Sport - The long way from a chaotic to a mature, transparent and professional industry
What is your perception of sports?
The sports industry is a very broad field. And the idea of what it actually exactly is, couldn’t be more diverse. This is due to the dazzling presence of sport in our daily media coverage that influences the perception of the masses. And it paints a picture of a business world that is indeed exciting, emotional and varied, but not always beyond all doubt. Doping, bribery scandals, enormous sums for player transfers, which the ordinary citizen can no longer agree; these are all things that characterize the image and perception. But a look behind the scenes shows that the sports industry has become an extremely mature and enormously significant economy. The sports industry is now one of the most innovative, fastest-growing and ever-changing industries.
According to a report published by the EU on the importance of sport in the economies of the Member States (http://ec.europa.eu/sport/library/studies/study-contribution-spors-economic-growth-final-rpt.pdf), it is impressive to learn that the dimension of the sports industry was already the same size in 2012 as the joint contribution of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to the total GDP. And the trend is showing clearly towards bigger growth. The EU assessed the contribution of the sports industry to achieve the Europe 2020 goals as absolutely essential, because the sports industry is job-intensive and promote growth by increasing specialization.
The statistics on this are diverse, but the data for growth in the global sports sponsorship funds and to the global sports TV rights money speak volumes. While the global sports sponsorship monies within eight years (2007 - 2015) grew by 51% to a total of 57 billion USD in 2015, the expenditures for global TV rights for sport have increased within five years (2010-2015) by 61% to USD 26 billion. This enormous financial flows that take place here are reflected in all areas of sports economics. Sport has arrived in the world of a mature, innovative and extremely dynamic industry.
