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Ticket sales are an essential source of income for football clubs and federations. Analyzing the determinants of fans' willingness-to-pay for tickets is therefore an important exercise. By knowing the match- and fan-related characteristics that influence how much a fan wants to pay for a ticket, as well as to what extent, football clubs and federations can modify their ticket offering and targeting in order to optimize this revenue stream.

Using a detailed discrete choice experiment, based on McFadden's random utility theory, this paper formulates a Bayesian hierarchical multinomial logit model. Such models are very common in the discrete choice modeling literature. The analysis identifies to what extent match and personal attributes influence fans' willingness-to-pay for games of the Belgian men's and women's football national teams.

The results show that the strength of the opponent, the type of competition, the location of the seats in the stadium, the day and kick-off time of the match and the ticket price exert an influence on the choice of the respondent. Fans are attracted most by competitive games against strong opponents. They prefer to sit along the sideline, and they have clear preferences for specific kick-off days and times. The authors also find substantial variation between socio-demographic groups, defined in terms of factors such as age, gender and family composition.

The authors use the results to estimate the willingness-to-pay for match tickets for different socio-demographic groups. Their findings are useful for football clubs and federations interested in optimizing the prices of their match tickets.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no stated preference methods, such as discrete choice analysis, have been used to analyze the willingness-to-pay of sports fans. The advantage of discrete choice analysis is that options and variations in tickets that are not yet available in practice can be studied, allowing football organizations to increase revenues from new ticketing instruments.

This study explores the motivations underlying the European Super League (SL) breakaway attempt. While institutional settings bind football to tradition, investors conceive football companies as an opportunity to diversify their investments in a fast-growing technological industry. The study investigates the market structure and identifies the reasons behind the European football crisis, proposing to modify the role of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in the European football market.

After summarizing the unusual features of the European football market, the article displays the agents involved and their interrelations. Modeling the market facilitates picturing the misalignment of targets of regulatory bodies and football clubs. It also helps visualize the potential consequences of the SL coup on the market.

The market does not allow football companies to monetize their business and compete with other entertainment sectors. Only a radical change in the balance of power between clubs and self-interested institutional settings can settle this situation. Indeed, this relation leads to market inefficiency because the two most critical clubs' financial problems (the high dependence on broadcasting revenues and the uncontrolled expenditures on players' salaries) are linked to the same issue: the governing bodies strongly influence the profit equation by holding control of media rights and incentivizing clubs to overspend to win both on-field and off-field.

This study is the first to assess the football business market using an evolutionary approach to address its problems. It offers a visualizing tool to understand the market and proposes an alternative solution for solving the football market crisis.

The environmental characteristics of international football can vary significantly from one country to another. As a result, the economic and market possibilities and the objectives of each national league are very heterogeneous. This article aims to examine the differences in revenue structures amongst European national football leagues (n = 50) and cluster them based on these structures. It also investigates which revenue structure would be more effective for similar leagues, considering the previously mentioned varying environmental characteristics of international football.

The study utilises a theoretical framework of business modelling, applied in a unique way to league organisers of national championships. Data on sports and business aspects were collected from sources such as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Financial Benchmarking Reports, transfermarkt.de and related sources for the period 2015 to 2018. K-means cluster analysis, using the Euclidean distance approach, was employed to develop clusters based on revenue sources over a four-year average.

The paper presents the characteristics and year-to-year changes of nine developed clusters. Throughout the analysis, variables such as average overpayment and inequality between player values amongst leagues were prioritised. The study's practical implications can assist league organisers in enhancing the competitiveness of their leagues, supported by short case studies that provide illustrative examples.

The novelty of the current article lies in introducing innovative variables such as the variance of player value whilst focussing on meso-level analysis, providing a fresh contribution to the existing literature in the field for understanding revenue structures and performance in European national football leagues.

This research aims to determine the ideal fare for various aircraft itineraries by modeling prices using a neural network method. Dynamic pricing has been studied from the airline’s point of view, with a focus on demand forecasting and price differentiation. Early demand forecasting on a specific route can assist an airline in strategically planning flights and determining optimal pricing strategies.

A feedforward neural network was employed in the current study. Two hidden layers, consisting of 18 and 12 neurons, were incorporated to enhance the network’s capabilities. The activation function employed for these layers was tanh. Additionally, it was considered that the output layer’s functions were linear. The neural network inputs considered in this study were flight path, month of flight, flight date (week/day), flight time, aircraft type (Boeing, Airbus, other), and flight class (economy, business). The neural network output, on the other hand, was the ticket price. The dataset comprises 16,585 records, specifically flight data for Iranian airlines for 2022.

