No abstract

Financial distress has been frequently addressed in the sports business and management literature; however, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to implications for financial viability derived from funding beyond what the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) defines as relevant income in football, henceforth referred to as extraordinary funding. This study critically discusses and reflects upon whether extraordinary funding can contribute to financial viability. To address this issue, we draw on approximately 100 financial statements for Norwegian top division clubs and their cooperating companies for three fiscal years. Results indicate that, although extraordinary funding contributes with sorely needed funds, thus from the outset contributing in making clubs more robust, the manner in which extraordinary funding occurs is still of great importance from a viability perspective. In this respect, it is useful to distinguish clearly between ex ante and ex post funding. While ex post funding can be argued to be counter-productive to financial viability (e.g., cloaking inadequate finances, providing incentives for overspending, and rewarding clubs that overspend), ex ante funding is more in line with sound financial management (e.g., funds that are contingent upon a history of sound finances, incorporated in budgets). One important implication of this study is that ex post funding can contribute to crowding out of good practices, as clubs that overspend can be rewarded for their actions by having funds injected ex post.

No abstract

Women’s soccer is more popular than ever, but match attendance is still relatively low. In order to develop sustainable revenue streams for women’s football, and help it grow further, it is necessary to understand what drives spectator’s overall demand. We explore factors that affect the overall match experience for spectators (i.e., spectator satisfaction) attending Danish women’s national soccer A-team games in the 2016 to 2019 period as a proxy for this. Using survey data gathered by the Danish Football Association (DBU) consisting of 4010 individuals and 13 matches, coupled with other match-specific data, we employ multilevel regression modelling. The results at the individual level suggest that female spectators are significantly more content with the overall match experience, while several additional factors are also important at the match-specific level, such as kick-off time and the result. Furthermore, there are indications that match significance and derby matches affect overall match experience. An important implication of these results is that they can aid national and international federations and other governing bodies in promoting women’s soccer in general, and women’s national A-team soccer specifically, in order to help the sport to become more financially viable. Although numerous initiatives have been designed to increase the attractiveness of women’s soccer, these are yet to materialize into long-term effects.

SammendragPå bakgrunn av to separate spørreskjema innhentet av Riksrevisjonen i 2008 og 2014, viser studien at det er flere indikasjoner på at økonomifokuset i større grad har trengt ned i helseforetakene. Blant annet tyder resultatene på at avdelingsledere i helseforetakene i økende grad føler seg kompetente til å styre enhetenes økonomi samtidig som oppfølgingen fra naermeste leder er tettere enn tidligere. Det er også indikasjoner på at ledelsesoppgavene og oppfølging av enhetenes økonomi vektlegges i større grad enn tidligere, dette gjelder spesielt for avdelingsledere med sykepleierbakgrunn. Studien og dens funn bidrar i så måte til den voksende litteraturen omkring accountingization i sykehussektoren (Kurunmäki, 2004).