Title: A stakeholder approach to football club governance

Authors: Benoit Senaux

Addresses: Reims Management School, 59 rue Pierre Taittinger – BP 302, Reims Cedex F-51061, France

Abstract: Despite being professional and managed by professional entrepreneurs, and frequently owned by successful ones, football clubs tend to present unsatisfactory financial performance. A possible explanation lies in their complex environment. It is indeed usually admitted that professional football clubs in Europe are utility maximisers, in contrast to US professional franchises which are usually organised to maximise their economic performance. Behind this concept of utility lies a complex set of goals, not always fully compatible, shared and defended by the various stakeholders of clubs.

Keywords: stakeholder theory; football clubs; soccer clubs; club governance; complex environment; financial performance; professional football; Europe.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2008.017655

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2008 Vol.4 No.1, pp.4 - 17

Published online: 26 Mar 2008 *

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