The past couple of decades have seen an acceleration of growth in the sports industry, but the growth has not been distributed equally.
The growing importance of access to top tier UEFA competition and the network effects created by the rapidly accelerating influence of digital media have created a significant and growing gap between Europe’s Big 5 and the many smaller leagues of the region. In North America the MLS continues to grow faster than other sports and both it and the Liga MX of Mexico will no doubt be further invigorated by the World Cup being planned across the three countries in 2026, but there is a yawning chasm between football and the traditional “Big 4” of the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.
