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Soccer & Society

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Football broadcasting: tipping point or bleeding edge?

Stephen Henderson
a a

UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK Available online: 06 Sep 2010

To cite this article: Stephen Henderson (2010): Football broadcasting: tipping point or bleeding edge?, Soccer & Society, 11:5, 614-626 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2010.497361

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Soccer & Society Vol. 11, No. 5, September 2010, 614626

Football broadcasting: tipping point or bleeding edge?

Stephen Henderson*
UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
s.henderson@leedsmet.ac.uk Senior 0 500000September 11 2010 and Francis Original Francis 1466-0970 (print)/1743-9590 (online) Soccer &Article 2010 10.1080/14660970.2010.497361 FSAS_A_497361.sgm Taylor Lecturer StephenHenderson Society

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Football in the UK took a dramatic turn with the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. Since then, like many industries, globalization in the sport has been driven by technological change. This article considers the change taking place and how it reflects within the income streams of football clubs. With broadcasting driving the major growth in revenue, the response of the global football fan feeding this revenue stream is considered. A limited understanding of their specific needs and level of satisfaction is found alongside broadcasting deals of significant value. In the midst of this are communications companies with high-risk strategies and football clubs who seem intent on frittering away their rights money on player salaries. It begs the question has the broadcasting revenue stream reached a lucrative tipping point or will there be casualties on the bleeding edge of technology?

Background Trends towards globalization are long established with the trading of goods across the world enabling consumers to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables out of season as well as take advantage of low-cost manufacturing economies to provide a wide range of products. Although this has raised ethical and ecological considerations about how we treat our global community and its natural resources, there are no major concerns about the trading of information for the purpose of education or entertainment. Indeed, communication between different continents for these purposes is not only more commonplace, but also quicker than ever before. Commercial organizations such as News Corporation, CNN and the BBC transmit information around the world to a wide-ranging public via both direct (one-way) and interactive (two-way) communications using the mediums of television, mobile phone, PC, Internet, etc. Indeed, such has been their globalization that these organizations have grown dramatically, with News Corporation reaching a net income of $822m, exceeding the gross domestic product (GDP) of a small country such as Gambia where GDP was estimated at only $664m in 2006.1 The growth of these giants of communication has been achieved not only by looking towards new technologies, but also by many companies adopting an aggressive policy of growth by acquisition across the industry. The growth of News Corporations company, BskyB, for example, has enabled the organization to achieve such dominance that questions have been raised about their potential monopoly of certain communication markets. For example, their acquisition of shares in ITV has caused some consternation in the UK where not only has their power in the TV market been extended, but also it adds to an even deeper control of the communications sector via the group ownership of such wide-ranging printed media as The Sun and The
*Email: s.henderson@leedsmet.ac.uk
ISSN 1466-0970 print/ISSN 1743-9590 online 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2010.497361 http://www.informaworld.com

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Times newspapers.2 Recently, their acquisition of The Wall Street Journal as part of Dow Jones has further demonstrated their global presence in newspapers and highlighted the pervasive nature of the modern communications company.3 Sport, news and films form the main content of entertainment communications across the globe. In different countries, consumer interest varies based on a range of social and cultural factors although this article focuses on the differing desires of the football fan and their impact on revenue streams. Even before looking more deeply, it is clear that the motivations of the fan of an English Premier League team residing in the Far East will be quite different to that of the local fan who follows the team because it is the family tradition. As those well-versed in marketing will recognize, bringing together an intangible product such as football with a global customer base across a complex communication network provides a significant challenge. Contrast, for example, the fan in Tokyo receiving an SMS text message advising that their team has scored a goal with the fan in New York deciding to have breakfast at a local bar and watch their favourite English team live on television. Each of these situations presents a snapshot of the complex picture involving the product, the distribution channel, the active/passive customer situation, etc. There is no doubt that the marketing of Premier League clubs has progressed a long way since Simon Chadwick and Jeff Clowes looked at their promotion of branded products in 1998.4 Two years later, work from the same team of researchers at Coventry Business School identified the burgeoning use of the Internet by Premier League football clubs.5 Today, the rapid changes in technology have led to even more opportunities, though some are sceptical about the potential for newer technologies such as 3G mobile phones.6 The upshot of all this is that football clubs face a world of complex needs, developing technology and powerful communications companies that undoubtedly offers plenty of opportunity for both financial reward and failure The aim of this article is to understand how new technology impacts on English Premier League clubs as they look to reach out to a global market. This begins by considering what globalization means in terms of creating revenue streams for football clubs. Each revenue stream is examined to see how technology contributes to both the delivery of the product and the product itself. Following this, some exploratory primary research of the attitudes to 3G mobile phone technology shown by the English Premier League is presented in order to highlight both the general attitudes to the use of technology in marketing to a global fan base and to recognize any differences between clubs of different size. Last, but not least, the customer is considered in an effort to understand football fans and the motives behind their enthusiasm for one of the worlds most popular sports. Globalizing revenue streams From the point of view of a football club, the global market can be seen to present the tempting opportunity of a variety of revenue streams to feed bottom line profits. Without any doubt, the bigger clubs have a lucrative vision of the future as Peter Kenyon, Chief Executive of Chelsea Football Club, indicates in saying he plans to build the club into the worlds foremost commercial football property by 2014.7 Clearly, a lot of ifs and buts will determine whether such plans can be brought to fruition. Not least of which will be performance on the pitch, including the elements of luck that pervade any sporting competition. For example, John Terrys slip and consequent miss in the penalty shoot out of the 2008 Champions League Final in

