A game without penalty: Purchasing a professional club, a rational crime?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/QS.2020.025Keywords
Sport management, Strategy, Economics of Crime, AgentsAbstract
This paper aims to advance a new strategic explanation for the detention of a professional football club based on criminal motivations. Despite recurring deficits, most of the French professional football teams have changed owner over the last years (22 of 40 since 2010). It is therefore difficult at first sight to understand why investors are attracted to this industry. Beyond the internal / external distinction, this article advances a new explanation based on economics of crime. Semi-structured interviews were performed and primary data was analyzed to explain that purchasing a professional football club for criminal ends would be rational. The removal of the Third Party Ownership may explain some of this phenomenon. Results also suggest that the football industry is a criminogenic market. From this, it was possible to derive consequences of the potential criminal behavior of the new investors and managerial recommendations to fight against this existing situation.
References
Andreff,W. 2011. “Some Comparative Economics of the Organization of Sports: Competition and Regulation in North American vs. European Professional Team Sports Leagues”. European Journal of Comparative Economics, 8(1): 3-27.
Andreff,W. 2013.“Une Transition Economique Inattendue: vers le cupidalisme”. Revue de la régulation. Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, 14(2).
Andreff,W.2014.“The Winner’s Curse in Sports Economics”. In Budzinski, O. & Feddersen,A. Contemporary Research in Sports Economics, 14, Peter Lang, Political Economics, Competititon and Regulation, 978-3-631-64657-1: 177-205.
Barney,J. 1991. “Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage”. Journal of Management, 17(1): 99-120.
Beaud,S. 1996. “L'Usage de l'Entretien en Sciences Sociales. Plaidoyer pour l'«Entretien Ethnographique»”. Politix. Revue des Sciences Sociales du Politique, 9(35): 226-257.
Becker,G.1968. “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach”.Journal of Political Economy, 76(2): 169–217.
Berentsen,A.2002. “The economics of Doping”. European Journal of Political Economy, 18(1): 109-127.
Breuer, M., & Kaiser, S. 2017. Match Fixing and Manipulation in Sport. Critical Issues in Global Sport Management: 64-76.
Bonnet, F. 2008. “Un crime sans déviance: le Vol en Interne Comme Activité Routinière”. Revue Française de Sociologie, 49(2), 331-350.
Bouvet, P., & Lepetit, C. 2015. “Du dopage au Dopage Financier”. Reflets et Perspectives de la Vie Economique, 54(3), 39-56.
Brickman, P. 1977. “Crime and Punishment in Sports and Society”. Journal of Social Issues, 33(1) :140-164.
Brunsson, N. 1989. “The organization of hypocrisy: Talk, decisions and actions in organizations”. New-York: John Wiley & Sons.
Capen, E. C., Clapp, R. V., & Campbell, W. M. 1971. “Competitive Bidding in High-Risk Situations”. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 23(06): 641-653.
Card, D., & Dahl, G. B. 2011. “Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior”. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(1):103-143.
Caruso, R. 2008. “Spontaneous Match-Fixing in Sport: Cooperation in Contests”. Threats to Sports and Sports Participation, Ediciones de la Universidad de Oviedo: 63-82.
Chappelet, J.L., & Kubler-Mabbott, B. 2008. “Global Institutions: The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System”. London: Routledge.
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. 1979. “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A routine Activity Approach”. American Sociological Review, 588-608.
Comte-Sponvile, A. 2004. “Le Capitalisme est-il moral ?”. Paris, Albin Michel.
Conseil d'État. 2006. “Jurisprudence et avis de 2005. Sécurité juridique et complexité du droit”. Paris : La Documentation française.
Dantinne, M. 2015. “Foot, argent et crime”. Revue de la Faculté de Droit de l'Université de Liège, 1: 185-191.
Dorsey, J. M. 2018. “Gulf Autocrats and Sports Corruption: a Marriage Made in Heaven”. Sport in Society, 21(5): 762-772.
Downward, P. and Dawson, A. 2000. The Economics of Professional Team Sports. Routledge, London and New York.
Ehrlich, I. 1996. “Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 10(1), 43-67.
Farberman, H. A. 1975. “A Criminogenic Market Structure: the Automobile Industry”. Sociological Quarterly, 16(4): 438-457.
FATF, Money laundering through the Football Sector, 2009, Paris, 50 p, [en ligne], http:// www.fatf-gafi.org, consulté le 21 février 2019.
Forrest, D., & Simmons, R. 2003. “Sport and Gambling”. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 19(4): 598-611.
Hassan, D. 2018. “Sport and Politics in a Complex Age”. Sport in Society, 21(5): 735-744.
Hill, D. 2009. “A Critical Mass of Corruption: Why Some Football Leagues Have More Match-Fixing than Others”. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 11(3): 38-52.
