https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0747-6381
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ABSTRACT
In the past two decades, English Premier League (EPL) top clubs have targeted broader touristic markets, particularly tourists looking to experience behind-the-scenes venue tours, venue-based club museums, and match-day experiences in the stands and corporate boxes. While the increasing touristic appeal of EPL grounds has positive financial outcomes for both club and community, several drawbacks have been identified, particularly by local supporters, including tourists as being detrimental to the match atmosphere, tourists exhibiting annoying behaviour, and touristic demand driving up ticket prices. The football literature covering the development and transformations of the EPL since its creation in 1992 has mainly highlighted its transnational nature through foreign players, owners, managers, and coaches. This paper explores the development of football tourism within the EPL, while highlighting issues such as over-tourism, place-displacement, and cultural sustainability at football grounds. The EPL's potential challenges concerning Brexit and COVID-19 impacts on tourism are also addressed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
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4. Gammon, ‘“Sporting” new attractions?’
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7. Rookwood and Chan, ‘The 39th Game’.
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9. See: Guardian Football, ‘LFC and EFC faces soul;’ DW Kick Off!; ‘The Curse of Success’; BBC, ‘Football tourism’.
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11. World Tourism Organization. ‘Glossary of Tourism Terms’.
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13. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives, xvi.
14. See: Dubal ‘The neoliberalization of football’; Millward, ’The Global Football League’; Turner, ‘Modern English football fandom’; Ludvigsen, ‘Foreign ownerships’.
15. Gould and Williams, ‘After Heysel’.
16. Cleland and Cashmore, ‘Football fans’ views of violence’.
17. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives.
18. See: Youtube, ‘The night football changed forever’.
19. Premier League, ‘Premier League global audience on the rise’.
20. Youtube, ‘The night football changed forever’.
21. Turner, ‘Modern English football fandom’.
22. Youtube, ‘The night football changed forever’.
23. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives.
24. King, ‘New directors, customers, and fans’.
25. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives.
26. Millward, The Global Football League.
27. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives.
28. TransferMarket, ‘Foreigners’.
29. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives, 4.
30. See: Satoshi, ‘Football, nationalism and celebrity culture’; Mañas Viniegra, ‘Real Madrid’s International Brand Contribution’.
31. Williams and Hopkins, ‘Over here’.
32. Hill and Vincent, ‘Globalisation and sports branding’.
33. Dubal ‘The neoliberalization of football’.
34. Mellor, ‘The genesis of Manchester United’, 151.
35. Independent. ‘How modern football is broken’.
36. Rookwood and Chan, ‘The 39th Game’.
37. Old Trafford Museum, ‘Voyages of Discovery’ display, personal observation, November 28th, 2018. The museum display showed the words of MU’s Director, Williams MacLean, who in an interview in 1950, during the club’s tour to the US and Canada, affirmed: ‘We are here for a vacation but also to show our brand of first-class English soccer.’
38. Old Trafford Museum, ‘Down Under’ display, personal observation, November 28th, 2018. The museum display described the attendance of a pre-season match in 1967 in New Zealand and emphasized the nature of its public: ‘United achieved its biggest ever-friendly away win with an 11–0 victory in Christchurch, New Zealand, a match in which most of the spectators were British ex-patriots who remembered watching Manchester United back in England.’
39. Rookwood and Chan, ‘The 39th Game’.
40. Premier League, ‘EPL opens Asia-Pacific office in Singapore’.
41. SportBusiness, ‘Arsenal’s Singapore office;’ ChinaDailyMail, ‘Man City opens second China Office’.
42. See: SportBusiness, ‘Arsenal’s Singapore office’
43. Millward, The Global Football League.
44. Sondaal, ‘Football’s grobalization or globalization’.
45. Evans and Norcliff, ‘Local identities in a global game’.
46. Cocola-Gant, ‘Tourism gentrification’.
47. Edensor and Millington, ‘This is Our City’.
48. Kennedy, ‘Football stadium relocation and commodification’.
49. Ludvigensen, ‘Transnational fan reactions,’ 9.
50. See: Duke, ‘Local tradition versus globalisation;’ ‘Dixon Football fandom and Disneyisation’.
51. Turner, ‘Modern English football fandom,’ 125.
52. VisitBritain, ‘900,000 Football-Watching Visitors Spend 706 Million While in Britain’.
53. Ramshaw, Heritage and Sport.
54. Tottenham, ‘The Dare Skywalk’.
55. Manchester United, ‘2019 Annual report’.
56. Petersen-Wagner, ‘The Football Supporter in a Cosmopolitan Epoch’.
57. Old Trafford Stadium Tour guide, personal communication, November 28th, 2018.
58. LFC, ‘Liverpool FC stadium tour and museum wins industry award’.
59. The Beatles Story, ‘Record breaking attendance’.
60. ‘LFC City Explorer. ‘Liverpool Bus to Anfield’.
