The Influence of Economic and Sporting Performances in the Diversification of Revenues of Brazilian Football Clubs

The Resource Dependence Theory seeks to understand how external factors influence an organization’s behavior, dependency, and diversification of resources. This study analyzes the influence of economic-financial and sports performance on the revenue diversification of 24 Brazilian football clubs. The composition of the revenues was analyzed through the APFUT classification, with the addition of the “Financial Revenues” category, while the adapted Hirschman–Herfindahl Index was used to measure the level of diversification. The results indicate that the clubs’ main revenues are Broadcasting Rights, Transfer of Federative Rights, and Sponsorship. The models pointed to the positive effects of profitability and Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) Ranking and the negative effect of promotion to the first division on the diversification level, indicating the relevance of economic and sports elements. This study contributes to the analysis of sports and economic-financial performance, which affect revenue management, and endorses the discussion on the need for revenue diversification as one of the measures to avoid financial difficulties.