The rational emotions of FC København: a lesson on generating profit in professional soccer

Abstract

Professional team sports clubs in Scandinavia and Europe operate in a complex combination of rational economic logic and emotional irrational behaviour. With a few exceptions most clubs favour winning over profit, thus producing a range of severe financial problems as a direct consequence. This essay investigates this fact and deals with Danish soccer, its financial problems, as well as the conditions determining the financial instability of the majority of the clubs. Employing a theoretical framework that enables me to describe the financially unstable clubs as well as the financial best performers in the sports business, I explain why only a few clubs are capable of combining economic gain with sporting success. The Danish soccer club FC København is chosen to be the case and turning point in this study, as it serves as a counter example illustrating how profit and championships can actually be combined in certain logic of ‘rational emotionality’. The ‘extremity’ of the case in this respect serves as a way to expose the general rules of commercial sports.