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What Cristiano Ronaldo tells us about the economics of football
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What Cristiano Ronaldo tells us about the economics of football

Stefan Hall
World Economic Forum, 2018
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8

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Professional football clubs – soccer teams in American parlance – offer athleticism and entertainment, but they’re also major corporations. Turin football team Juventus made a huge capital investment when it signed Cristiano Ronaldo in July 2018 for €112 million ($130.2 million). Yet, as Stefan Hall of the World Economic Forum explains in this engaging read, the Italian club will have to carefully manage its new asset so that it generates profits both on and off the pitch. getAbstract suggests this quick primer on football economics to soccer fans everywhere.

Summary

Football – or soccer, as it is known in the United States – is big business. When a team makes a purchase on the order of Juventus’s €112 million [$130.2 million] acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018, it must sufficiently cultivate its investment through various revenue streams to turn a profit. This does not happen overnight. The €52 million in sales of the striker’s jersey immediately following the deal would appear, on the surface, to signal that Juventus will recoup the acquisition price in short order. Not quite, when you consider that the club will receive only a small fraction...

About the Author

Stefan Hall is a project and engagement lead for the World Economic Forum’s Information and Entertainment System Initiative.

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