Apotheosis or Downfall: past, present, and future of sport and money through the Olympic Games and the European Super League

Abstract

The main purpose of this thesis is to study and critically analyse the relationship between sport and money through history. It will come back to the development of modern sports, tackling their commercialisation and professionalisation of athletes concurrently with the birth of the ideology of amateurism and the mutation of sports’ meanings in Great Britain. Moreover, as sports organisations need money to survive, the thesis will approach their relationships with the basic stakeholders of this equation: stars of the products (athletes) and consumers (fans). The analysis’ scenarios will be case studies about the European Super League (ESL) and the Olympic Games since the two represent different ideals of sports’ relationship with money: one is attached to commercialism and negative values, while the latter possesses a cultural, ethical and non-commercial rhetoric. This thesis will carefully analyse the stakeholders, interests, and issues behind the ESL’s downfall. Contrastingly, the document will look beyond the Olympics’ apotheosis through three themes: payment of prize money to athletes, eSports’ inclusion, and a survey regarding perceptions on sport, money, and the Games. Ultimately, it will be possible to relate the different endeavours to understand the relationship between sport and money, as well as to identify what the ESL and the Olympics can learn from each other. As a result of the investigations, several proposals will be made, including the payment of Olympic prize money and the creation of the eOlympics. Besides, the thesis will develop new concepts that might help stakeholders to look to the future of sports and money. The first deals with the transformation of athletes from amateurs to full professionals, leaving the current objectified professionalism. Whereas the second defends that the sports industry is moving from the age of modern sports to the new era of post-modern sports.