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Moscow had far wider consequences for the finances of Chelsea than it did for Terrys own personal disappointment. Whether the financial aims are achievable or not for this particular club, it is obvious that these ambitions rest on building global revenue streams. Furthermore, because those revenues only happen if the products satisfy customers, both product and customer need to be clearly understood. In some earlier work, Mason takes a customer-based view of such revenue streams proposing four customer groups: fans, television and other media, communities that construct facilities to support local clubs and, finally, corporations that interact with the leagues and teams.8 Further consideration of this suggests that both television and other media are basically alternative marketing channels to reach the fan. Also, the inclusion of local communities in this definition reflects an American perspective that supports the community-driven development of venues for multiple purposes, whereas other countries take a more hands off approach. In the UK, for example, the stadiums built in recent years (following the Taylor Report) have often incorporated other commercial enterprises such as hotels, leisure centres and conference facilities with almost no financial involvement from local authorities.9 These enterprises may have a football connection in that, for example, the hotels can accommodate the travelling fan and, yet, they are principally spaces offered for hire. Consequently, their limited relationship with football and technology means they are of less interest within this article although clearly they represent an important source of income for many clubs. The final category proposed by Mason is of importance in that sponsorship by other organizations offers opportunities to clubs for increased income, or, an option to position themselves as socially responsible as we see with Aston Villas recent sponsorship of Acorns Childrens Hospice.10 Certainly, whether aspiring to a global market or not, sponsorship is a significant source of income for many clubs. Indeed, in the recent annual review of football finances from Deloitte and Touche, it is apparent that large clubs will accumulate match day, broadcasting and commercial income in roughly equal parts, with the latter commercial revenue stream being dominated by merchandise and sponsorship.11 In this article, a product-based view of the revenue streams is adopted that lines up with the income sources identified by Deloitte and Touche, except that sponsorship and merchandise are separated due to the different customers, sponsors and fans. So, the revenue streams are categorized as follows:

match-day revenue from fans at the ground itself; sponsorship revenue in a variety of forms from shirt sponsors to official partners for beer, etc.; merchandise revenue from tangible products such as team shirts, photographs, magazines, etc. sold directly by the club (via a club shop or website) or companies allowed licences to produce such products; and revenue from companies allowed rights to broadcast the game to the fans on the move or relaxing.

If we consider these revenue streams from the point of view of looking at the impact of technology, merchandise is of less concern as it involves providing the fan with a tangible product associated with the club. The technology aspects of this are merely within the product itself, or, as a means to sell the product, i.e. via the Internet. So, the following sections concentrate on revenue from match days, sponsorship and broadcasting.

