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Football broadcasting: tipping point orbleeding edge?Stephen Henderson aa UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds MetropolitanUniversity, Leeds, UK

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Soccer & SocietyVol. 11, No. 5, September 2010, 614–626

ISSN 1466-0970 print/ISSN 1743-9590 online© 2010 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/14660970.2010.497361http://www.informaworld.com

Football broadcasting: tipping point or bleeding edge?

Stephen Henderson*

UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UKTaylor and FrancisFSAS_A_497361.sgm10.1080/14660970.2010.497361Soccer and Society1466-0970 (print)/1743-9590 (online)Original Article2010Taylor & Francis115000000September 2010Senior Lecturer StephenHendersons.henderson@leedsmet.ac.uk

Football in the UK took a dramatic turn with the establishment of the Premier Leaguein 1992. Since then, like many industries, globalization in the sport has been drivenby technological change. This article considers the change taking place and how itreflects within the income streams of football clubs. With broadcasting driving themajor growth in revenue, the response of the global football fan feeding this revenuestream is considered. A limited understanding of their specific needs and level ofsatisfaction is found alongside broadcasting deals of significant value. In the midstof this are communications companies with high-risk strategies and football clubswho seem intent on frittering away their rights money on player salaries. It begsthe question – has the broadcasting revenue stream reached a lucrative tipping pointor will there be casualties on the bleeding edge of technology?

Background

Trends towards globalization are long established with the trading of goods across theworld enabling consumers to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables ‘out of season’ as wellas take advantage of low-cost manufacturing economies to provide a wide range ofproducts. Although this has raised ethical and ecological considerations about how wetreat our global community and its natural resources, there are no major concernsabout the trading of information for the purpose of education or entertainment. Indeed,communication between different continents for these purposes is not only morecommonplace, but also quicker than ever before. Commercial organizations such asNews Corporation, CNN and the BBC transmit information around the world to awide-ranging public via both direct (one-way) and interactive (two-way) communica-tions using the mediums of television, mobile phone, PC, Internet, etc. Indeed, suchhas been their globalization that these organizations have grown dramatically, withNews Corporation reaching a net income of $822m, exceeding the gross domesticproduct (GDP) of a small country such as Gambia where GDP was estimated at only$664m in 2006.1 The growth of these giants of communication has been achieved notonly by looking towards new technologies, but also by many companies adopting anaggressive policy of growth by acquisition across the industry. The growth of NewsCorporation’s company, BskyB, for example, has enabled the organization to achievesuch dominance that questions have been raised about their potential monopoly ofcertain communication markets. For example, their acquisition of shares in ITV hascaused some consternation in the UK where not only has their power in the TV marketbeen extended, but also it adds to an even deeper control of the communications sectorvia the group ownership of such wide-ranging printed media as The Sun and The

*Email: s.henderson@leedsmet.ac.uk

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Times newspapers.2 Recently, their acquisition of The Wall Street Journal as part ofDow Jones has further demonstrated their global presence in newspapers and high-lighted the pervasive nature of the modern communications company.3

Sport, news and films form the main content of entertainment communicationsacross the globe. In different countries, consumer interest varies based on a range ofsocial and cultural factors although this article focuses on the differing desires of thefootball fan and their impact on revenue streams. Even before looking more deeply, itis clear that the motivations of the fan of an English Premier League team residing inthe Far East will be quite different to that of the local fan who follows the teambecause it is the family tradition. As those well-versed in marketing will recognize,bringing together an intangible product such as football with a global customer baseacross a complex communication network provides a significant challenge. Contrast,for example, the fan in Tokyo receiving an SMS text message advising that their teamhas scored a goal with the fan in New York deciding to have breakfast at a local barand watch their favourite English team live on television. Each of these situationspresents a snapshot of the complex picture involving the product, the distributionchannel, the active/passive customer situation, etc.

