Impact of mergers and acquisitions on sport performance of football clubs in the highest professional league in Poland
Impact of mergers and acquisitions on sport performance of football clubs in the highest professional league in Poland

Summary/Abstract: Mergers and acquisitions (M & As) in professional sports evoke strong emotions. Whereas for some economists(and club owners) they are just business operations aimed to improve sport and financial performance oforganizations, the supporters often reject this proposition on the grounds of identity and symbol issues. Giventhe lack of studies devoted to consolidation operations in Polish professional sports, the paper undertakes theanalysis of M & As in the highest professional football league in Poland (Ekstraklasa) since 1989 with the aimto verify their impact on sport performance of the football clubs involved. The results of this multiple case studyindicate that the main motivations for M & As in the sports club context are the same as in other industries(search for specific assets, strategic considerations, profit and loss calculations). In addition, the success ratealso resembles the one in other sectors: only in one case (out of four studied) the merger has led to a clear andlasting improvement of sport performance (although not an immediate one). The distinctive features of the successfulmerger of Lech Poznań with Amica Wronki are: a well conducted preparation and negotiation process,and the same league division of the merging clubs. On the other hand, common factors of organizational andhence sporting failure of the other 3 cases were: lack of long-term strategy, the owners’ financial difficulties, andconflicts with the top league governing body.

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