Purpose: This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on competitive balance in the “big five” European football leagues, namely, the English Premier League, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses recognised...

Purpose: This paper aims to explore at what league size competitive balance reaches its best level through a longitudinal study and by using the English Premier League (EPL) as an example. Design/methodology/approach: To test the influence of league size on competitive balance in the EPL, the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is three‐fold. First, to explore the relationship between the financial and sporting performance of clubs competing in the English Premier League (EPL). Second, to investigate the effect of different models of EPL club ownership on financial and league...

In 1997 a review of the financial health of English county cricket highlighted strategic weaknesses within the professional game, principally an over-reliance by clubs on the annual grants provided to them by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Without such grants the teams, in general...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze fans’ perceptions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of a professional football club, specifically whether or not perceived CSR performances are then likely to influence patronage intentions of the fans in relation to the...