Football Clubs as Platforms in Multi-Sided Markets: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

The theory of multi-sided markets has recently been increasingly applied to the team sports industry. However, empirical studies providing information on the existence and strength of network effects between the different platform sides have been lacking so far. We address this research gap using revenue figures from the annual financial statements of 107 European football clubs (n = 476) published between 2015 and 2019. The results show that even when other relevant demand determinants are taken into account, (a) matchday revenues are positively dependent on commercial, media, and previously generated matchday revenues, (b) commercial revenues are influenced by matchday revenues, and (c) media revenues are independent of other revenue streams. The quantification of revenue dependencies provides the first empirical evidence for the existence of network effects in the team sport industry. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.