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Match-day revenue from fans at the ground If we consider that watching a football match is the core product of a football club, then the traditional product gets delivered to the fan inside the ground in its simplest form as an immediate visual experience. Fans will, naturally, provide additional revenues by their requirements for food and drink, with the opportunity to bet on various outcomes within the game also becoming increasingly popular.12 Classically, reading matter to enhance the match experience in the form of a match-day programme and magazine formats for younger fans are made available. Both are commonly on sale to fans watching inside the ground or via a guaranteed match-day delivery scheme for those away from the ground. Technology now allows for both replays via screens inside the ground and match commentary available via radio or in-house TV channels. The latter suits the clubs from the point of view of providing these services to both corporate hospitality clients and anyone with sight or hearing disabilities. By contrast, the use of technology to support referee decisions has been an area of heated debate with some backing its use to avoid incorrect decisions, particularly on the goal line, and others complaining that this would stop the flow in the game and, hence, its enjoyment. However, for the fans at the game, most of these options are non-core products and either come as part of the ticket price or represent additional discretionary items. Of course, match-day revenues will be affected by attendance that, in turn, is influenced by a variety of factors such as team performance, competing events, weather, etc. However, once a club experiences a full house regularly on match days, there are only three options for increasing revenues and these are to offer more services, or to increase prices or capacity. As the latter is only open to clubs with an opportunity to develop their grounds, more services and higher prices remain the key options. However, we have noted above that the additional services are discretionary items that may or may not interest the fans. Hence, we see the big clubs looking to attract spectators with more disposable income meaning a shift away from the traditional working-class fan to corporate entertainment with its meals and other incidentals (programmes, disposable cameras, etc). In response to this, Roy Keane famously said in 2000:
Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? Away from home our fans are fantastic, Id call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they dont realise whats going on out on the pitch. I dont think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell football, never mind understand it.13

There is much discourse about this shift in the nature of crowds at major sporting events although this broadly remains outside the main theme of this article. What is clear from the preceding discussion is that technology itself has a limited influence on the match-day revenue coming from ticket sales and the sales of some discretionary items.

Sponsorship revenues Mixed with this network of football clubs, football leagues and communications companies are a plethora of sponsors who wish to promote themselves to an extensive, if not global, customer base. These sponsors can include companies within the communications layer of the broadcast distribution network. What better way for, say,

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a mobile phone company to promote itself than as sponsor of a league that features on a TV channel. In this way, the football fan sat watching the TV is made aware of a brand that might later gain commercial benefits by offering football-based services on their mobile phone. Hence, it is no co-incidence that O2 are one of the main sponsors at Arsenal Football Club or, indeed, that Internet gambling companies have been keen football sponsors in recent years (though this has come under the scrutiny of the UK government).14 This layering of organizations and brands to provide football-based entertainment to its fans is best summarized by Leitch and Richardson in the brand web where commercial transactions get inextricably linked with brand images.15 As Gwinner and Swanson further suggest, sponsorship can be particularly effective in sport where ardent fans show themselves to be predisposed to the sponsors.16 It follows from the writers above that the combination of fans with a predisposition to a particular brand acting within a brand web would be particularly attractive to those who position their products within the minds of typical target markets for the sport. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that sponsorship revenue ultimately accrues from the perceived benefits of the sponsor rather than satisfying the particular needs of the fan and, hence, one might argue, sponsorship per se is a biproduct of this look at the impact of technology. Clearly, expanding the fan base itself is in the mutual interest of both the sponsor and the football club, although it should be remembered that sponsors would always judge the balance between the cost of the sponsorship and its reach. In other words, if the club is not reaching a large enough audience, can the sponsor get a better deal with another sponsorship partner? This is the sort of thinking that drove Vodafone away from sponsoring Manchester United to sponsoring the Champions League. So, for top division clubs at least, the main question is how to expand the fan base and this leads us to think of those fans watching away from the ground.

Revenue from companies allowed rights to broadcast the game To reach the wider market of the fans away from the ground, broadcasting offers football clubs a range of communication options. Even for those football clubs with their own TV channels, there is a need to engage with a number of organizations to leverage income from broadcasting the matches. So attractive are the revenue-generating opportunities for some that rivalry on the pitch has been put to one side with the football clubs of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United meeting to discuss how they can leverage their match content via the communications networks.17 Their need to discuss this revenue stream arises from the development of new media platforms producing a variety of potential product offerings for the football fan to enjoy via TV, PC or mobile phone. Richard Worth summed this up when marketing the commercial rights of the UEFA Champions League as Chief Executive of TEAM:
In the early days, it was only a free-to-air Wednesday night TV product with sponsorship as well. Now it is a multi-layered free-to-air, pay-TV, Internet, mobile phone, sponsorship property which is a very sophisticated thing. In a sense the challenge is bringing all those components together and making it work.18

