Books : “L’argent du football. Vol 2 : L’Amérique du Nord” by Luc Arrondel

In his latest book writing with Richard Duhautois, Luc Arrondel takes stock of the economics of football in North America.

Published on 07/05/2023 04:32

L’argent du football. Vol 2 : L’Amérique du Nord

Find the page dedicated to the book on the website of éditions Rue d’Ulm and Cepremap

Summary

Extract from the 4^th cover

The 23^rd edition of the men’s football World Cup will take place in 2026, jointly organised by the United States, Canada and Mexico
(the “United 2026” project). This will be the second time, after 1994, that the Americans have hosted the world’s most popular event. However, North America and football are far from being a love story. Historically supplanted by American football and baseball, the international reputation of soccer is mainly due to the women’s footballers, four-time world champions.
For a long time, the image of football in the United States was associated with the end of the careers of stars: Pelé, G. Best, J. Cruyff, among the most famous, played there.

However, some observers believe that this is changing: the stadiums in the United States are filling up more and more for national league matches (the MLS), the big European clubs are coming more and more often for a summer tour, young American players are being transferred to Europe, etc.
Even if the budgets are still far from those of the big European clubs, many investors are now interested in American franchises: the former English football star D. Beckham, for example, has just acquired the Inter Miami team.
As in Volume 1, which was devoted to European football, the aim here is to provide a synthetic description of the economics of football (men’s and women’s) in North America, which remains very specific.