What can be learnt from failures in the sports media business? A case study of the Mediapro crash in football media rights in France

ABSTRACT

Several bankruptcies have occurred in sports media related to overinvestment in football. This research aims to contribute to the extension of the literature on such failures through a further study of business models. This article consists of a case study about Mediapro’s arrival in the French sports broadcasting rights market and its rapid downfall. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts of winner’s curse and business model, and a detailed review of cases of bankruptcy in sports media. The results of this study demonstrate that the winner’s curse is not only the result of the auction process but also the consequence of an unsustainable business model.

KEYWORDS:

• Media
• business model
• winner’s curse
• bankruptcy
• football

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

A. Feuillet

Antoine Feuillet is Lecturer at the Université Paris-Saclay (France). He holds a PhD in Sports Management. His research focuses on professional sports and sports organisations strategy. Another interest of his research is the media investments and strategy in the sports sector.

A. Alem

Amr ALEM is researcher at ESSEC Business School (France). His educational background and professional experiences, both academic and practical, have enabled him to gather a deep fundamental and applied knowledge at the crossroads of sports and media and communication, coupled with operational skills focused on marketing and branding. Holding a PhD and MBA in sports management as well as an MA in media, information, and communication, his research is transversal and deals with the political and business strategies of the globalized sporting ecosystem stakeholders, especially in the media landscape.

C. Durand

Dr Christophe Durand is full professor in sport management at the Sports Activities department at University of Caen-Normandy (France). After being awarded his PhD in 1994, he has sinced published more than 60 academic papers in leading scholarly journals such as European Sport Management Review, European Journal of Sport Science, European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, International Journal of Sport Finance. He supervised the Sport Organization Management Master in Caen during 13 years and was the director of the Doctoral School of the Caen University (HSRT 556) until 2020. He received his Ability to Supervise Research (HDR) in 2004 and has directed 12 theses since. He is currently member of the Economic and Management Research Centre (CREM umr 6211) and in the Board of the Scientific Council of the French Observatory of the Sports Economy (Ministry of Sports).

M. Terrien

Mickael Terrien, PhD, is assistant professor in sport management at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at University of Lausanne. He completed its PhD which was awarded the 2017 prize of the best French PhD in sport economics (French Ministry of Sports). His research has been published in leading academic journals such as European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Finance, Journal of Global Sport Management, Managing Sport and Leisure, Sport Business and Management: An International Journal and Sustainability, He is in the Board of the Scientific Council of the French Observatory of the Sports Economy (Ministry of Sports). He has provided expertise to several international federations to create a development index or to evaluate the impact of educational programmes. He is currently the dean of the UEFA Certificate in Football Management and the UEFA Diploma in Football Leadership and Management.

N. Scelles

Dr Nicolas Scelles is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and member of the Faculty’s Sport Policy Unit and MMU Institute of Sport. He is a sports economist having published over 60 articles in leading academic journals such as Applied Economics, European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Journal of Sports Economics, Managing Sport and Leisure, Social Science Quarterly, Sport Management Review and Sustainability. He is in the editorial board of 8 journals, being Associate Editor of Managing Sport and Leisure and Section Editor ‘Social Sciences’ of Movement & Sport Sciences - Science & Motricité. He is in the Boards of the International Society for Sports Sciences in the Arab World (I3SAW) and the Scientific Council of the French Observatory of the Sports Economy (Ministry of Sports), and the Advisory Panel for the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Social Return on Investment (SROI). He is leading the research team working on the UEFA Grow Index and led the research team having produced the reports on the economic and social impact of Rugby League as well as the social return on investment of Inclusion Rugby League in England.