Competition outside the field: Economics and marketing of football in Iran

Abstract

Iranian football clubs are experiencing a difficult period of time. Financial crisis has been a trend in last three decades and majority of clubs are suffering from heavy debts. Premier league, that aimed to lead football clubs to be managed professionally, was not successful in establishing a sustainable economic structure. Considering these, this research provides an analysis of economics of Iranian football from a marketing perspective. Considering competitiveness as a common concept in business and football, authors suggest that the first step to economic success is to turn sport clubs into sport firms. Accordingly, organizational structure must be adapted with this paradigm shift, including a marketing department that acts in such important levels as that of sporting department. Following these structural changes, some B2B and B2C strategies have been suggested. In B2B, authors recommend co-marketing alliances as a solution to exploit the clubs’ brand value; and in B2C, they propose application of customer engagement programs and integrated marketing communication as a solution to generate income from supporters and also to co-create clubs’ brand.