Today’s Financial Times devotes one of its special supplements to the business of football which makes a change from features on countries one has scarcely heard of. The Pink ‘Un asserts that football is the global business.
It quotes football economics guru Stefan Szymanski who says that ‘It’s one of the few games that doesn’t have a specific cultural affinity. Szymanski argues that ‘Rugby and cricket are so British’ for which one might substitute the British Commonwealth and add in Argentina and Italy for rugby.
Today’s Financial Times devotes one of its special supplements to the business of football which makes a change from features on countries one has scarcely heard of. The Pink ‘Un asserts that football is the global business.
It quotes football economics guru Stefan Szymanski who says that ‘It’s one of the few games that doesn’t have a specific cultural affinity. Szymanski argues that ‘Rugby and cricket are so British’ for which one might substitute the British Commonwealth and add in Argentina and Italy for rugby.
He’s right to say, however, that ‘All the American sports are very American’, notwithstanding the arrival of American football at the home of the national game. And the FT is probably right to argue that while Formula One has some worldwide recognition, it lacks ‘the depth and reach of football’.
Not only are attendances in Europe and North America rising, but the game is getting a foothold elsewhere. Despite mediocre quality served up by ageing stars, the Indian Super League has attracted average crowds of 23,000, making it the best attended league in Asia and the fifth biggest in the world. Broadcaster Star India said that the first week of matches had a cumulative TV audience of 171 million, and digital impressions on social media reached 2.5 billion.
Africa remains the big challenge. Football is very popular, but stable economies and better governance are needed to establish a proper organisational framework.