There is no doubt that the marketing of Premier League clubs has progressed along way since Simon Chadwick and Jeff Clowes looked at their promotion ofbranded products in 1998.4 Two years later, work from the same team of researchersat Coventry Business School identified the burgeoning use of the Internet by PremierLeague football clubs.5 Today, the rapid changes in technology have led to even moreopportunities, though some are sceptical about the potential for newer technologiessuch as 3G mobile phones.6 The upshot of all this is that football clubs face a worldof complex needs, developing technology and powerful communications companiesthat undoubtedly offers plenty of opportunity for both financial reward and failure

The aim of this article is to understand how new technology impacts on EnglishPremier League clubs as they look to reach out to a global market. This begins byconsidering what globalization means in terms of creating revenue streams for footballclubs. Each revenue stream is examined to see how technology contributes to both thedelivery of the product and the product itself. Following this, some exploratoryprimary research of the attitudes to 3G mobile phone technology shown by the EnglishPremier League is presented in order to highlight both the general attitudes to the useof technology in marketing to a global fan base and to recognize any differencesbetween clubs of different size. Last, but not least, the customer is considered in aneffort to understand football fans and the motives behind their enthusiasm for one ofthe world’s most popular sports.

Globalizing revenue streams

From the point of view of a football club, the global market can be seen to presentthe tempting opportunity of a variety of revenue streams to feed bottom line profits.Without any doubt, the bigger clubs have a lucrative vision of the future as PeterKenyon, Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, indicates in saying he plans tobuild the club into the world’s foremost commercial football property by 2014.7

Clearly, a lot of ‘ifs and buts’ will determine whether such plans can be brought tofruition. Not least of which will be performance on the pitch, including the elementsof luck that pervade any sporting competition. For example, John Terry’s slip andconsequent miss in the penalty shoot out of the 2008 Champions League Final in

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Moscow had far wider consequences for the finances of Chelsea than it did for Terry’sown personal disappointment. Whether the financial aims are achievable or not forthis particular club, it is obvious that these ambitions rest on building global revenuestreams. Furthermore, because those revenues only happen if the products satisfycustomers, both product and customer need to be clearly understood.

In some earlier work, Mason takes a customer-based view of such revenue streamsproposing four customer groups: fans, television and other media, communities thatconstruct facilities to support local clubs and, finally, corporations that interact withthe leagues and teams.8 Further consideration of this suggests that both television andother media are basically alternative marketing channels to reach the fan. Also, theinclusion of local communities in this definition reflects an American perspective thatsupports the community-driven development of venues for multiple purposes,whereas other countries take a more ‘hands off’ approach. In the UK, for example, thestadiums built in recent years (following the Taylor Report) have often incorporatedother commercial enterprises such as hotels, leisure centres and conference facilitieswith almost no financial involvement from local authorities.9 These enterprises mayhave a football connection in that, for example, the hotels can accommodate the trav-elling fan and, yet, they are principally spaces offered for hire. Consequently, theirlimited relationship with football and technology means they are of less interest withinthis article although clearly they represent an important source of income for manyclubs. The final category proposed by Mason is of importance in that sponsorship byother organizations offers opportunities to clubs for increased income, or, an option toposition themselves as socially responsible as we see with Aston Villa’s recent spon-sorship of Acorns Children’s Hospice.10 Certainly, whether aspiring to a globalmarket or not, sponsorship is a significant source of income for many clubs. Indeed,in the recent annual review of football finances from Deloitte and Touche, it is appar-ent that large clubs will accumulate match day, broadcasting and commercial incomein roughly equal parts, with the latter commercial revenue stream being dominated bymerchandise and sponsorship.11

In this article, a product-based view of the revenue streams is adopted that lines upwith the income sources identified by Deloitte and Touche, except that sponsorshipand merchandise are separated due to the different customers, sponsors and fans. So,the revenue streams are categorized as follows:

● match-day revenue from fans at the ground itself;● sponsorship revenue in a variety of forms from shirt sponsors to official partners

for beer, etc.;● merchandise revenue from tangible products such as team shirts, photographs,

magazines, etc. sold directly by the club (via a club shop or website) or compa-nies allowed licences to produce such products; and

● revenue from companies allowed rights to broadcast the game to the fans on themove or relaxing.

