North American sports industry revenues are projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 4.8 per cent to $67.7bn (€49.8bn) by 2017, fuelled by the media rights market, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The professional services firm has compiled the report by analysing the key revenue streams of media rights, gate receipts, sponsorship and merchandise across professional, college, minor league and some individual sports properties.
PwC said that media rights are projected to increase the most, growing at a compounded annual rate of 7.7 per cent to $17.1bn by 2017.
The report cites upcoming rights deals for major sports properties, along with the potential revenue-generating ability from new platforms such as smartphone applications and streaming rights, as the reason for this projection.
“What’s really driving it is the media rights and sponsorship segment,” Adam Jones, PwC’s director of sports advisory services, told the Bloomberg news agency. “In at least the next five years we are still anticipating the industry’s ability to leverage new inventory across both of those segments.”
The 4.8 per cent growth projected for 2013 to 2017 compares to 0.8 per cent for the five years from 2008 to 2012 – a period in which the North American sports industry was hit by the recession and labour disputes in American football’s NFL, basketball’s NBA and ice hockey’s NHL.