A Study of the English Premier League’s Current Globalisation Strategy
A Study of The English Premier League’s Current Globalisation Strategy
The English Premier League (EPL) is the fourth most lucrative sporting league in the world, behind America’s NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. It is a corporation owned by the 20 participating football clubs and currently has revenues of £1.8billion a year and television rights deals worth over £2.7 billion. It is already one of the UK’s most successful and recognisable international brands. The EPL’s top four clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are global brands in themselves, occupying four of the top eight of Deloitte’s football money league places and commanding combined revenues of £714.1 million last year. (Deloitte Sports Business Group, 2008)
Earlier this year the EPL publicised plans for each club to play one extra game in the season in foreign cities against other EPL teams. This proposed strategy for global expansion was specifically intended to raise the international profile of the league and react to similar successfully executed expansion strategies by America’s most prominent leagues. In contrast to reaction in America, however, these plans have been angrily dismissed by the international football governing body FIFA, by potential host countries and by the clubs’ fans. This essay will examine the FA’s globalisation strategy, or ‘Game 39’, so called because currently 20 clubs each play each other twice, resulting in 38 games played per season. It will argue that, like other global businesses, the EPL faces intense international threats that need to be combated and opportunities that need to be realised.
Richard Scudamore, Chief executive of the EPL, proposed that each team would play another randomly selected team during one weekend in January. Two games would be allocated to each of five cities around the world following a bidding process from potential host cities. The games would be financially beneficial to the city, as the NFL game in October
The English Premier League (EPL) is the fourth most lucrative sporting league in the world, behind America’s NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. It is a corporation owned by the 20 participating football clubs and currently has revenues of £1.8billion a year and television rights deals worth over £2.7 billion. It is already one of the UK’s most successful and recognisable international brands. The EPL’s top four clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are global brands in themselves, occupying four of the top eight of Deloitte’s football money league places and commanding combined revenues of £714.1 million last year. (Deloitte Sports Business Group, 2008)
Earlier this year the EPL publicised plans for each club to play one extra game in the season in foreign cities against other EPL teams. This proposed strategy for global expansion was specifically intended to raise the international profile of the league and react to similar successfully executed expansion strategies by America’s most prominent leagues. In contrast to reaction in America, however, these plans have been angrily dismissed by the international football governing body FIFA, by potential host countries and by the clubs’ fans. This essay will examine the FA’s globalisation strategy, or ‘Game 39’, so called because currently 20 clubs each play each other twice, resulting in 38 games played per season. It will argue that, like other global businesses, the EPL faces intense international threats that need to be combated and opportunities that need to be realised.
Richard Scudamore, Chief executive of the EPL, proposed that each team would play another randomly selected team during one weekend in January. Two games would be allocated to each of five cities around the world following a bidding process from potential host cities. The games would be financially beneficial to the city, as the NFL game in October
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