61. Chelsea Stadium Tours, personal communication, 24 September 2018.
62. Chelsea Stadium Tours, personal observation, 2 December 2018.
63. Ramshaw, ‘Heritage and Sport’.
64. Wolves, ‘Private Molineux Stadium Tours’.
65. Manchester City Stadium Tour, personal communication, 19 March 2019.
66. Higham and Hinch, Sport and tourism.
67. SportBible. ‘LFC’s Corporate Goody Bag’.
68. Harrison-Hill and Chalip, ‘Marketing sport tourism’.
69. Nielsen Sports, ‘World Football Report 2018’.
70. MFF, ‘Premier League Shirt Sponsors 1992–93 to 2020–21’.
71. Visit Rwanda, ‘Arsenal’
72. LFC. ‘Expedia’.
73. Bourdieu, ‘The forms of capital’.
74. Campaignlive. ‘Arsenal ad deal with Israel tourism authority’.
75. BBC, ‘Tanzania tourism and EPL’.
76. Tanzania Tourist Board, ‘Sunderland’.
77. Sports Travel, ‘How Florida Became a Presence in the EPL’.
78. Ibid.
79. Times of Malta, ‘Malta scores tourism deal with Manchester United’.
80. LFC, ‘Turkish Tourism’.
81. LFC, ‘Mauritius’.
82. Sports Travel, ‘How Florida Became a Presence in the EPL.
83. See: Harrison-Hill and Chalip, ‘Marketing sport tourism’.
84. Ojeda and Kieffer, ‘Touristification’.
85. Goldblatt, The Game of Our Lives, xxiii.
86. VisitBritain, ‘GREAT’.
87. VisitBritain, ‘900,000 Football Watching’
88. VisitBritain, ‘Football-loving tourists score £684 million for Britain’.
89. VisitBritain,’ International Buzzseekers Football Research’.
90. See: Goksøyr and Hognestad, ‘No Longer Worlds Apart?; Nash, ‘Globalised Football Fandom’; Hognestad, ‘Transnational Passions’.
91. Armstrong and Mitchell, ‘Defence and attack’; Millward, The Global Football League.
92. MacCannell, ‘The Tourist’.
93. Petersen-Wagner, ‘Cosmopolitan Fandom’.
94. UKinbound, ‘MVP to publish New Sports Tourism Title’.
95. VisitBritain. ‘Premier League’.
96. VisitBritain, ‘Largest Ever EPL partnership’.
97. MenInBlazers, ‘VisitBritain’
98. VisitBritain Shop, ‘David Beckham’s Best of Britain’.
99. Urry, Consuming places.
100. King, End of the terrace’s.
101. Cocola-Gant, ‘Tourism gentrification’.
102. Gotham, ‘Tourism gentrification’.
103. Cocola-Gant, ‘Tourism gentrification’.
104. Herrera, Smith, and Vera, ‘Gentrification, displacement, and tourism’.
105. Gladstone and Préau, ‘Gentrification in tourist cities’.
106. Aalbers, ‘Gentrification waves’.
107. Wachsmuth and Weisler, ‘Airbnb and the rent gap’.
108. Dubal, ‘The neoliberalization of football,
109. Mail Online. ‘The beautiful (but expensive) game’.
110. Evans and Norcliff, ‘Local identities in a global game’.
111. Guardian Football, ‘LFC and EFC faces soul’.
112. Guardian Football, ‘LFC and EFC faces soul’.
113. See: Marcuse, ‘Gentrification, abandonment, and displacement’.
114. Brown, ‘Our Club, our rules’.
115. AFC, ‘AFC Liverpool Story’.
116. Slater, ‘Missing Marcuse’.
117. Davidson, ‘Spoiled mixture’.
118. DW Kick Off!; ‘The Curse of Success.
119. Evans and Norcliff, ‘Local identities in a global game’.
120. Evans and Norcliff, ‘Local identities in a global game’.
121. Guardian Football, ‘LFC and EFC faces soul’.
122. Guardian Football, ‘LFC and EFC faces soul’.
123. PurpsTV, ‘The Problem With Modern Football’.
124. Gössling, McCabe & Chen, ‘Overtourism’, 3.
125. Gössling, McCabe & Chen, ‘Overtourism’, 6.
126. PurpsTV, ‘The Problem With Modern Football’.
127. See: Nash, ‘Globalised Football Fandom’; Petersen-Wagner, ‘The Football Supporter in a Cosmopolitan Epoch’; Ludvigensen, ‘Transnational fan reactions’.
128. Cohen, ‘Commoditization and authenticity’.
129. Seraphin, Sheeran, and Pilato, ‘Over-tourism’.
130. Namberger, Jackisch, Schmude & Karl, ‘Overcrowding’.
131. Milano, Novelli, and Cheer, ‘Overtourism and degrowth’.
132. Alonso-Almeida, Borrajo-Millán, and Yi, ‘Social media and overtourism’.
133. Namberger, Jackisch, Schmude & Karl, ‘Overcrowding.
134. Seraphin, Sheeran, and Pilato, ‘Over-tourism, 375.
135. Alonso-Almeida, Borrajo-Millán, and Yi, ‘Social media and overtourism,’ 2.
136. Gonzalez, Coromina, and Gali, ‘Overtourism’
137. See: BBC, ‘Football tourism’
138. See: The Anfield Wrap, ‘Tourists, Locals, and Our Famous Atmosphere’.
139. Mail Online. ‘The beautiful (but expensive) game’.
140. BBC, ‘Price of football’.
141. Ibid.
142. Statista. ‘Age distribution of adults watching EPL in 2020’.
143. Croce, ‘Sustainable growth’.
144. See: Chiu, ‘The Stadium Tour as Sporting Creative Tourism’;Mendes, ‘The Visit Experience in the UK Football Context’;Edensor, Millington, Steadman and Taecharungroj, ‘Towards a comprehensive understanding of football stadium tourism’.
145. Tobar and Moraes, ‘Virtual stadium tours and museums in football clubs?’