting to watch the favourite teams play, they have to cater for their ticket expenses which are some of the sources of revenue for the various football clubs. Commercial and broadcasting revenues are other sources that clubs generate heavy income from (Deloitte, 2011). Despite raising heavy revenues, the football industry has been faced with various challenges. Hooliganism, racism and violence in general are among the factors that have raised the question of whether the football industry is getting out of control. Therefore, the paper will seek to emphasize what the football industry is worth and the factors that have made to be considered as getting out of control. It will also look at some of the measures that have been put in place to reduce hooliganism in the football industry. According to Batile et al (2014), the football industry is a profitable global sport that attracts revenue amounting to an excess of 5.4 billion Euros every year. Match day, commercial and broadcasting revenues are the major sources of income that most football clubs use to collect revenues on a day to day basis. Match day revenues are derived mainly from gate receipts paid by fans and spectators, memberships and season tickets. On the other hand, broadcasting revenues accrue from international and domestic competitions such as UEFA while commercial revenues are mostly gotten from merchandising and sponsorships. This means that in the process of determining profitable clubs, all these sources of revenue are accounted for. Based on these revenue models, Real Madrid has been rated the most profitable club in the world today for the ninth consecutive time (Mughal, 2014). It has total revenue of 518.9 million Euros, with match day collections of 119, commercial 183.3 while commercial having revenues totaling to 211.6 million Euros. Moreover, by analyzing the revenue generated by other top clubs in the football industry such as FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and arsenal, a clear picture of what the football industry is worth can be ascertained. FC Barcelona comes in second with total revenue amounting to 413.6 million sterling pounds. Broadcasting revenues accrued from domestic and international competitions were valued at 188.2 million Euros while commercial income totals to 176.8 million Euros (Mughal, 2014). Manchester United is ranked number four with a total income of 423.8 million Euros. Memberships and gate ticketing attracts a revenue of 109.1 million sterling pounds while commercial income, such as sponsorships totals to 117.9 million Euros. Therefore, in order for clubs to collect more revenues, the revenue models should be balanced and each source should contribute relatively equal shares of the total revenues. This approach ensures football clubs diversify risk and maximize on revenue collection. Football hooliganism, racism and violence in general can be regarded as some of the factors that have caused football to be considered a game getting out of control. Football hooliganism has been a main cause of disorder in most football matches in the previous decades and today. These acts are committed mostly by spectators and fans while supporting their favourite teams. Football Hooliganism can be defined as aggressive and disorderly behaviors perpetrated by fans and spectators at various sporting football activities. Since the 1960s, this disorderly behaviour has been considered serious football problems with supporters being the epitome of this issue. In the later years, hooliganism was mostly associated with football fans across England. This unethical behaviour resulted in the death of many deaths. Various government actions like setting of football acts has helped reduce this issue as will be discussed later. Despite the fact that football hooliganism got in the limelight in the 1960s, this problem has existed since the development of football. Towards the end of the 19th century, issues were raised concerning hooliganism, not only by football supporters, but also the referees and players as well. It was found out that all these entities contributed to hooliganism to some extent. Furthermore, criminals have emerged claiming ownership of certain football territorial grounds (Holt, 1989). This territorial factor has enabled the commission of violence by various gangs who claim to own the football grounds. For example, derby matches have been characterized by violence committed by these hooligans. It should also be noted that throughout the 1970s and 1960s, football hooliganism was mostly perpetrated in stadiums but this trend has been slowly to outside of stadiums. After the Hillsborough disaster where football fans were killed, there was an introduction of stadiums with seats in the 1990s (politics.co.uk, 2011). England has been rated as having high levels of football hooliganism in the world today, despite other countries facing similar problems. One of the remarkable examples of hooliganism in England occurred in 1985. It was known as the Heysel disaster that saw the death of many football supporters. This saw the death of thirty nine fans after a clash between Juventus supporters and Liverpool fans causing a wall to crumple. From this disaster, European club competitions were banned till 1990 and no European team competed in any football competition during the ban period. Since the match was televised over eighty countries, it rendered unavoidable circumstances, both nationally and internationally (Young, 1986). Racism in football has also been a factor that has made football to be considered an industry getting out of control. Racism can be defined as tribal affiliations expressed by a group of people connected through a shared passion, in this case a football club (McCarthy et al, 2014). Racism has been a serious problem affecting international matches today and has been a cause for violence. This issue has also raised concerns among football professionals and academics. Some football agencies like the British National Intelligence Service have regarded football racism as having minimal influence while other agencies have blamed it as a direct cause of violence (sirc, 2012). Today there are racist who still chant during matches in Britain, but not as much as in the 1970s and 1980s, when black football players faced a lot of discrimination. During this period, players of the black origin, race received greetings in the form of bananas and monkey noise meter. In other parts of the continent, such as Austria and Germany in the larger Europe, racism is still a problem that exists. According to research and surveys conducted, it was found that Neo-Nazi movement was used to spread racism among German fans. In many occasions, Nazi symbols and slogans were used to shock and provoke football fans. This kind of approach spread violence among fans resulting to violence as a consequence of racism (Cleland & Cashmore, 2014). This led to