Investments and Value Creation in Global Sports
This global course on sports and business was developed in response to a significant inflow of private capital into global sports. It equips students with tools and frameworks to balance stakeholder interests in an industry that combines for‑profit and nonprofit goals. The course is led by Center Director and Professor Martin Carlsson‑Wall and is delivered fully online.
Content
Over the past 10 years, financial investors have gained power and influence within the global sports industry. In North America, several clubs are owned by investors with a private equity background. In European football, many clubs are owned by financial investors, private equity firms, or are listed on stock exchanges.
Despite this increased financialization, strong counterforces remain. Many sports clubs are driven by passionate interests, where supporters seek to preserve historical and community identities. Public organizations at the national and city levels have also highlighted the risks of excessive financialization. This tension between financial investment and passionate interests lies at the core of the course.
The failed launch of the European Super League in April 2021 illustrates how strategic this issue is within global football. Similar tensions can be observed in debates about the Olympic Games and other major sports events.
The course combines two strong research areas at the Stockholm School of Economics: accounting and finance, and sports. The goal is to create a course that attracts students at SSE as well as students from international partner networks such as CEMS and GNAM.
High-level guest lecturers and faculty
Teaching faculty
The teaching faculty of the course consists of:
Martin Carlsson‑Wall (Course Director, Department of Accounting)
Tomas Hjelström (Department of Accounting)
Per Strömberg (Department of Finance, Swedish House of Finance)
Guest lecturers*
Guest lecturers in the first and second editions of the course included:
Dan Singer, Senior Partner and Head of Global Sports and Entertainment at McKinsey & Company
David Dellea, Director - Sports Practice at Altman Solon
Daniel Beiderbeck, Head of Projects and Developments in Sports, Borussia Dortmund
Nicolas Frevel, Head of Strategy at Hertha BSC
Richard Brisius, Chairman and Owner, The Ocean Race
Jasmine Robinson, Managing Partner at Monarch Collective
Jordan Gardner, Owner, Advisor and Former Chairman of FC Helsingør
Ricardo Fort, Founder of Sport by Fort. Former Vice President, Global Sports and Entertainment Partnerships at Coca‑Cola and Senior Vice President, Global Brand, Product and Sponsorship Marketing at VISA
Tea Stefani, Brand Project Manager at AS Monaco
Norman O’Reilly, Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Business, University of Maine, USA
George Foster, Professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Ebru Köksal, Chair of Women in Football. Former CEO and Director of Galatasaray Sports Club and the first female Executive Board member of the European Club Association
Ivanka Visnjic, Professor, ESADE Business School
Alastair Seaman, Managing Director at Arctos Sports Partners
Paolo Aversa, Professor, Bayes Business School, University of London
Sarah Lewis, Former Secretary General of the International Ski Federation
Juan Fuentes Fernández, Delegate to the Nordic Region for LaLiga
Jordan Solomon, Partner and Co‑Founder, Arctos Sports Partners
Scott O’Neill, Author and Former CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment
* previous years guest appearances
Award‑winning course
In February 2022, Martin Carlsson‑Wall received the Outstanding Pedagogical Achievement Award for autumn 2021 for the course Investments and Value Creation in Global Sports.
In its first edition, the course gathered 68 students from 19 universities in 16 countries.
The course was designed specifically for digital delivery and attracted students from partner schools in SSE’s international networks. It combines lectures from SSE faculty with global industry experts who participate as guest lecturers. The digital format enabled participation from leading practitioners around the world.
Martin Carlsson-Wall was the director of the newly developed and highly appreciated MSc elective course on Investments and Value Creation in Global Sports, that was offered to SSE's international networks. The course was especially designed for digital delivery and attracted students from 19 schools in 16 countries. The course combined content delivered by SSE faculty with global thought leaders as guest lecturers, which was enabled by the digital format. But above and beyond the content of the course, the course extended the classroom for those students physically present in Stockholm, using study trips and sport events.
Lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction to the course
Lecture 2: Sport management - the field, its history, and an example from the ice hockey business
Lecture 3: Introduction to valuation
Lecture 4: Introduction to the course project
Lecture 5: Investing in European football clubs
Lecture 6: Comparing sports investments around the globe
Lecture 7: Tottenham Hotspur case
Lecture 8: How passion for sports turns into a profitable business - insights from motorsport
Lecture 9: Women’s football - the next commercial frontier?
Lecture 10: Strategic club development - key learnings from the German Bundesliga
Lecture 11: Managing the International Ski Federation during 25 years - ups and downs
Lecture 12: Re‑thinking a brand - the case of AS Monaco
Lecture 13: Reflecting on guest lectures through the course frameworks
Lecture 14: Business model innovation - the case of the Ocean Race
Lecture 15: Latest trends in sports media consumption - what should a commercial director make of it?