If we consider these revenue streams from the point of view of looking at the impactof technology, merchandise is of less concern as it involves providing the fan with atangible product associated with the club. The technology aspects of this are merelywithin the product itself, or, as a means to sell the product, i.e. via the Internet. So, thefollowing sections concentrate on revenue from match days, sponsorship and broad-casting.

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Match-day revenue from fans at the ground

If we consider that watching a football match is the core product of a football club,then the traditional product gets delivered to the fan inside the ground in its simplestform as an immediate visual experience. Fans will, naturally, provide additional reve-nues by their requirements for food and drink, with the opportunity to bet on variousoutcomes within the game also becoming increasingly popular.12 Classically, readingmatter to enhance the match experience in the form of a match-day programme andmagazine formats for younger fans are made available. Both are commonly on sale tofans watching inside the ground or via a guaranteed match-day delivery scheme forthose away from the ground. Technology now allows for both replays via screensinside the ground and match commentary available via radio or in-house TV channels.The latter suits the clubs from the point of view of providing these services to bothcorporate hospitality clients and anyone with sight or hearing disabilities. By contrast,the use of technology to support referee decisions has been an area of heated debatewith some backing its use to avoid incorrect decisions, particularly on the goal line,and others complaining that this would stop the flow in the game and, hence, its enjoy-ment. However, for the fans at the game, most of these options are non-core productsand either come as part of the ticket price or represent additional discretionary items.

Of course, match-day revenues will be affected by attendance that, in turn, is influ-enced by a variety of factors such as team performance, competing events, weather,etc. However, once a club experiences a full house regularly on match days, there areonly three options for increasing revenues and these are to offer more services, or toincrease prices or capacity. As the latter is only open to clubs with an opportunity todevelop their grounds, more services and higher prices remain the key options.However, we have noted above that the additional services are discretionary items thatmay or may not interest the fans. Hence, we see the big clubs looking to attract spec-tators with more disposable income meaning a shift away from the traditionalworking-class fan to corporate entertainment with its meals and other incidentals(programmes, disposable cameras, etc).

In response to this, Roy Keane famously said in 2000:

Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? Away from home ourfans are fantastic, I’d call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinksand probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don’t realise what’s going on out on thepitch. I don’t think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell football,never mind understand it.13

There is much discourse about this shift in the nature of crowds at major sportingevents although this broadly remains outside the main theme of this article. What isclear from the preceding discussion is that technology itself has a limited influence onthe match-day revenue coming from ticket sales and the sales of some discretionaryitems.

Sponsorship revenues

Mixed with this network of football clubs, football leagues and communicationscompanies are a plethora of sponsors who wish to promote themselves to an extensive,if not global, customer base. These sponsors can include companies within thecommunications layer of the broadcast distribution network. What better way for, say,

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a mobile phone company to promote itself than as sponsor of a league that features ona TV channel. In this way, the football fan sat watching the TV is made aware of abrand that might later gain commercial benefits by offering football-based services ontheir mobile phone. Hence, it is no co-incidence that O2 are one of the main sponsorsat Arsenal Football Club or, indeed, that Internet gambling companies have been keenfootball sponsors in recent years (though this has come under the scrutiny of the UKgovernment).14 This layering of organizations and brands to provide football-basedentertainment to its fans is best summarized by Leitch and Richardson in the brandweb where commercial transactions get inextricably linked with brand images.15 AsGwinner and Swanson further suggest, sponsorship can be particularly effective insport where ardent fans show themselves to be predisposed to the sponsors.16 Itfollows from the writers above that the combination of fans with a predisposition to aparticular brand acting within a brand web would be particularly attractive to thosewho position their products within the minds of typical target markets for the sport.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that sponsorship revenue ultimatelyaccrues from the perceived benefits of the sponsor rather than satisfying the particularneeds of the fan and, hence, one might argue, sponsorship per se is a biproduct of thislook at the impact of technology. Clearly, expanding the fan base itself is in the mutualinterest of both the sponsor and the football club, although it should be rememberedthat sponsors would always judge the balance between the cost of the sponsorship andits reach. In other words, if the club is not reaching a large enough audience, can thesponsor get a better deal with another sponsorship partner? This is the sort of thinkingthat drove Vodafone away from sponsoring Manchester United to sponsoring theChampions League. So, for top division clubs at least, the main question is how toexpand the fan base and this leads us to think of those fans watching away from theground.

