The Americanization of European football

Will European football keep leagues open, or adopt the American system of closed leagues? Would this reform be to the benefit of consumers? This paper develops a framework to analyse the consequences of the structure of competition – whether teams play in both national and international competitions or not – and the effects on performance of revenue sharing among teams within the same league. The authors argue in favour of the creation of a European Superleague and against teams playing both in the Superleague and in national leagues. They derive a number of policy conclusions and examine various regulatory issues in European football.