How the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations affect football clubs’ priorities and leagues’ competitive balance?

Garcia-del-Barrio, Pedro ^[1] ; Rossi, Giambattista ^[2]
1. [1] Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
  
  Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
  
  Barcelona, España
2. [2] University of London
  
  University of London
  
  Reino Unido
Localización: European Journal of Government and Economics, ISSN-e 2254-7088, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2020, págs. 119-142
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- Institutional and legal reforms applied in the context of sports competitions often provoke structural changes that can be empirically investigated. Using a data set of 560 observations (20 teams per season, from 2009/10 to 2015/16, of teams playing in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1), this paper examines how the UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations may have altered the football clubs’ decisions concerning their sport and financial priorities. Moreover, based on a simple theoretical description, the paper shows that the increasing financial stability promoted by the FFP rules might actually imply – as an undesired side effect – a declined competitive balance affecting the European football leagues. Finally, the paper discusses some policy issues and recommendations.