Commercialization of Football and How Sponsorship Has Affected the English Premier League

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine how commercialisation and sponsorship of football have affected the English Premier League (EPL). Since its inception in 1992, the Premier League has become the top tier of England's football hierarchy with only 20 teams operating under the promotion and delegation model. With a fan base of over one billion people from over 180 countries around the world, the fame of the league can be attributed to successful advertisement and promotion that has created a cult brand profile for the company. To achieve the research aims, the researcher purposively sampled and surveyed 30 respondents from England using SurveyMonkey.com within the dictates of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). IRB is essential since it focusses on the ethics during research. IRB is a type of committee that efforts on the research ethics through analyzing the methods that a research uses to ensure that they are ethical. In this case, IRB was essential since it ensured that the research that was conducted was ethical and the participant's rights were observed. IRB can approve or disapprove a research, therefore, IRB was used to ensure it protected the welfare of the participants. Furthermore, IRB was essential during the research since its approval reveals that the research was successful and has credible information. The purpose of the research was to determine how the EPL has changed from being an entertainment activity to a commercial activity. In the recent past, the once acclaimed EPL has turned increasingly into a business venture and the money spent by fans on matches has been on the rise. The research also systematically reviewed internet literature on the subject, along with the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data using respective techniques.

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The findings indicate that while commercialisation has promoted the EPL and increased its fan base, as well as funded stadium modernisation, it has, somewhat unexpectedly, negatively affected the league. Commercialisation and sponsorship have affected the quality, values, and traditions of the sport. It has led to fan exploitation, spiraling debt has emerged, and sponsors are influencing the team and league outcomes. The revenue from TV deals and sponsorship has enabled the EPL to unite people from all occupations. The research concludes that while sponsorship and commercialization have negatively impacted EPL, the benefits associated with sponsorship and commercialisation outweighs the negative impacts. The implication for such findings is that comedication and synostosis should be used strategically to promote the game and more regulation should be introduced to stem the influence of large corporations on the league.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background Information

As a result of speedy globalisation in the current era, almost everybody on the globe has been interconnected. In the current global economy, England's premier football league - the English Premier League (EPL) - has been entangled with the entire world (Kern, Schwarzmann & Wiedenegger, 2012, p. 112). Since the EPL has become international, it has similarly been more commercial (Penn & Berridge, 2019, p. 126). The abrupt commercialisation of the football especially the Premier League in the past years has resulted in both negative and positive impact on the England football (Plumley, Wilson & Ramchandani, 2014). Recently, Chinese, Arab, America, and investors have invested billions of money in the Premier League. Instead of being concerned about the atmosphere of the matches and fans, investors have expressed much focus on money: They ensure that they leverage their profit margins by increasing concessions, tickets and merchandise prices (Kern, Schwarzmann & Wiedenegger, 2012, p. 102). This makes it cumbersome for supporters, many of whom are working-class, to be in a position of attending games in a regular manner in which they may often desire.

This effect has been felt in cities like Manchester and Liverpool where most supporters of games mainly come from working-class backgrounds (Hamil and Walters, 2017). BBC undertook a study that analyzed the prices of tickets from 2010 to 2014, and their findings were starling as it discovered that the most expensive ticket of a match-day rose by twelve percent in the Premier League to PS55.63 since 2011. However, this figure is less than the cost in 2012, which hiked to PS59.43 (Kern, Schwarzmann & Wiedenegger, 2012, p. 1243). The study revealed that the average cost of the cheapest ticket of the match-day in England's top-flight rose by twenty percent in the five years. That is, from PS25.55 in 2010 to PS30.58 in 2014 (Premier League, 2018). The average price of the ticket in the cheapest season rose by 15% to PS512.95 while the average price for the most expensive ticket of the season went up 10% yielding PS876.21 (Premier League, 2018). These are significant increases over a relatively short space of time. Football sponsorship has largely helped many clubs to discover talented footballers. The EPL teams have also used their scouts to spot new talents and nature them using the sponsorship programs. According to Sajid, et al., (2014), there are many deals that have been experienced involving football sponsorship. For instance, the EPL had a deal with Barclays bank, whereby it is currently being sponsored by Barclays bank. The sponsorship deals have been of great significance since they help in raising funds for the different football leagues. Also, football teams benefit from the sponsorship of their kits from various companies such as Adidas and Nike. Betting has also become common in the modern world, and this has benefited many clubs that are being sponsored by the betting companies. On the extreme, advertisement and has become common in football leagues, whereby the managements of the leagues have attracted many fans globally by ensuring that they advertise their games. Having many fans is essential as it increases revenues through ticketing. The EPL teams have also benefited from ticketing, whereby the funds collected from the fans have been used to develop clubs and in signing of various players.

Problem Statement

The EPL has two main types of sponsorships: club sponsorship and the overall league sponsorship. Both are mainly acquired in exchange for advertisement rights. The kits sponsorship and stadium sponsorship by companies such as Betway, Adidas, Skybet, and Lancer Scott give the companies the right to advertise on the stadia and/or the team's kits. Betting companies have been accused of influencing the officiating of the league. With the huge amounts of money being spent on league sponsorships, the sponsorships and commercialisation largely influence the leagues' outcome, performance, and values. In view of this initial background, the main aims and objectives of this study are as follows.

Objectives of the Study

To determine how sponsorship as a form of football commercialisation has affected the EPL.

To review the risks and benefits of foot...