Sources of funding in the sports industry

The sports industry is one of the most developed branches of industry, whose value is estimated at 450 billion of euros, and increasing every year. The main reason for the rapid growth of the sports are the media that, through advertising the products of the world’s largest brands, promote their sales, and therefore the financial profit and the accelerated development of the companies. The financial crisis that has affected the sport industry has led to the confrontation of huge investments in sports, often losing the reality of an average sports fan. Every company is trying to reduce their production costs in order to increase their profits, by any means necessary to achieve the goals of the company. It is an abhorring fact that the largest sporting goods company, such as “Nike”, “Adidas” and “Puma”, have long moved their production from Europe and America to Asia, where their workforce consists of minor children who work on average 10 to 12 hours a day for a monthly pay of $2. This form of human exploitation is one of the key reasons for production savings, and thus the increase in the company profits. Sports industry funding can be analyzed from different perspectives. The estimated value of the sports equipment market is $135 billion, and the largest sports brands, “Nike” and “Adidas”, owned by the shareholders, are funded exclusively from the sale of sports products, which they are trying to increase by advertising through their sponsorship of the best players, sports clubs, and national teams. Also, there are other ways of funding the sports industry, such as scholarships and fundraising (primarily intended for amateur sports in schools and universities), membership fees (intended for funding the professional and recreational sports), selling the season and daily tickets, sponsorships, and selling the television rights (intended for funding the top-level professional sports), as well as IPA funds (intended for projects of national significance in the Western Balkan region)