Almanac Footy: ‘Footynomics’ – Professor Tim Harcourt
Footy, in all its various codes, is a much loved sport for Australians.
Whether actively engaged in their chosen code at any level, through representing their team on the playing field or ongoing club support activities, or just simply enjoying the pleasures of their sport as a spectator, footy, undoubtably, is a billion dollar business in Australia today.
Professor Tim Harcourt, good friend of the Footy Almanac community, is a leading expert in the business of sport in Australia.
To help understand the impact of the economic forces at play on sport, Tim presents a new TV series Footynomics: the Business of Sport which highlights many of the pertinent details and insights he developed over years of research to produce a clearer understanding of these impacts on the specific sports of all concerned.
Watch Tim as he introduces his series in the clip below.
Tim also presents the latest news on international trade, geopolitics and doing business around the world tune with his The Airport Economist channel.
Check out Tim’s new book The Sport Economist: Australian Sport by the Numbers. Purchase details are Here.
To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au home page click HERE
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Plug yes I’m old and old fashioned but give me footy when they were clubs loyalty to the guernsey and connection to supporters now days at afl level in reality they are multi million dollar corporations.
I know it’s not changing but miss the old days.Footynomics is a important subject the landscape today.
Thanks Rulebook
Good stuff Tim, Looking forward to watching Footynomics. My belief is that the dominant Australian football codes (AFL & NRL) are pretty safe from market predators. They are indigenous codes not internationally traded (rugby league marginally but only in small markets). Australia is a tiny consumer market in a world context.
Cricket is a different matter given Cricket Australia’s wish to sell the family silver (BBL) to private capital, and the size of the Asian market. Private capital and equity is the cuckoo you invite into the nest that eats the eggs and throws your chicks out. Like termites you can’t get them out once they’re in.
They have an interest in sport (even though it’s a small part of their overall business model) because it’s counter cyclical and recession proof. Phar Lap, Bradman and Les Darcy dominated the 1930’s Great Depression because we all wanted escape from our miseries.
Who will be the heroes and great escapes of the looming late 2020’s recession that will soon enough put the 2008 GFC in the shade?
Private capital is opaque and not marked to market. It presents the illusion of stability as it masks the underlying realities through related party transactions and buying insurance companies to raid their positive cash flow (and leave policy holders in a lurch when its time to claim). There have been early crashes in private capital in the US and UK in recent weeks and it incentivises them to double down on dollar extraction from their profitable businesses (eg cricket and UK soccer),
Grant Williams and Roger Mitchell in their Are You Not Entertained sports podcast are very good on the destructive ownership model in European football.
Read Les Barclays on the Financialisation of the Beautful Game.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-186220432?selection=becaddff-f7c7-48ec-8d73-84237e431bdd#:~:text=Welcome%20to%20the%20age%20of%20sports%20as%20an%20asset%20class