Needless to say, with substantial incomes involved, business minds are focused on the agreements between clubs and broadcasters. In the UK, it has been suggested that the key elements within the negotiation (outside the finance) are the timing of the

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service delivery and the content level.19 For current contracts in the UK, negotiators have focused upon which matches from the English Premier League are made available and when they can be broadcast. In essence, agreements for the 2007/8 season made specific matches available live (via Sky and Setanta), delayed by a few hours (under separate agreements) and as highlights (via the BBC).20 Timing, content and finance may be seen as the key elements of negotiation and, yet, technology is making different platforms available to broadcasters with, for example, Virgin Media having the rights to provide on demand highlights of all Premier League games from their website. Such new technologies are starting to raise questions about the transmission across digital networks, especially phone networks. For example, as enhanced technologies clearly create different products such as the ability to send football highlights to a mobile phone, how do customers value their experience in consuming these products?21 Do fans want to squint at a small screen on a phone in bright daylight, or, would they be happy to wait and watch at home on the TV or Internet? One might also ask how reliable those products are, say when it comes to a mobile phone receiving calls, SMS text messages and a live football match at the same time? All of these questions and more, Fred Robins sees as endemic in the high-risk strategy of introducing 3G technology.22 The detailed questions behind this thinking need to be answered but the underlying importance is one of understanding the value placed by the customer on the product being offered. It is clear that the fans view of the needs being satisfied and the level of satisfaction achieved will have significant financial impacts on the long term revenue stream for the broadcasters and the clubs. So far, the industry has been satisfied with what can be termed a platform neutral view but, as seen above, this is clearly set to change with the expansion of platforms and digital networks.23 In the summer of 2006, Sky Mobile along with Vodafone and the relevant football and cricket authorities forged an agreement to broadcast end of season football play-offs and cricket on both TV and mobile phone platforms. The latter has been made possible by the advent of 3G mobile phones, allied with increases in Internet availability/speeds and the well-established satellite TV channels to create the potential for tri-cast agreements across mobile phones, PC and TV. With an era of broadcasting across three platforms having begun, the potential income at stake has caused a jockeying for position among the protagonists. Already courting controversy, some communications companies have been attracting the attention of the European Commission for the tactic of warehousing, i.e. buying up broadcasting rights to lock out the competitors from a potential source of income.24 Typical of this picture of increasing revenues is the announcement in 2007 that the Premier League has negotiated an international TV rights deal covering 208 countries worth 625m.25 This shift in income meant that clubs that finished towards the bottom of the Premier League in 2006/7 gained financially as much in the new season as the champions did at the start of the previous season. It also indicates the strong collective bargaining role of the Premier League in the distribution of match content for TV. In other national leagues like Spain and Italy, individual clubs such as Real Madrid negotiate their broadcast rights. Outside the scope of this article, there is clearly an issue of control and power between the clubs and the big five leagues of the England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France.26 Although one might argue that the collective (healthy competition) versus individual (healthy profits) approach to negotiation create winners and losers, the clubs in the top European leagues are all winners to some degree. Suffice to say, here, that the distribution rights will involve a variety of