Revenue from companies allowed rights to broadcast the game

To reach the wider market of the fans away from the ground, broadcasting offers foot-ball clubs a range of communication options. Even for those football clubs with theirown TV channels, there is a need to engage with a number of organizations to leverageincome from broadcasting the matches. So attractive are the revenue-generatingopportunities for some that rivalry on the pitch has been put to one side with the foot-ball clubs of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United meeting to discusshow they can leverage their match content via the communications networks.17 Theirneed to discuss this revenue stream arises from the development of new media plat-forms producing a variety of potential product offerings for the football fan to enjoyvia TV, PC or mobile phone. Richard Worth summed this up when marketing thecommercial rights of the UEFA Champions League as Chief Executive of TEAM:

In the early days, it was only a free-to-air Wednesday night TV product with sponsorshipas well. Now it is a multi-layered free-to-air, pay-TV, Internet, mobile phone, sponsor-ship property which is a very sophisticated thing. In a sense the challenge is bringing allthose components together and making it work.18

Needless to say, with substantial incomes involved, business minds are focused onthe agreements between clubs and broadcasters. In the UK, it has been suggested thatthe key elements within the negotiation (outside the finance) are the timing of the

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service delivery and the content level.19 For current contracts in the UK, negotiatorshave focused upon which matches from the English Premier League are made avail-able and when they can be broadcast. In essence, agreements for the 2007/8 seasonmade specific matches available live (via Sky and Setanta), delayed by a few hours(under separate agreements) and as highlights (via the BBC).20

Timing, content and finance may be seen as the key elements of negotiation and,yet, technology is making different platforms available to broadcasters with, forexample, Virgin Media having the rights to provide on demand highlights of allPremier League games from their website. Such new technologies are starting to raisequestions about the transmission across digital networks, especially phone networks.For example, as enhanced technologies clearly create different products such as theability to send football highlights to a mobile phone, how do customers value theirexperience in consuming these products?21 Do fans want to squint at a small screenon a phone in bright daylight, or, would they be happy to wait and watch at home onthe TV or Internet? One might also ask how reliable those products are, say when itcomes to a mobile phone receiving calls, SMS text messages and a live footballmatch at the same time? All of these questions and more, Fred Robins sees asendemic in the high-risk strategy of introducing 3G technology.22 The detailed ques-tions behind this thinking need to be answered but the underlying importance is oneof understanding the value placed by the customer on the product being offered. It isclear that the fan’s view of the needs being satisfied and the level of satisfactionachieved will have significant financial impacts on the long term revenue stream forthe broadcasters and the clubs.

So far, the industry has been satisfied with what can be termed a ‘platform neutral’view but, as seen above, this is clearly set to change with the expansion of platformsand digital networks.23 In the summer of 2006, Sky Mobile along with Vodafone andthe relevant football and cricket authorities forged an agreement to broadcast end ofseason football play-offs and cricket on both TV and mobile phone platforms. Thelatter has been made possible by the advent of 3G mobile phones, allied with increasesin Internet availability/speeds and the well-established satellite TV channels to createthe potential for ‘tri-cast’ agreements across mobile phones, PC and TV. With an eraof broadcasting across three platforms having begun, the potential income at stake hascaused a jockeying for position among the protagonists. Already courting controversy,some communications companies have been attracting the attention of the EuropeanCommission for the tactic of ‘warehousing’, i.e. buying up broadcasting rights to lockout the competitors from a potential source of income.24

