Giuseppe RICHERI

　　Giuseppe RICHERI

　　Dean and professor of the Faculty of Communication Sciences, director of the Media and Journalism Institute，University of Italian Switzerland

　　Research Interests: Political economy of communications, social history of communications, economics and social impacts of new communications technologies

　　Main Publications: Italian Television Market in the European Context; The Ideas Factory; Television and Quality; Telecommunication, New Dynamic and Driving Forces; Television in Transition

　　Sports Economics and the Role of Television

　　Giuseppe RICHERI

　　The estimate global sport market in the 2006 was near to 100 billion dollars. More or less the 20% of that amount derived directly or indirectly from the media right market and from sponsoring. Television at international, national and local levels plays a central role of the business.

　　For the sport industry television is to-day a indispensable economic source. Inside that framework some sports rights like those of football, car racing, tennis, baseball (for Usa) are more desired by television companies then others. Soccer World Cup and Olympic games are the more important and complex events that concern the relationship between sport and television. Television sport rights are to-day the first and more expensive competition driver for television companies, but also one of the best occasions to make money with advertising. Television rights now account for the vast majority of sports media rights value, and sports television advertising alone represents the largest proportion (or 76%) of the total media rights value. Sports television advertising is estimated to be around 10% of total television advertising.

　　In addition to the value of TV sports advertising, there are growing or potential income streams from other media, pay-TV subscription and pay-per view income.

　　That landscape in the near future will be confronted with important changes in the media landscape. Due to the development of new television platforms like digital terrestrial television, mobile TV, IPTV and other internet-based services that in a more or less short time will be adopted by the totality or the majority of families in many countries of Asia, Europe and America.

　　This paper will try to analyze the changing value chain for sports television rights in front of the changing television platforms landscape and the key elements in existing and future business model of sport television right.