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organizations controlling how the content reaches football fans via both terrestrial and satellite routes. Some idea of the scale of this can be seen in on-line TV listings that suggest a typical Saturday afternoon in the Premier League has all the matches being broadcast somewhere in Europe and 20 or more channels taking the games between top clubs.27 For the enterprising manager of a bar populated with sports fans, this provides ample opportunity to take legal, or illegal, steps to provide live football to the clientele. As a result, it is not unknown to find a bar in England full of football fans on a Saturday afternoon watching a Premier League match on, say, an Egyptian satellite TV channel carrying commentary in English. Although the preceding discussion has concentrated on the significant opportunities for football clubs to profit from broadcast rights, there are some concerns that warrant consideration. First, there is the aforementioned possibility of illegally watching matches from satellite TV and there is also the possibility of signing up to Internet-based services, claimed to be legal, offering Premier League matches. Second, concerns have been raised about the effect of changing TV schedules on the ability or desire of sports fans to attend matches.28 Indeed, in 2007, this concern led to Blackburn Rovers providing free tickets to its season ticket holders for a UEFA Cup match against Bayer Leverkusen because the German TV broadcasters insisted upon an early evening kick off time that was inconvenient to local fans. This loss of revenue on ticket sales was rumoured to be compensated by broadcasting revenues of 650,000 from German TV and, for a relatively small club in global terms, such sums of money are significant and warrant these actions. Further concerns have also been raised that these incomes will just feed the celebrity lifestyle of top footballers and, for some, this will not only create major differences between national leagues but also become a significant cash drain on football clubs who seem to, at best, have mixed views about profits.29 Clearly, broadcasting brings a heady mixture of growing incomes from a landscape of changing and, arguably, uncertain technology that helps to provide new products/services for football fans. Broadcasters are paying substantial sums for the rights to football content in order to deliver products that range from the relatively established such as TV broadcasting to the newer, relatively untested platforms of mobile phones, Internet offerings, etc. Naturally, the latter will be subject to the risks common to all new product introductions and, hence, it is interesting to consider the attitude of football clubs to the new technologies. The technology edge 3G Here, some information from an exploratory survey of the English Premier League clubs in 2006 is presented to help understand their attitudes towards new technology. In particular, this focuses on 3G mobile phone technology as an issue of interest at that point in time. In Table 1, the clubs are categorized into small, medium and large, based on the average attendances in the 2005/6 season in order that, later, some indication of attitudinal link to size might be established.30 The categories were determined based on approximately equal groupings of small, medium and large though these may be slightly distorted where some clubs have grounds with capacities that do not satisfy the total demand, i.e. their size. Of the 20 clubs in the league, 60% responded to the survey and 50% or more responded in each size category. When asked whether they felt that 3G technology

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Table 1. Size of clubs based on average attendances in 2005/6 season. Club

621

Size/Average attendance Small (Less than 27,000) Medium (Greater than 27,000, but less than 37,000) Large (Greater than 37,000)

Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Middlesborough, Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and West Ham United Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United

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offered an opportunity, all the clubs with the exception of one medium-sized club agreed with this statement. The club that considered the technology as a threat based their view on concern at the number of websites broadcasting their matches, legally or illegally, reflecting a general concern over technology control. So, ignoring this exception, the clubs are well aware of potential in new technology. However, Table 2 indicates that it is only the large clubs that invest in all the technologies and the others are not as widely committed to technology. Reflecting the complexity of the technology involved in marketing, some also mentioned other fan communication routes, such as radio (one medium club), SMS text messaging (one medium club) and email (one small club). As observed earlier, the small and medium-sized clubs have tended not to adopt 3G technology and their stated reasons are seen in Table 3, alongside the reasons stated for adoption. Adopters are clearly keen to build relationships with fans away from the ground and happy to invest in the new technologies, whereas those not adopting have other priorities such as concentrating their efforts on the Internet. Their reduced activity seems to reflect either a lack of resource, knowledge, suitable communication partners or, simply, other football priorities.
Table 2. Percentage of clubs using technology by club size. Small 100% 25% 25% Medium 100% 40% 0% Large 100% 100% 100% Total 100% 50% 33%

Technology Internet Own TV 3G Mobile

Table 3.

Adopting 3G technology. Reasons against adoption Focusing on internet services Not investigated or currently investigating Believe there is no demand for this service Not technologically capable Tied up in a rights deal

Reasons for adoption Helps sell mobile phone rights Can build data on fans and enable relationship marketing Offers something exclusive to the fans Extends brand in an exciting way Increased options to promote club