Typical of this picture of increasing revenues is the announcement in 2007 that thePremier League has negotiated an international TV rights deal covering 208 countriesworth £625m.25 This shift in income meant that clubs that finished towards the bottomof the Premier League in 2006/7 gained financially as much in the new season as thechampions did at the start of the previous season. It also indicates the strong collectivebargaining role of the Premier League in the distribution of match content for TV. Inother national leagues like Spain and Italy, individual clubs such as Real Madrid nego-tiate their broadcast rights. Outside the scope of this article, there is clearly an issue ofcontrol and power between the clubs and the ‘big five’ leagues of the England, Spain,Germany, Italy and France.26 Although one might argue that the collective (healthycompetition) versus individual (healthy profits) approach to negotiation createwinners and losers, the clubs in the top European leagues are all winners to somedegree. Suffice to say, here, that the distribution rights will involve a variety of

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organizations controlling how the content reaches football fans via both terrestrial andsatellite routes. Some idea of the scale of this can be seen in on-line TV listings thatsuggest a typical Saturday afternoon in the Premier League has all the matches beingbroadcast somewhere in Europe and 20 or more channels taking the games betweentop clubs.27 For the enterprising manager of a bar populated with sports fans, thisprovides ample opportunity to take legal, or illegal, steps to provide live football tothe clientele. As a result, it is not unknown to find a bar in England full of footballfans on a Saturday afternoon watching a Premier League match on, say, an Egyptiansatellite TV channel carrying commentary in English.

Although the preceding discussion has concentrated on the significant opportuni-ties for football clubs to profit from broadcast rights, there are some concerns thatwarrant consideration. First, there is the aforementioned possibility of illegallywatching matches from satellite TV and there is also the possibility of signing up toInternet-based services, claimed to be legal, offering Premier League matches.Second, concerns have been raised about the effect of changing TV schedules on theability or desire of sports fans to attend matches.28 Indeed, in 2007, this concern ledto Blackburn Rovers providing free tickets to its season ticket holders for a UEFACup match against Bayer Leverkusen because the German TV broadcasters insistedupon an early evening kick off time that was inconvenient to local fans. This loss ofrevenue on ticket sales was rumoured to be compensated by broadcasting revenues of£650,000 from German TV and, for a relatively small club in global terms, such sumsof money are significant and warrant these actions. Further concerns have also beenraised that these incomes will just feed the celebrity lifestyle of top footballers and,for some, this will not only create major differences between national leagues but alsobecome a significant cash drain on football clubs who seem to, at best, have mixedviews about profits.29

Clearly, broadcasting brings a heady mixture of growing incomes from a land-scape of changing and, arguably, uncertain technology that helps to provide new prod-ucts/services for football fans. Broadcasters are paying substantial sums for the rightsto football content in order to deliver products that range from the relatively estab-lished such as TV broadcasting to the newer, relatively untested platforms of mobilephones, Internet offerings, etc. Naturally, the latter will be subject to the risks commonto all new product introductions and, hence, it is interesting to consider the attitude offootball clubs to the new technologies.

The technology edge – 3G

Here, some information from an exploratory survey of the English Premier Leagueclubs in 2006 is presented to help understand their attitudes towards new technology.In particular, this focuses on 3G mobile phone technology as an issue of interest at thatpoint in time.

In Table 1, the clubs are categorized into small, medium and large, based on theaverage attendances in the 2005/6 season in order that, later, some indication of atti-tudinal link to size might be established.30 The categories were determined based onapproximately equal groupings of small, medium and large though these may beslightly distorted where some clubs have grounds with capacities that do not satisfythe total demand, i.e. their ‘size’.

Of the 20 clubs in the league, 60% responded to the survey and 50% or moreresponded in each size category. When asked whether they felt that 3G technology

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offered an opportunity, all the clubs with the exception of one medium-sized clubagreed with this statement. The club that considered the technology as a threat basedtheir view on concern at the number of websites broadcasting their matches, legally orillegally, reflecting a general concern over technology control.

So, ignoring this exception, the clubs are well aware of potential in new technol-ogy. However, Table 2 indicates that it is only the large clubs that invest in all thetechnologies and the others are not as widely committed to technology. Reflecting thecomplexity of the technology involved in marketing, some also mentioned other fancommunication routes, such as radio (one medium club), SMS text messaging (onemedium club) and email (one small club).

