Volume 2, Issue 3

One of the most prominent themes currently debated in political science is the rise of the regulatory state. Some authors have argued that the regulatory state is a new, “intelligent” state achieving its goals by creating clever regulatory regimes. This notion has been contested by others, who refer to the tendency of the regulatory state to colonize social sectors and having Utopian ambitions. This paper argues that the rise of the regulatory state in sports constitutes a critical case for this discussion since sports is being looked at as a hybrid sector, which produces both, entertainment as well as socially integrated performances. This case study on the rise of the regulatory state in English soccer tries to support the theses that (a) the ambitions of the regulatory state are highly context and path dependent and that (b) the ability of the “intelligent” regulatory state is limited to create self-regulatory regimes who prevent a sector to be taken-over by commercial interests.

Sport reporting in the media ranks among the most popular formats. Events such as soccer world and European championships regularly unite millions of spectators in front of the TV and in addition, lead to an increased sale of the daily newspapers. What are the reasons that people consume sports in the media? What motives lead to what use? Do medium-spreading motivational influences have an impact on the regular use and if they do, how strong are they? The results of an empirical study give first reference points to answer these questions.

The following paper presents a method to predict team performance in Germany’s First Soccer Division (Bundesliga). Final standings are explained by relative salaries of players and coaches, club-efficiency and a random component. The model is estimated using data for the seasons 1996/1997 through 2002/2003. The forecast of team performance is conducted using a Monte-Carlo-Simulation. This procedure results not only in a point estimation of the expected rank of a team but in a probability distribution over all possible ranks. Thus, probabilities for different scenarios such as winning the German Championship or qualification for the Champions League can be obtained. These probabilities can be used to calculate expected revenues of First Division soccer clubs.

In recent years, the environmental complexity and dynamics associated with soccer clubs have increased to a great extent. Appropriate concepts are needed in order to support the management in retaining a competitive position within this changing environment. For that reason, this empirical study focused on accounting practices and control as a supporting concept for goal-orientated corporate management. The objective of this investigation was to describe in detail and analyse the accounting practices and control of soccer clubs.