Moving the ball forward

: multi-club ownership and competitive advantages in football

Abstract

The football industry exists in a climate of fierce competition and overinvestment. Football clubs constantly seek competitive advantages to outperform competitors in the various dimensions in which they compete. This thesis evaluates a recent and rising phenomenon in the football industry - Multi-Club Ownership (MCO). It seeks to understand whether MCO can lead to competitive advantages over the current business model of operating a single club, and if it will become prevalent.This study employs a hybrid methodological approach, including 10 expert semi-structured interviews which added granularity to the real-world context, and a survey to evaluate fans` perceptions and behaviour relative to MCO.Results showed that MCO enables advantages in revenue capture, on-field performance, brand internationalization and operational efficiencies. Nevertheless, these are extremely dependent on the group´s level of integration, organizational structure, global exposure of the parent club, and level of connection to local community. For revenue generation, these benefits may become sustainable competitive advantages. It was found that fans tend to be more engaged in Singular-Club Ownership (SCO) rather than MCO, and fans who prefer foreign ownership, on average, tend to give higher engagement scores in MCO situations, ceteris paribus.Furthermore, the Belgium case was analysed, which showcases how the development of MCO may be enhanced in environments with certain specific characteristics.It is likely that MCO will grow, without necessarily becoming prevalent in the industry, or declining abruptly. The main threat to its development is potential legal restrictions applied by governing bodies (FIFA/UEFA), constraining MCO development and operations.

Date of Award	5 Feb 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter V. Rajsingh (Supervisor) & André de Almeida Pinho (Co-Supervisor)