As observed earlier, the small and medium-sized clubs have tended not to adopt3G technology and their stated reasons are seen in Table 3, alongside the reasonsstated for adoption. Adopters are clearly keen to build relationships with fans awayfrom the ground and happy to invest in the new technologies, whereas those not adopt-ing have other priorities such as concentrating their efforts on the Internet. Theirreduced activity seems to reflect either a lack of resource, knowledge, suitablecommunication partners or, simply, other football priorities.

Table 1. Size of clubs based on average attendances in 2005/6 season.

Size/Average attendance Club

Small(Less than 27,000)

Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic

Medium(Greater than 27,000, but

less than 37,000)

Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Middlesborough, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and West Ham United

Large(Greater than 37,000)

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United

Table 2. Percentage of clubs using technology by club size.

Technology Small Medium Large Total

Internet 100% 100% 100% 100%Own TV 25% 40% 100% 50%3G Mobile 25% 0% 100% 33%

Table 3. Adopting 3G technology.

Reasons for adoption Reasons against adoption

Helps sell mobile phone rights Focusing on internet servicesCan build data on fans and enable

relationship marketingNot investigated or currently investigating

Offers something exclusive to the fans Believe there is no demand for this serviceExtends brand in an exciting way Not technologically capableIncreased options to promote club Tied up in a rights deal

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Understanding the fans

Whilst football clubs wrestle with the technologies and battle contractual arrange-ments with broadcasters and players, it is easy to forget the fans whose money feedsthe revenue stream. Various writers have tried to explain the behaviour of fans in anattempt to aid the development of strategies to manage or market to them. Some earlyviews of fans contrasted football and religion to find a number of common points interms of ‘support, community, needs being met, and the bonding and communitiesthat are formed through the fan(atic)’.31 Other views of fans, such as those of Cialdiniet al., have suggested a need for ‘basking in reflected glory’ that have been furtherdeveloped by his work with Richardson looking at ‘blasting’ opponents.32 Gwinnerand Swanson define fans as ‘in group’ and ‘out group’ reflecting their level of identi-fication with the team and, for example, suggesting that the former are more influ-enced by sponsors linked to their team, whereas the latter has a much more casualrelationship with both club and sponsors.33 This is expanded by Tapp and Clowes wholook at match attendees and break them into various categories ‘carefree casuals’,‘professional wanderers’, ‘repertoire fans’, etc. but ultimately indicate that attempts tosegment this market beyond the traditional demographic variables into lifestylesegmentation reveal complex groupings of customers well beyond the ‘in group’ and‘out group’ of Gwinner and Swanson.34

In considering match attendees, this work recognizes complex groupings of fansinside the ground but it neglects those who do not regularly attend games and, partic-ularly for a large club, this group will form the majority of their global fan base.Furthermore, as technology develops, the global options for fans are increasing withoptions to watch at rest (via TV at home or in a social situation such as a bar) or whilemoving (on their mobile phone). Yet, very little is known about these fans beyond thework of Weed who has tracked the development of the bar/pub as a ‘virtual football’experience. He indicates the centrality of the social interactions with fans involved inreliving and retelling the experience of the match as well as debating whether fanswish for proximity to the event or other fans.35 In the words of Urry, these are ‘faceto face’, ‘face the place’ and ‘face the moment’ situations that might involve beinginside the ground or, as Weed argues, having a similar virtual experience away fromthe ground.36 In addition to this, there is the experience of the fan that travels to majorfootball competitions where the big screen is an integral part of the ‘fanzone’. Inconclusion, research has identified the complex nature of fans and the variety of waysin which they come into contact with the object of their desire and, yet, there is onlya partial understanding of their motivations and satisfaction with what is offered.

Some concluding thoughts

The aim of this article is to examine the impact of new technology in the EnglishPremier League in terms of a globalizing football market. It is no surprise to find thatbroadcasting via the ‘tri-cast’ routes of mobile phones, PC and TV is providing themain tool for globalization and the consequent increased revenues in football.