Lecture 16: Project work - update and calibration
Lecture 17: Growing a football league globally - the case of LaLiga
Lecture 18: Scaling - the case of TopGolf and building a global sports and entertainment community
Lecture 19: Partnering - activating and measuring success
Lecture 20: Project work - update and calibration
Lecture 21: Summary panel - future trends in global sports investments
Lecture 22: Exam preparation
*sample structure from previous years
Intended learning outcomes
To successfully complete the course, students must demonstrate knowledge of:
1. How to balance stakeholder interests in an industry that combines for‑profit and nonprofit goals.
2. How financial value is created in global sports through media rights, ticket sales, sponsor partnerships, merchandise, and player transfers.
3. The role financial investors can play in developing clubs, leagues, and major sports events.
4. How to critically evaluate investors’ value creation strategies in an industry characterized by passionate interests.
Students' voices
The expertise and quality of the guest lecturers and professors were outstanding. I found it extremely valuable and insightful to be exposed to such high-profile industry professionals.
The combination of theory and practice was the main strength. It was amazing to have so many different perspectives on how to work with sports and what different career paths are available for us after leaving SSE. Also, a big highlight needs to be given to the incredible outside Zoom events such as the kick-off dinner with Citi-bank, the football and ice hockey matches with Djurgården, the dinner with Jonas Persson (Sport Tech CEO), the visit to the Swedish Hockey League and the tour of Tele2 Arena. This was a course I will always remember and be thankful to SSE that they organized because it was really a match between my passion and interests.
I have been sharing my learnings about this course with my network and I think I have been very effective about evangelising potential students for the future. In brief, this course will provide you with tools to understand the mechanics of sport as an industry as well as a passionate interest. It will allow you to look a bit deeper behind the headlines to understand what is actually going on and what it might been for the future of the sport you are interested in.
Format and structure
The course covers the following themes:
1. The global sports industry – an overview
2. Due diligence and investing in a sports organization
3. Creating value in a world of passionate interests
4. Exit strategies and financial returns
Given its global ambition - both in terms of content and audience - the course is delivered in a digital format to reach students across SSE’s international partner networks.
Prerequisites
The course is an elective open to all MSc students at SSE as well as MSc students from partner schools in the CEMS, GNAM, and CIVICA networks.
Prior knowledge of accounting, investments, and corporate valuation is recommended. Students should be able to analyze an annual report, conduct a basic discounted cash flow valuation, and understand different types of financial investments.
Examination
Class participation (10 percent)
Active participation accounts for up to 10 percent of the final grade. In the digital format, participation may also include questions and reflections emailed to faculty between sessions.
Case hand‑ins (10 percent)
Students complete several cases during the course.
Project (20 percent)
Students work in groups of four to five on a course project that applies the theoretical frameworks presented in the course.
Exam (60 percent)
The main examination is a written exam at the end of the course.
Literature
The course literature covers four main themes and includes a collection of selected cases.
Theme 1: The development of the global sports market
Stewart, B., & Smith, A. (1999). The Special Features of Sport. Annals of Leisure Research.
Smith, A., & Stewart, B. (2010). The special features of sport: A critical revisit. Sport Management Review.
Gammelsaeter, H. (2021). Sport is not industry: bringing sport back to sport management. European Sport Management Quarterly.
Theme 2: Introduction to investments
Jensen, M.C. (1989). Eclipse of the Public Corporation. Harvard Business Review.
Kaplan, S., & Strömberg, P. (2009). Leveraged buyouts and private equity. Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Theme 3: Institutional logics and value creation in sports
Friedland, R., & Alford, R. (1991). Bringing Society Back In: Symbols, Practices, and Institutional Contradictions.
Gammelsaeter, H. (2010). Institutional pluralism and governance in commercialized sports clubs.
Carlsson‑Wall, M., Kraus, K., & Messner, M. (2016). Performance measurement systems and institutional logics.
Theme 4: Perspectives on value creation in sports organizations
Baxter, J., Carlsson‑Wall, M., Chua, W.F., & Kraus, K. (2019). Accounting and passionate interests.
Grodecki, M., & Kossakowski, R. (2021). Class wars among devoted football supporters.
Finch, D.J., Legg, D., O’Reilly, N., Wright, S., & Norton, B. (2021). A social capital view of an Olympic Games bid.
Nite, C., Ige, A., & Washington, M. (2019). Institutional work of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.