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Vol. 14 №3 (2026)

Article

ADAPTING BUSINESS MODELS OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS TO THE DIGITAL ECONOMY: FINANCIAL TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGES (0.4 Mb, pdf) Read
Authors:
Zherenko Vadim Andreevich
Keywords:
professional sports
professional sports organizations
financial mechanisms
digital economy
Digital Maturity Index
digital monetization
DMI-RE matrix
Annotation:

Purpose of the study: to identify patterns in the adaptation of business models of professional sports organizations to the conditions of the digital economy through the transformation of financial mechanisms and to develop an original model for the strategic management of digital monetization.

Methods and organization of the study. The study is based on the author’s empirical analysis of the financial statements of 20 leading professional sports clubs worldwide for the period 2015-2024. The sample includes sports organizations from Europe, North America, Asia, and Russia, representing football, hockey, and basketball. The methods used include correlation and regression analysis, comparative institutional analysis, cluster analysis, and the author’s matrix “Digital Maturity Index — Revenue Efficiency” — DMI-RE.

Results of the study and discussion. A statistically significant positive relationship was established between the level of a club’s digital maturity and the share of digital revenues in total income. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was at a significance level of . A “digital monetization threshold” was identified: when the Digital Maturity Index exceeds 75 points, digital revenues of a professional sports organization exceed 25% of total revenue. It is shown that Russian RPL and KHL clubs are generally below this threshold, which indicates not so much the absence of digital infrastructure as the insufficient efficiency of mechanisms for its monetization.

Conclusion. The author’s DMI-RE matrix makes it possible to diagnose the strategic position of a professional sports organization in the digital economy and determine priority areas for transforming financial mechanisms. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying the proposed tools to assess the digital maturity and revenue efficiency of Russian RPL and KHL clubs

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