However, a number of issues arise which might be summarized by considering thebenefits that accrue from the broadcasting of the football experience. First, we mightconclude that the football clubs benefit as broadcasting rights are being sold for signif-icant sums of money. However, we should recognize that the English Premier League’scollective negotiation of rights allows all the clubs to gain a financial benefit, thiswould not happen in leagues where the larger clubs negotiate individual broadcasting

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rights. For example, AC Milan generated the most broadcast income in the 2006/7season with most of the £103.4m coming from their pay-TV deal with Sky Italia.37

Further to this, we see that only the top clubs of the Premier League are investing inthe chase for revenue across all the possible platforms. What is obvious here is thatonly the top leagues and clubs are well positioned to take advantage of the growingrevenue stream. On the other hand, despite the influx of new owners seeking to feedfrom this honey pot, some feel that profit is not uppermost in the mind of clubs thatbuild up a hefty debt and vie with each other to offer star players financial deals tobring them or keep them at the club.38

So, do the fans benefit from these new broadcast services? The answer here wouldseem to be mixed, starting with a positive picture of fans able to see any top match orget the latest news in any part of the world. However, little seems to be understoodabout the benefits that fans actually seek from their experience. Although there areclearly many happy hours spent around the world in sports bars, questions might beasked about the perceived value of offerings such as goal highlights sent to a mobilephone. At a basic level, one might ask about the level of club loyalty held by fans thatnever get closer to their team than a TV screen? In summary, this suggests that knowl-edge of fan motivations and valuations would benefit football clubs in terms of themarketing of broadcast services (and the wider area of merchandise) to the potentiallyfickle global fan.

You might argue that fans cannot be losers in the drive towards further broadcast-ing because they either buy into the new offerings or they do not. If they do not, then,it is the broadcasters who see their benefits evaporate if their valuation of the rightsexceeds that of the revenue that is returned. In this way, the broadcasters are takingsimilar risks to those in other areas of entertainment such as concert promoters whobook artists in the expectation of selling concert tickets. In addition, the broadcastersare grappling with technologies ranging from the well-established to the cutting edgeof new technology, with the latter adding an air of uncertainty about quality and reli-ability. As with concert promoters and artists, there is a mutual need existingbetween the broadcasters and the clubs that offers some form of security. Neverthe-less, there are numerous tales of collapsed companies or communication dealsrevealed by Boyle and Haines who confirm that a high stakes game is being playedby the broadcasters.39

Without doubt, a tipping point seems to have been reached with a stabilizingtechnology offering the potential of great rewards or great problems. In broadcasters,we have competitors in a race towards revenue that is expected to come from fanswhose behaviour is barely understood, while the apparent beneficiaries of the deal,the Premier League football clubs, are often seen running up debt in a cavaliermanner as they shower their broadcasting proceeds on star players in the hope thatthey will bring the success on the pitch that will attract a vast audience. No doubt, aswith the sport itself, we will see winners and losers over the coming years but chang-ing technology means that the scale of victory or defeat would seem to be greaterthan ever.

AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Catherine Evans, a final year Events Management student atLeeds Metropolitan University in 2006, for collecting the primary data on Premier Leagueclubs attitudes to 3G technology used in this article.

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Notes

1. ‘News Corp. 2nd-Qtr Net Falls’, data from Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeZ.VV.45ed8&refer=home, accessed June 5, 2008 andInternational Monetary Fund, http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/02/data/index.aspx, accessed June 5, 2008.

2. ‘BSkyB Snaps Up 17.9% Stake in ITV’, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6159780.stm, accessed June 5, 2008.

3. ‘Murdoch Wins Fight for Dow Jones’, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6923474.stm, accessed June 5, 2008.

4. Chadwick and Clowes, ‘The Use of Extension Strategies by Clubs in the English FootballPremier League’.

5. Beech, Chadwick, and Tapp, ‘Emerging Trends in the Use of the Internet’; Beech,Chadwick, and Tapp, ‘Surfing in the Premier League’.