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Understanding the fans Whilst football clubs wrestle with the technologies and battle contractual arrangements with broadcasters and players, it is easy to forget the fans whose money feeds the revenue stream. Various writers have tried to explain the behaviour of fans in an attempt to aid the development of strategies to manage or market to them. Some early views of fans contrasted football and religion to find a number of common points in terms of support, community, needs being met, and the bonding and communities that are formed through the fan(atic).31 Other views of fans, such as those of Cialdini et al., have suggested a need for basking in reflected glory that have been further developed by his work with Richardson looking at blasting opponents.32 Gwinner and Swanson define fans as in group and out group reflecting their level of identification with the team and, for example, suggesting that the former are more influenced by sponsors linked to their team, whereas the latter has a much more casual relationship with both club and sponsors.33 This is expanded by Tapp and Clowes who look at match attendees and break them into various categories carefree casuals, professional wanderers, repertoire fans, etc. but ultimately indicate that attempts to segment this market beyond the traditional demographic variables into lifestyle segmentation reveal complex groupings of customers well beyond the in group and out group of Gwinner and Swanson.34 In considering match attendees, this work recognizes complex groupings of fans inside the ground but it neglects those who do not regularly attend games and, particularly for a large club, this group will form the majority of their global fan base. Furthermore, as technology develops, the global options for fans are increasing with options to watch at rest (via TV at home or in a social situation such as a bar) or while moving (on their mobile phone). Yet, very little is known about these fans beyond the work of Weed who has tracked the development of the bar/pub as a virtual football experience. He indicates the centrality of the social interactions with fans involved in reliving and retelling the experience of the match as well as debating whether fans wish for proximity to the event or other fans.35 In the words of Urry, these are face to face, face the place and face the moment situations that might involve being inside the ground or, as Weed argues, having a similar virtual experience away from the ground.36 In addition to this, there is the experience of the fan that travels to major football competitions where the big screen is an integral part of the fanzone. In conclusion, research has identified the complex nature of fans and the variety of ways in which they come into contact with the object of their desire and, yet, there is only a partial understanding of their motivations and satisfaction with what is offered. Some concluding thoughts The aim of this article is to examine the impact of new technology in the English Premier League in terms of a globalizing football market. It is no surprise to find that broadcasting via the tri-cast routes of mobile phones, PC and TV is providing the main tool for globalization and the consequent increased revenues in football. However, a number of issues arise which might be summarized by considering the benefits that accrue from the broadcasting of the football experience. First, we might conclude that the football clubs benefit as broadcasting rights are being sold for significant sums of money. However, we should recognize that the English Premier Leagues collective negotiation of rights allows all the clubs to gain a financial benefit, this would not happen in leagues where the larger clubs negotiate individual broadcasting

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rights. For example, AC Milan generated the most broadcast income in the 2006/7 season with most of the 103.4m coming from their pay-TV deal with Sky Italia.37 Further to this, we see that only the top clubs of the Premier League are investing in the chase for revenue across all the possible platforms. What is obvious here is that only the top leagues and clubs are well positioned to take advantage of the growing revenue stream. On the other hand, despite the influx of new owners seeking to feed from this honey pot, some feel that profit is not uppermost in the mind of clubs that build up a hefty debt and vie with each other to offer star players financial deals to bring them or keep them at the club.38 So, do the fans benefit from these new broadcast services? The answer here would seem to be mixed, starting with a positive picture of fans able to see any top match or get the latest news in any part of the world. However, little seems to be understood about the benefits that fans actually seek from their experience. Although there are clearly many happy hours spent around the world in sports bars, questions might be asked about the perceived value of offerings such as goal highlights sent to a mobile phone. At a basic level, one might ask about the level of club loyalty held by fans that never get closer to their team than a TV screen? In summary, this suggests that knowledge of fan motivations and valuations would benefit football clubs in terms of the marketing of broadcast services (and the wider area of merchandise) to the potentially fickle global fan. You might argue that fans cannot be losers in the drive towards further broadcasting because they either buy into the new offerings or they do not. If they do not, then, it is the broadcasters who see their benefits evaporate if their valuation of the rights exceeds that of the revenue that is returned. In this way, the broadcasters are taking similar risks to those in other areas of entertainment such as concert promoters who book artists in the expectation of selling concert tickets. In addition, the broadcasters are grappling with technologies ranging from the well-established to the cutting edge of new technology, with the latter adding an air of uncertainty about quality and reliability. As with concert promoters and artists, there is a mutual need existing between the broadcasters and the clubs that offers some form of security. Nevertheless, there are numerous tales of collapsed companies or communication deals revealed by Boyle and Haines who confirm that a high stakes game is being played by the broadcasters.39 Without doubt, a tipping point seems to have been reached with a stabilizing technology offering the potential of great rewards or great problems. In broadcasters, we have competitors in a race towards revenue that is expected to come from fans whose behaviour is barely understood, while the apparent beneficiaries of the deal, the Premier League football clubs, are often seen running up debt in a cavalier manner as they shower their broadcasting proceeds on star players in the hope that they will bring the success on the pitch that will attract a vast audience. No doubt, as with the sport itself, we will see winners and losers over the coming years but changing technology means that the scale of victory or defeat would seem to be greater than ever.

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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Catherine Evans, a final year Events Management student at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2006, for collecting the primary data on Premier League clubs attitudes to 3G technology used in this article.

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Notes
1. News Corp. 2nd-Qtr Net Falls, data from Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/

2. 3. 4.

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5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

30. 31.

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