Exporting sports rights to overseas markets : the case of European football

In recent years major European clubs have become conscious of the need to develop a wider, more global approach to their existence in order to increase revenues. There have increasingly been developments involving clubs attempting to forge relationships with major Asian markets. The essay focuses on factors influencing the international trade of input (talent) and output (football TV programmes) – covering both the supply and the demand sides. It illustrates how the development in recent years has widened the revenue gaps between the ‘big five’ European nations and the rest of the world – and its consequences for the distribution of talent in the football world.