ABSTRACT
The Peculiar Economics of English Professional Football
Chris Gratton
This piece analyses the ‘peculiar’ economics of professional team sports (Neale, 1964) as developed in the North American literature leading to a definition of ‘the American model’ of a professional sports league. Secondly, it discusses the extent to which English football reflects this American model. Finally, it examines the hypothesis put forward by Hoehn and Szymanski (1999) that the present structure of English professional football is unsustainable and that the natural equilibrium for the English and other European countries league systems would be the formation of an American-style European Superleague.