The findings indicate that the model achieved a high level of accuracy in approximating the actual data. Additionally, it demonstrated the ability to predict the optimal ticket price for various flight routes with minimal error.

Based on the significant alignment observed between the actual data and the tested data utilizing the algorithmic model, airlines can proactively anticipate ticket prices across all routes, optimizing the revenue generated by each flight. The neural network algorithm utilized in this study offers a valuable opportunity for companies to enhance their decision-making processes. By leveraging the algorithm’s features, companies can analyze past data effectively and predict future prices. This enables them to make informed and timely decisions based on reliable information.

The present study represents a pioneering research endeavor that investigates using a neural network algorithm to predict the most suitable pricing for various flight routes. This study aims to provide valuable insights into dynamic pricing for marketing researchers and practitioners.

This study aims to examine how the partnership between StubHub and MLB affected consumers' perceptions of StubHub. The case of StubHub and MLB was selected based on their partnership history and the reputation of StubHub.

A Qualtrics survey panel was used to collect the survey data. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships between sponsor congruence, brand equity and purchase intention.

Sponsor congruence plays a significant role in consumers' perceived quality of StubHub. Additionally, brand equity significantly influenced purchase intention. More specifically, brand loyalty was the strongest indicator of intent to purchase tickets from StubHub. Brand loyalty and perceived quality indirectly affected the relationship between sponsor congruence and consumers' purchase intentions of StubHub.

Sponsor congruence between secondary ticket markets and sport leagues can provide a competitive advantage, helping create revenue generation and leverage for partnerships. Perceived quality can help facilitate this relationship and increase revenue generation.

The case evolves around the Powerball lottery and the rule changes implemented in 2015, which, among other things, changed the chances of winning the jackpot from 1 in 175 million to 1 in 292 million. What is the impact of such rules on lottery revenues? The expected value rule is unable to explain why people play in the first place and fails to give the appropriate weight to the factors that explain the attractiveness of a lottery. This case is ideal to introduce the notion of decision weights as put forward by Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory. By calculating decision weights, we obtain a reasonable prediction for the willingness to pay for the lottery as a function of different jackpot amounts. Using past data, we can correlate lottery revenues with predicted willingness to pay for a ticket. Quantitative-inclined audiences can then develop a simulation model of how likely it is that the jackpot grows, which, coupled with the prediction of revenues as a function of the jackpot, would give the evolution of the revenues under the new rule. The accompanying spreadsheet provides data for students to work out various scenarios to narrow objectives and maximize revenue from Powerball tickets.

The case was developed from two 2-h interviews with the Chief Operating Officer of A-Basin, Alan Henceroth; there is no CEO of A-Basin. The second interview was recorded on a Zoom call to provide accuracy of quotations and information. A variety of secondary sources were used in terms of better understanding the current state of the ski industry, as well as its history.

Arapahoe Basin (A-Basin) is a historic, moderately sized, ski area with proximity to metropolitan Denver, Colorado. For over 20 years A-Basin partnered with Vail, allowing skiers to use the Vail Epic Pass, for which A-Basin received some revenue from Vail for each skier visit. The Epic Pass allowed pass holders unlimited days of skiing at A-Basin. More and more skiers were buying the Epic Pass, thus increasing the customer traffic to A-Basin. However, the skier experience was compromised due inadequate parking, long lift lines and crowded restaurants. The renewal of the contract with Vail was coming due, and A-Basin had to consider whether to renew the contract with Vail. The case is framed primarily as a strategic marketing case. The authors use Porter’s five forces model to assess the external environment of A-Basin, and the authors use the resource-based view and the VRIO tool to assess A-Basin’s internal strengths. Both frameworks provide useful analysis in terms of deciding whether to continue A-Basin’s arrangement with Vail or end the contract and pursue a different strategy. In 2019, after consultation with the Canadian parent company Dream, A-Basin made the decision to disassociate itself from the Epic Pass and Vail to restore a quality ski experience for A-Basin’s customers. No other partner had ever left its relationship with Vail. An epilogue details some of A-Basin’s actions, as well as the outcomes for the ski area. Generally A-Basin’s decision produced positive results and solidified its competitive position among competitors. Other ski areas have since adopted a similar strategy as A-Basin. A-Basin’s success is reflected in a pending offer from Alterra, Inc., to purchase the ski area.