the launch of various initiatives in Europe to help reduce the racism issue. Campaigns initiatives such as “when Racism wins” and “No al Razzismo” were launched in Italy and Europe to help reduce the football racism levels. Though it is difficult to measure the success of racism initiatives, a notable decrease in the racist activities has been experienced in football grounds (Kick it Out, 2014). Although there are campaigns in different countries to counter racism, there have been concerns to develop more systematic approaches to deal with this issue. For example, recommendations have been made to the European parliament to combat racism in the field of football. Alcohol has also been associated with violence as a reason why football today can be regarded as an industry out of control. This involves the use of alcohol by fans and supporters to spread violence in football grounds especially during international matches. In Britain, football violence is usually reported using media channels as a resultant of too much alcohol consumption by fans and supporters. This view is not echoed by scientists who have carried out hooliganism researches. There has been little research concerning the effect of alcohol on hooliganism and violence. This has been because not many studies have been conducted concerning the issue of alcohol consumption and football violence. However, some researchers have claimed that alcohol consumption can worsen football violence during football events (sirc, 2012). Proposals have been made in Europe on the availability of alcohol in football events though there are no clear legal positions of such proposals. However, such approaches ignore the consumption of alcohol by football supporters and fans. There is no clear sign to show that alcoholic behaviors can change in certain time intervals. For example, the Scottish fans case regarded as a case related to alcohol consumption. The fans behaviors in the football grounds changed despite drinking patterns that was experienced in the past ten years. Additionally, the Danish Roligans can also be considered in terms of their drinking patterns (sirc, 2012). They are regarded as having similar drinking patterns like the ones of English fans. They rarely engage in violence or engage the authority despite taking alcohol during football events. Their alcohol consumption is usually accompanied by positive social relations with supporters in football grounds and humor. This means that alcohol consumption by these football fans do not make them to be hooligans and cause violence during football events. Moreover, the Italian Ultras have also proved that alcohol consumption does not constitute hooliganism in football matches. These football fans take alcohol when attending football matches but do not involve in any kind of violent behaviors. Today, football hooliganism in Italy is almost insignificant because fans behave appropriately during football matches. Therefore, today’s football is not that affected by alcohol consumption and may be future studies should be aimed at modifying alcoholic behaviors by supporters and football fans. Controversies have emerged despite a remarkable decline in football violence and hooliganism. There have been new alarms that have occurred in the past years. Two Leeds United supporters were killed by Turkish fans in April 2000 (Politics.co.uk, 2011). The fans known as Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus were murdered ahead of UEFA cup semi-finals in Istanbul. This controversy was seen as a planned ambush against the Leeds United supporters by the Turkish fans. This extent of hooliganism raises questions as to whether this vice can be eliminated completely. Additionally, the police forces have also been accused of mistreating and provoking foreign football fans. A good example is the Euro competition of 2000 that was hosted by both Belgium and Netherlands. Football violence was successfully contained by the Dutch police since they had strong criminal intelligence and international links concerning football hooliganism while the Belgian police were unable to control such violence. This shows controversy since any police force should have adequate intelligence and information to control football violence. Furthermore, the media has also been partly blamed as a contributing factor to football hooliganism. Research work has suggested that the language used by journalists in covering football has contributed in confrontational and aggression perception of football. Various approaches have been developed to combat football violence (Stott & Pearson, 2007). Monitoring techniques, alcohol restrictions, surveillance and separation of fans among others have been some of the measures put in place to deal with football violence in the soccer events today. Moreover, the introduction of legislation covers on hooliganism by the British government has also gone a long way in combating the football crime. In other countries such as Germany and Belgium more emphasis has been placed on coaching the football fans concerning the impacts of violence or hooliganism (Rockwood & Pearson, 2010). According to research studies, dialogue between supporters and officials can have great impacts in reducing football violence. On the other hand, other football clubs such as Premier League clubs have strategies to help reduce football violence. Most supporters are usually issued with season tickets and members who commit football offenses such as violence during matches risk chances of losing their tickets. The introduction of travel clubs by most football clubs have also been ways football violence has been significantly reduced. This means that only members of the football travel club will be issued with tickets for away matches. Anybody found misbehaving risks losing his or her away ticket and club membership. Therefore, people should enjoy supporting their favorite teams and avoiding football violence at whatever costs. In conclusion, the football industry is a very profitable industry based on the commercial, match day and broadcasting revenues collected by various clubs in the world today. From the above issue discussed, the industry has been in the forefront in fighting against football violence. It has devised various methods to combat football crimes such as racism and hooliganism. Therefore, the football industry can be considered as not getting out of control based on the above approaches like monitoring techniques and travel bans. References Batile, R. Bosshardt, A. Bridge, T Etal (2014). Deloitte. Football Money League 2014. N/A (1), 1-38. Cleland, J Cashmore, E. (2014). Fans, Racism and British Football in the Twenty-First Century: The existence of a ‘Colour-Blind’ Ideology. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 40 (4), 638-654. Deloitte.(2011). Revenue analysis- three pronged attack. 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