The Battle for Football Supporters - Will the “Big-Five” Displace Clubs in Smaller Football Nations

In recent years, the clubs in the big European football leagues have significantly increased their income from the sale of media rights from international markets. Many supporters in these nations have both a domestic- and foreign favorite team. Therefore, the import of TV matches can be a challenge for the clubs in the small and medium-sized football nations. The empirical data, which are from Norway, shows that fans who had both a favorite domestic and foreign club identified strongest with the foreign team. This also influenced their behavior. They were willing to pay more to watch the foreign team on TV than the Norwegian team. The same pattern applied to how often they saw their favorite teams.