Working Paper Series

The Birkbeck Sport Business Centre (BSBC) working paper series encourages novel research in sport business and management from an empirical and theoretical point of view.

We welcome contributions from associates, including MPhil/PhD research students and academics as well as practitioners.

Working Papers

2025

• The use and abuse of financial regulation in professional team sports: the case of parachute payments in the English Football Championship, Evans, Richard

2024

• Reform of parachute payments in the English Football Championship, Evans, Richard

2023

• The 'S-Score' of financial sustainability for professional football clubs, Evans, Richard
• Motivations for attending the FA Women's Super League (WSL) games, Okicic, Milica

2021

• Football clubs' efficiency and COVID-19 in the Big-5 European leagues, Destefanis, S. and Addesa, F. and Rossi, Giambattista
• Gambling to achieve success in professional sport: The case of the EFL Championship - a bubble waiting to burst?, Evans, Richard and Walters, Geoff and Hamil, Sean

2019

• Winners in the field versus winners in the media. Do clubs' owners maximise wins, revenues or visibility?, Garcia-del-Barrio, P. and Rossi, Giambattista

2018

• Inferring sporting ambition from competitive balance, Evans, Richard
• Fair sales for fair play: evidence from the Italian Serie A, Neri, Lorenzo and Russo, A. and Di Domizio, M. and Rossi, Giambattista
• The state of sports governance: are you leading or lagging?, Tacon, Richard and Walters, Geoff

2017

• Place marketing and mega events: intentions and short-term results of nation branding of Russia through the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Baryshnikov, Sergey
• What is the role of an independent non-executive director on the board of a National Governing Body of Sport?, Nelson, Patrick
• Adoption of good governance by national sporting associations: a Malaysian perspective, bin Astaman, A.A.

2016

• Pay and performance in Italian football, Berri, D. and Buiramo, B. and Rossi, Giambattista and Simmons, R.
• Using social media to identify market inefficiencies: evidence from Twitter and Betfair, Brown, A. and Rambaccussing, D. and Reade, J.J. and Rossi, Giambattista
• Economic evaluation of football players through media value, Garcia del Barrio, P. and Pujol, F.
• Production, efficiency and corruption in Italian Serie A : a DEA analysis, Rossi, Giambattista and Di tanna, Gian luca and Addesa, F.

2011 - 2015

• An analysis of the design of the PGA Tour's FedExCup, Cinnamond, Alan
• Cultivating and tending social capital: a case-study of Arsenal in the Community, Hoskin, Allon
• Relative age effect on labor market outcomes for high skilled workers - evidence from soccer, Rossi, Giambattista and Fumarco, L.
• Motivation, segmentation, and the mega-tournament experience: a study of English football tourists at World Cup 2014, Turbutt, Phil
• Sport policy analytics for professional sports leagues, Evans, Richard
• A review of measures of competitive balance in the "analysis of competitive balance" literature, Evans, Richard
• Going beyond on-pitch success: fan engagement as a catalyst for growth, Allison, Nicole
• The impact of economic growth on the competitiveness of national elite sport systems, Nielsen, Klaus and Storm, Rasmus
• Football and corporate social responsibility, Panton, Mark
• Corporate social responsibility in European football, Walters, Geoff and Tacon, Richard
• The role of the board in national governing bodies of sport, Walters, Geoff and Tacon, Richard and Trenberth, Linda

2006 - 2010

• Good governance in sport: a survey of UK national governing bodies of sport, Walters, Geoff and Trenberth, Linda and Tacon, Richard
• UEFA, governance, and the control of club competition in European Football, Holt, M.
• Getting the ball rolling: the impact of sport on the Government's public service agreements, Tacon, Richard
• Labour market migration in European football: key issues and challenges. Conference proceedings from the feet-drain conference hosted by the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre in May 2008, Walters, Geoff and Rossi, Giambattista
• Understanding sports spectators' motives for attending live events: a study of darts fans in the UK, Wasserburg, M.
• Bidding for major sporting events: key issues and challenges faced by sports governing bodies in the UK, Walters, Geoff
• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2006, Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Walters, Geoff

2001 - 2005

• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2005, Holt, M. and Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Tacon, Richard and Walters, Geoff
• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2004, Holt, M. and Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Shailer, L. and Walters, Geoff
• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2003, Hamil, Sean and Holt, M. and Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Shailer, L. and Walters, Geoff
• Corporate community involvement by football clubs: business strategy or social obligation, Morrow, S. and Hamil, Sean
• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2002, Binns, S. and Hamil, Sean and Holt, M. and Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Shailer, L. and Wright, K.
• The state of the game: the corporate governance of football clubs 2001, Hamil, Sean and Michie, J. and Oughton, C. and Shailer, L.