IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/niesru/v232y2015i1pr4-r17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transfer Spending in the English Premier League: The Haves and the Have Nots

Author

Listed:
  • Richard C.K. Burdekin
  • Michael Franklin

Abstract

Transfer spending among English Premier League clubs has increased drastically since the inception of the league, often funded by extremely wealthy owners who began purchasing majority stakes in clubs. Using data from the Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance , we allow for different tiers of football clubs representing the haves and the have nots as well as a comparison between the first and second decades of the Premier League. Our finding that heightened spending has improved on-field performance only at the expense of hurting profitability is in line with win maximisation surmounting profit maximisation in today's Premier League.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard C.K. Burdekin & Michael Franklin, 2015. "Transfer Spending in the English Premier League: The Haves and the Have Nots," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232(1), pages 4-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:niesru:v:232:y:2015:i:1:p:r4-r17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ner.sagepub.com/content/232/1/R4.abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Egon Franck, 2014. "Financial Fair Play in European Club Football: What Is It All About?," International Journal of Sport Finance, Fitness Information Technology, vol. 9(3), pages 193-217, August.
    2. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & Stefan Szymanski, 2009. "Goal! Profit Maximization Versus Win Maximization in Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(1), pages 45-68, February.
    3. Feess, Eberhard & Muehlheusser, Gerd, 2003. "Transfer fee regulations in European football," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 645-668, August.
    4. Vani K. Borooah & John Mangan, 2012. "Measuring competitive balance in sports using generalized entropy with an application to English premier league football," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1093-1102, March.
    5. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:29:y:2014:i:78:p:343-390 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. John Vrooman, 2015. "Sportsman Leagues," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 90-115, February.
    7. Stephen Hall & Stefan Szymanski & Andrew S. Zimbalist, 2002. "Testing Causality Between Team Performance and Payroll," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(2), pages 149-168, May.
    8. Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2012. "Competitive Balance: Time Series Lessons from the E nglish P remier L eague," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(3), pages 266-282, July.
    9. Stefan Szymanski, 2013. "Wages, transfers and the variation of team performance in the English Premier League," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Jaume García (ed.), The Econometrics of Sport, chapter 3, pages 53-62, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Bernd Frick, 2013. "Team wage bills and sporting performance: evidence from (major and minor) European football leagues," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Jaume García (ed.), The Econometrics of Sport, chapter 4, pages 63-80, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Sloane, Peter J, 1971. "The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club as a Utility Maximiser," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 121-146, June.
    12. Wladimir Andreff, 2011. "Some comparative economics of the organization of sports: Competition and regulation in north American vs. European professional team sports leagues," Post-Print halshs-00677436, HAL.
    13. Thomas Peeters & Stefan Szymanski, 2014. "Financial fair play in European football [v. National Football League, 560 (The Supreme Court May 24, 2010)]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 29(78), pages 343-390.
    14. Fiona Carmichael & Ian McHale & Dennis Thomas, 2011. "Maintaining Market Position: Team Performance, Revenue And Wage Expenditure In The English Premier League," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 464-479, October.
    15. Babatunde Buraimo & Bernd Frick & Michael Hickfang & Rob Simmons, 2015. "The Economics of Long-term Contracts in the Footballers' Labour Market," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 8-24, February.
    16. Wladimir Andreff, 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, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 8(1), pages 3-27, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hauke A. Wetzel & Stefan Hattula & Maik Hammerschmidt & Harald J. Heerde, 2018. "Building and leveraging sports brands: evidence from 50 years of German professional soccer," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 591-611, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Raul Caruso & Marco Di Domizio & Domenico Rossignoli, 2017. "Aggregate wages of players and performance in Italian Serie A," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(3), pages 515-531, December.
    2. Marc Rohde & Christoph Breuer, 2018. "Competing by investments or efficiency? Exploring financial and sporting efficiency of club ownership structures in European football," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 563-581, December.
    3. Stefan Szymanski, 2017. "Entry into exit: insolvency in English professional football," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(4), pages 419-444, September.
    4. Gallagher, Ronan & Quinn, Barry, 2019. "Regulatory Own Goals: The Unintended Consequences of Economic Regulation in Professional Football," QBS Working Paper Series 2019/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    5. Garcia-del-Barrio, Pedro & Agnese, Pablo, 2021. "Does Compliance with Financial Fair Play Rules Improve the Football Clubs' Sport Performance and Their Chances to Reach UEFA Competitions?," IZA Discussion Papers 14474, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Pedro Garcia‐del‐Barrio & Pablo Agnese, 2023. "To comply or not to comply? How a UEFA wage‐to‐revenue requirement might affect the sport and managerial performance of soccer clubs," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(2), pages 767-786, March.
    7. Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso & Marco Di Domizio, 2021. "Relative wages, payroll structure and performance in soccer. Evidence from Italian Serie A (2007-2019)," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0015, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    8. Marco Di Domizio & Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso, 2022. "Payroll dispersion and performance in soccer: A seasonal perspective analysis for Italian Serie A (2007–2021)," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 513-525, July.
    9. Caruso, Raul & Carlo, Bellavite Pellegrini & Marco, Di Domizio, 2016. "Does diversity in the payroll affect soccer teams’ performance? Evidence from the Italian Serie A," MPRA Paper 75644, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Åse Jacobsen & Morten Kringstad & Tor-Eirik Olsen, 2021. "Extraordinary Funding and a Financially Viable Football Industry—Friends or Foes? A Norwegian Football League Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Szymanski, Stefan & Wilkinson, Guy, 2016. "Testing the O-Ring theory using data from the English Premier League," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 468-481.
    12. Daniel Plumley & Rob Wilson & Robbie Millar & Simon Shibli, 2019. "Howzat? The Financial Health of English Cricket: Not Out, Yet," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Matthieu Llorca & Thierry Teste, 2016. "Dépenses salariales et performance dans l’industrie du football," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(2), pages 125-145.
    14. Luigi Buzzacchi & Federico Caviggioli & Francesco Luigi Milone & Davide Scotti, 2021. "Impact and Efficiency Ranking of Football Managers in the Italian Serie A: Sport and Financial Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(7), pages 744-776, October.
    15. Lukas Richau & Florian Follert & Monika Frenger & Eike Emrich, 2021. "The sky is the limit?! Evaluating the existence of a speculative bubble in European football," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(6), pages 765-796, August.
    16. Egon Franck, 2016. "A comment on the newly revised “2015 version” of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations," Working Papers 362, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    17. Stefan Szymanski, 2010. "The Economic Design of Sporting Contests," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Comparative Economics of Sport, chapter 1, pages 1-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    18. Dorian Owen, 2014. "Measurement of competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 3, pages 41-59, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Oliver Budzinski & Stefan Szymanski, 2015. "Are Restrictions Of Competition By Sports Associations Horizontal Or Vertical In Nature?," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 409-429.
    20. Peter J. Sloane, 2015. "The Economics of Professional Football Revisited," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-7, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    English football; transfer spending; profit maximization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:niesru:v:232:y:2015:i:1:p:r4-r17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/niesruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.