6. Boyle, ‘Mobile Communication and the Sports Industry’.7. Waugh quoting Kenyon in Marketing Week, ‘Chelsea Aims for Worldwide Brand

Success’, http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=54300&d=pndpr&h=pnhpr&f=pnfpr, accessed June 6, 2008.

8. Mason, ‘What is the Sports Product and Who Buys It?’9. Taylor, ‘The Hillsborough Disaster 15 April 1989 Final Report’, http://www.southyorks.

police.uk/foi/information_classes/categories/documents/hillsborough/hillsborough%20stadium%20disaster%20final%20report.zip, accessed June 5, 2008.

10. ‘Villa Unveil Charity Sponsorship’, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7433169.stm, accessed June 4, 2008.

11. Deloitte and Touche, ‘Football Money League 2008’, http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%253D190718,00.html, June 11, 2008.

12. Mintel, The Gambler indicates the increase in betting in general and specifically on sportsother than the traditional betting on horseracing.

13. Keane quoted in The Guardian, ‘10 Classic Roy Keane Rants’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/aug/24/sport.comment, accessed June 5, 2008.

14. ‘Gaming Probe Risk to Shirt Deals’, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6220242.stm, accessed June 6, 2008.

15. Leitch and Richardson, ‘Corporate Branding in the New Economy’.16. Gwinner and Swanson, ‘A Model of Fan Identification Antecedents and Sponsorship

Outcomes’.17. McCormick, ‘Premiership Clubs Form Summit to Discuss New Media Strategies’.18. Quoted in Chadwick and Holt, ‘A Case Study of Global Success in Sport’.19. Hargrave, ‘Playing to the Crowd’.20. Premier League broadcasters seen in the list of partners, http://www.premierleague.com/

page/Partners/0,,12306,00.html, accessed June 6, 2008.21. Tanner writing in America’s Network, ‘Is There a Business Case for 3G TV?’.22. Robins, ‘The Marketing of 3G’.23. Hargrave, ‘Playing to the Crowd’.24. Ibid.25. ‘Premiership in New £625m TV Deal’, BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/

6273617.stm, accessed June 6, 2008.26. Deloitte and Touche, ‘Football Money League 2008’.27. The Satfootball website provides listings across Europe, http://www.satfootball.com,

accessed March 5, 2008.28. Inverdale writing in the Daily Telegraph, ‘TV Schedules Must Rule as Rugby Reaps the

Benefit’, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/02/07/srinve07.xml, accessed June 6, 2008.

29. Milanovic, ‘Globalization and Goals: Does Soccer Show the Way?’. Wilson writing inthe Daily Telegraph, ‘Premier League Wages Break the £1bn Barrier’, http://www.tele-graph.co. uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/29/sfnpre129.xml, accessed June 6,2008.

30. The Soccernet website provides match attendance data, http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/attendance?league=eng.1&year=2005&cc=5739, accessed June 6, 2008.

31. Percy and Taylor, ‘Something for the Weekend, Sir?’.

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32. Cialdini et al., ‘Basking in Reflected Glory’; Cialdini and Richardson, ‘Two IndirectTactics of Image Management’.

33. Gwinner and Swanson, ‘A Model of Fan Identification Antecedents and SponsorshipOutcomes’.

34. Tapp and Clowes, ‘From “Carefree Casuals” to “Professional Wanderers”’; Vyncke,‘Lifestyle Segmentation: From Attitudes, Interests and Opinions, to Values, AestheticStyles, Life Visions and Media Preferences’; Gwinner and Swanson, ‘A Model of FanIdentification Antecedents and Sponsorship Outcomes’.

35. Weed, ‘The Pub as a Virtual Football Fandom Venue’; Weed, ‘Exploring the SportSpectator Experience’.

36. Urry, ‘Mobility and Proximity’.37. Deloitte and Touche, ‘Football Money League 2008’.38. ‘Premier League Revenues Hit High, But So Do Wages’, The Times, http://www.timeson-

line.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article4022857.ece, accessed June 7, 2008.39. Boyle and Haynes, Football in the New Media Age.

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