This paper outlines and compares the organizational structure of major sports leagues, explores the reasoning behind their formation, and derives implications for salary caps in European football. To understand why sports leagues have developed a specific organizational structure, one must take...

Professional sports leagues in Europe and the United States exhibit many differences. Among others such as the existence of mechanisms providing dis- incentives for spending (e.g. salary caps) the fundamental difference is the organizational arrangement of clubs and the governing body of the...

Professional football clubs earn most of their revenues from four sources: sale of broadcasting rights, matchday revenues, merchandising, and sponsorship. The relative importance of these sources differs among clubs and leagues. Economists often argue that the ability of professional football...