Who Gives More? A Comparative Perspective of Philanthropic Giving through Foundations within the UEFA and the NFL

Due to the specifics of the football governance systems and cultures of Europe and the United States, we hypothesize that the charitable foundation involvement of the National Football League (NFL) and its teams is more pronounced than that of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and its Champions League (UCL) clubs. On the basis of a literature review, web research and emails to foundation staff, the study produces the following findings that support our hypothesis: At both the association/league and team level, the NFL is stronger as well as longer involved in charitable foundations than the UEFA. At the team level, 3 times as many NFL foundations as UCL club foundations exist. The minimum amount of giving of NFL team foundations is 13 times higher than that of UCL club foundations. On average, NFL team foundations are twice as old as their UEFA equivalents.