Holden, J. T., and Rodenberg, R. M. 2015. “The Sports Bribery Act: a Law and Economics Approach”. Northern Kentucky Law Reiew, 42(3), 453.
Hosmer-Henner, A. 2010. “Preventing Game Fixing: Sports Books as Information Markets”. Gaming Law Review and Economics, 14(1): 31-38.
Kahn, L. M. 2000. “The Sports Business as a Labor Market Laboratory”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3): 75-94.
Kalist, D. E., and Lee, D. Y. 2016. “The National Football League: Does Crime Increase on Game Day?”. Journal of Sports Economics, 17(8), 863-882.
Kelly, S., and Chatziefstathiou, D. (2018). “Trust me I am a Football Agent’. The discursive practices of the players’ agents in (un) professional football”. Sport in Society, 21(5): 800-814.
Lago, U., Simmons, R., and Szymanski, S. 2006. “The Financial Crisis in European Football : an Introduction”. Journal of sports economics, Vol.7 N°1: 3-12.
Lee P.-C. 2008. “Managing a Corrupted Sporting System: The Governance of Professional Baseball in Taiwan and the Gambling Scandal of 1997”. European Sport Management Quarterly, 8 (1): 45-66.
Maennig, W. 2002. “On the Economics of Doping and Corruption in International Sports”. Journal of Sports Economics, 3(1): 61-89.
Marie, O. 2010. “Police and Thieves in the Stadium: Measuring the (Multiple) Effects of Football Matches on Crime”. No. 044. Maastricht, The Netherlands: METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization, 2010. Retrieved from http://edocs.ub.unimaas.nl/loader/file.asp?id¼1587
Mauws, M. K., Mason, D. S., and Foster, W. M. 2003. “Thinking Strategically about Professional Sports”. European Sport Management Quarterly, 3(3): 145-164.
Merlo, L. J., Ahmedani, B. K., Barondess, D. A., Bohnert, K. M., and Gold, M. S. 2011. “Alcohol Consumption Associated with Collegiate American football Pre-Game Festivities”. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 116(1-3): 242-245.
Morgan, R., Maguire, M., and Reiner, R. (Eds.). 2012. “The Oxford handbook of criminology”. Oxford University Press.
Morrow, S. 2014. “Football Finances” in Goddard, J. and Sloane, P. Handbook on the economics of professional football, 80-99.
Muller, J.C. 2004. “Club Licensing as a Means to Control Costs and to Safeguard the Integrity of the Game : the example of the Bundesliga”. Svendsk Idrotts Juridisk foerening, Vol.9: 227-299.
Poli, R. 2010. “Le Marché des Footballeurs - Réseaux et Circuits dans I'Economie Globale”, Berne, Peter Lang.
Porter, M. 1979. “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy”. Harvard Business Review, 57(2), 137-145.
Saber, J. L., and Foster, M. K. 2011. “The Agony and the Ecstasy: Teaching Marketing Metrics to Undergraduate Business Students”. Marketing Education Review, 21(1): 9-20.
Scelles, N., Helleu, B., Durand, C., and Bonnal, L. 2013. “Determinants of Professional Sports Firm Values in the United States and Europe: A Comparison Between Sports over the period 2004-2011”. International Journal of Sport Finance, 8(4): 280-293.
Senaux,B.2008. “A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance”. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 4(1): 4.
Senaux, B. 2011. “Playing by the rules… but Which ones?”. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 1(3): 252-266.
Sloane, P. J. 1971. The Economics of Professional Football: the Football Club as a Utility Maximiser. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 18(2): 121-146.
Storm, R. K., and Nielsen, K. 2012. “Soft Budget Constraints in Professional Football”. European Sport Management Quarterly, 12(2): 183-201.
Terrien, M., and Durand, C. 2018. “222M€ pour un joueur de football ou l’amoralité des prix en économie”. Jurisport: Revue Juridique et Economique du Sport, (188): 43-45.
Terrien, M., Scelles, N., and Durand, C. 2016. “French 75% tax rate: An opportunity to optimize the attractiveness of the French soccer league”. International Journal of Sport Finance, 11(3): 183-203.
Terrien, M., Scelles, N., Morrow, S., Maltese, L., and Durand, C. 2017. “The Win/Profit Maximization Debate: Strategic Adaptation as the Answer?”. Sport, Business and Management: an International Journal, 7(2):121-140.
Vamplew, W. 1988. “ Pay Up and Play the Game: Professional Sport in Britain, 1875-1914”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vassilou,A. 2013. “Indemnités de Transfert Excessives et Manque de Règles du Jeu Equitables dans le football : la Commission brandit un carton jaune”. Site Internet Commission européenne, IP/13/95, 7 février 2013
White, G.F., Katz, J., and Scarborough, K. E. 1992. “The Impact of Professional Foobtall Games upon Violent Assaults on Women”. Violence and Victims, vol. 7, n°2:157-71.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 636
Number of citations: 0
