Call for Papers: The origins and evolution of professional football clubs from a business, management, and organizational history perspective

 Your Presence is Requested

22 – 23 June 2023

Birkbeck CollegeSchool of Business, Economics and Infomatics

BAM Management and Business History Special Interest Group invites you to attend an exciting workshop.

Facilitators

Professor Geoff Walters, Birkbeck, University of London

Sean Hamil, Birkbeck, University of London

Dr Kevin Tennent, University of York

Dr Alex Gillett, University of York

Professional football provides fertile ground for historians interested in exploring continuity and change. It has undergone considerable change and evolution in terms of its identification as an industry – historically football identified as a representative competition between locales, and in many countries profit or even turnover were not considered significant in the purpose of clubs. The entry of broadcasting and the opportunities for related entrepreneurship and licensing in the context of the game have created the opportunity for much of the change that the game has undergone, with a considerable increase the problem of “appropriability” (Buchanan, 1965; Demsetz, 1970; Coase, 1988), in which club owners have struggled to capture the benefits of these innovations, although they have often pushed to exploit them. Many of the benefits have flowed to players, who have seen increased status through the “economics of superstars” (Rosen, 1981) where highly talented played have seen their bargaining powers increase.

We invite papers looking at club football from a management and business history perspective, especially those drawing on archival or oral history research.  Papers should seek to contribute to a developing stream of research including Dizin et al (2004), Walters and Hamil (2013), Gillett and Tennent (2017) and Fernández-de-Sevilla (2021). Secondly, following Gillett and Tennent (2020) we aim to broaden the realm of business and management history by providing opportunities to look at theoretical and empirical themes related to the professional football industry such as project-based enterprise, hybridity, or the role of not-for-profit organisations in business.

Benefits of Attending:

• Receive critical feedback on and review of in-progress academic work
• Network with academics and practitioners in the field with the potential to encourage impact collaboration
• Understand the current state of academic work on management and business in the football industry

This is an ideal opportunity for academics with an interest in the business, management or organisation of football, and/or its history, as well as practitioners with an interest in taking a historical perspective to present challenges within football.

For further details on price, location, terms and conditions, and to book your place to attend:

Please follow this link 

Note that Registrations close on the 8th June 2023 at 23:59 UK time

To submit your research ideas for inclusion: 

Short abstracts (c. 300 words only) before deadline of April 30th 2023

Please send your proposals to:

alex.gillett@york.ac.uk 

and

kevin.tennent@york.ac.uk

The event speaks to sections A1, A2, A3 and C1, C2 and C3, as detailed in the BAM Framework.