Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Football Industry - Assignment Example

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE FOOTBALL INDUSTRY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE FOOTBALL INDUSTRY In the contemporary world, football has become a more important sport with many people considering football as part of their life. The lucrativeness of the sports industry has led to the emergence of many football clubs. In Europe, for example, football is highly developed with many clubs thriving from huge following. In this note, it is paramount to examine the strengths and the weaknesses of this industry.

The strengths and weaknesses analysis focuses on the internal environment of the industry. Strengths of the Football Industry As noted above, the football industry is fast growing, and support base is increasing. Increasing support for football implies more revenues for the sports industry. Football fanatics’ usually pay fees to attend their favorite matches. Moreover, media houses pay levies to use live football broadcast to attract viewers to their channels (Jeanrenaud & Késenne 2006, p. 37). Hence, increasing support for football is a major strength of the industry.

Another strength is the popularization of the industry by the media. Popularization ensures that clubs get endorsement for commercials. Such commercials bring in additional revenues for the clubs. For example, football personalities who have great followership are used for commercials targeting football supporters. The sport has adequate infrastructure in many countries. In Europe, America, and Asia, for example, stadiums and training complexes are highly advanced (Frank & Steets 2010). In fact, there are 55 stadiums in Europe with a capacity of more than 50000 supporters.

Having the required infrastructure paves the way for the advancement of the sports through subscription from the supporters. Weaknesses of the Football Industry The football industry has problems with transparency in governance. There have been several issues of match fixing that goes against the doctrine of fair play. Match fixing is much common in highly competitive tournaments such as the World Cup, EUFA Champions League and the Premier League (Hopkins & Treadwell 2014, p. 117). In addition, there have been issues with buying new players and transfers where football clubs enroll underage players or evade taxes.

Another weakness of the industry is overreliance on a single source of income. Football teams rely on funds from subscriptions of supporters. The situation implies that the financial position of teams is dependent on the number of tickets sold. However, ticket sales are not constant and are affected by several factors such as team performance, weather, and the economic situation. In this regard, football teams have an uncertain future unless the industry diversify its sources of income. The football industry is reliant on the media for coverage and publicity.

This means that the industry must maintain good relations with the media. People who cannot visit stadia often follow matches through television. The media houses benefit from broadcasting the football content by paying the teams specified amounts of money. However, the media houses benefiting from the content desire more control in the sport (Chadwick & Hamil 2010, p.249). The industry can suffer greatly if there are wrangles with the media and may lose supporters. Conclusion The football industry is thriving due to a huge support base.

Football is the most followed sport with over 3.5 Billion supporters. As noted, these supporters grow the industry through buying tickets. Further, the industry is sponsored by corporate through advertisements. However, the industry has weaknesses such as bad governance, media relations and also lack of diversity of sources of income. The industry is expected to incur more growth. Bibliography Chadwick, S., & Hamil, S., 2010. Managing football: An international perspective. London: Routledge. Frank, S., & Steets, S., 2010. Stadium worlds: Football, space and the built environment.

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Hopkins, M., & Treadwell, J., 2014. Football hooliganism, fan behaviour and crime: Contemporary issues. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Jeanrenaud, C., & Kesenne, S., 2006. The economics of sport and the media. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.