The A-Basin case can be used in both undergraduate and graduate strategic (or marketing) management courses. It is probably best considered during the middle of an academic term, as the case requires students to apply many of the theoretical concepts of strategy. One of the best books to enable students to use Porter’s five forces is Understanding Michael Porter by Joan Magretta (Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012). Magretta was a colleague of Porter for many years and was an Editor of the Harvard Business Review. For a discussion of the VRIN/VRIO concept, see Chapter 4 of Essentials of Strategic Management by Gamble, Peteraf and Thompson (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2019).

From the buying club’s perspective, the transfer of a player can be interpreted as an investment from which the club expects uncertain future benefits. This paper aims to develop a decision-oriented approach for the valuation of football players that could theoretically help clubs determine the subjective value of investing in a player to assess its potential economic advantage.

We build on a semi-investment-theoretical risk-value model and elaborate an approach that can be applied in imperfect markets under uncertainty. Furthermore, we illustrate the valuation process with a numerical example based on fictitious data. Due to this explicitly intended decision support, our approach differs fundamentally from a large part of the literature, which is empirically based and attempts to explain observable figures through various influencing factors.

We propose a semi-investment-theoretical valuation approach that is based on a two-step model, namely, a first valuation at the club level and a final calculation to determine the decision value for an individual player. In contrast to the previous literature, we do not rely on an econometric framework that attempts to explain observable past variables but rather present a general, forward-looking decision model that can support managers in their investment decisions.

This approach is the first to show managers how to make an economically rational investment decision by determining the maximum payable price. Nevertheless, there is no normative requirement for the decision-maker. The club will obviously have to supplement the calculus with nonfinancial objectives. Overall, our paper can constitute a first step toward decision-oriented player valuation and for theoretical comparison with practical investment decisions in football clubs, which obviously take into account other specific sports team decisions.

This study focuses on ratcheting and budget behavior in nonprofit museums. Specifically, the authors examine how performance compared with the budget affects future revenue budgets, and how this differs from the extant literature focused on for-profit organizations. The study focuses specifically on the relationship between museums and their sources of public funding and how this affects how museums prepare budgets.

Based on four years of data covering 97 state-subsidized Danish museums, the authors analyze budget ratcheting using least absolute deviation (LAD) estimations in the form of median regressions.

The authors find that when actual revenue from admission charges is below the budget, the decrease in the following year's budget is greater than the increase in the following year's budget when actual revenue from admission charges is above the budget (i.e. the authors find asymmetrical ratcheting).

The findings are based on a specific setting (Danish museums), and the results may not be generalizable to other settings.

This study provides insights into the museum sector and other sectors with similar characteristics and contributes to understanding the differences between museums and for-profit organizations when it comes to budgeting. As private-sector management practices are gaining ground in the museum sector, it is important to learn more about budgeting-related issues in this sector.

The asymmetrical ratcheting the authors find is the opposite of ratcheting typically found in for-profit organizations. The authors attribute the results to the incentive conflict between museums and their public funding sources. The authors point to the museums' dependence on public funding as an explanation for the results and, thereby, extend the knowledge on ratcheting to organizations with different characteristics than traditional, for-profit organizations.

Given the rise of sport non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and sponsorships from cryptocurrency companies in the sport industry during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, this paper aims to critically frame the partnerships between cryptocurrency and sport by exploring the reception of fan tokens amongst supporters of three English Premier League clubs: Manchester City, Everton and Crystal Palace.

Drawing upon the emerging critical scholarship on cryptocurrency and the political economy of professional football, this study uses digital ethnography in an attempt to understand the major themes emanating from the online forum discussions amongst fans in response to the issuance of fan tokens by the aforementioned three clubs, among other types of partnerships with crypto companies.

The supporters’ critical deliberations revolved around the contradictions of fan tokens (as a means for supposed “fan engagement” or for financial speculation) and the utility of cryptocurrency for the public. These reactions in turn showcase a larger tension underlying the financially unstable professional football industry: the contest between the owners and the fan bases over the exchange value (for profit) and use value (for community) of the clubs.

This paper is one of the first studies to adopt a critical framework to examine the emerging partnerships between sports and cryptocurrency companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provides one of the first in-depth analyses of the critical receptions of sport NFTs amongst sport fans. While contributing to the literature on fan activism/protest in the context of the commercialization and commodification of sport, the paper also raises new questions on the responsible use of cryptocurrency/NFT in sport.