Larger sports can weather world financial crisis

The world financial crisis is likely to squeeze sports with limited global reach like curling, hockey and swimming but soccer, basketball and horse racing will weather the storm, a report said this week.

The study by the public relations agency Weber Shandwick shows that while niche sports are the most vulnerable to the knock-on effects of the turmoil, those with a global fan base and larger attendances may even grow in emerging markets.

"While smaller sports and teams are in the midst of a bumpy ride, those deriving their support - financial or otherwise - from across the world are likely to remain strong, if not even grow in strength," said Simon Chadwick, director of the Centre for the International Business of Sport at Britain's Coventry University.

"Sports or teams with links to the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and South East Asia are likely to be the most recession-resistant in the foreseeable future," added the professor and author of the report.

No sport is immune to the global downturn but soccer, basketball, horse racing and rugby will stay resilient thanks to television revenues, merchandise sales, sponsorship and gate receipts, the study said.

"I don't think there is a sport which is recession-proof. There are sports that are more or less recession-resistant than others," Chadwick told Reuters.

Soccer is in a much stronger position compared to other sports in terms of ticket sales, television rights deals and sponsorship. Basketball also has sufficient global appeal.

"The most recession-resistant sport will have a global fan base," Chadwick explained.

Horse racing is in a favourable position given a large portion of owners are based in the Middle East and a positive impact from gambling, which tends to increase in economic turmoil.

Rugby is benefiting from sell-out crowds for high profile games while the English Rugby Football Union, for example, recently agreed a five-year TV rights deal with Sky.

Sports like curling, bowls, darts, swimming and badminton with smaller crowds, low-value sponsorship deals and minimal TV coverage are the most vulnerable, the study said.

"What we are seeing is that size does matter in sport," Chadwick added.

In 2009 one barometer of the economic health of a sport will be ticket sales. Following the Wall Street crash in 1929, English soccer attendances fell by an average of 19 per cent.

"If we hit a double digit percentage fall in attendance at sport events then that evidence suggests that the impact of the recession will be equivalent to what we had in 1929 and in the early 1980s," Chadwick added.

He said another crucial issue is the possible renegotiation of new media and broadcasting rights at a lower value from previous contracts.

The English Premier League and Italian Serie A are protected until 2010, when their contracts expire.