Efficiency of state-owned enterprises running Ekstraklasa clubs compared to privately-owned enterprises

Professional sports clubs in Poland are run by either privately-owned or state-owned enterprises (controlled by state-owned companies or local governments). The aim of the study discussed in the article is to assess the impact of different ownership forms of public sector enterprises running professional football clubs of the Ekstraklasa on efficiency their financial (maximising the financial results) and sporting (national sporting success), compared to that achieved by privately-owned clubs. The stochastic frontier analysis parametric approach was used, which requires the adoption of a function that describes the relationship between inputs and outputs. It employs the properties of the Cobb-Douglas frontier model based on the Battese and Coelli model, which allowed not only the variables representing the effects and input to be considered, but also the three types of ownership: state-owned companies, and local governmentowned and privately-owned enterprises. The analysis is based on financial, sports and market data for the years 2017–2021, made available by the National Court Register and the football clubs, and posted on the Transfermarkt.pl and 90minut.pl websites. The study shows that local government ownership has a negative impact on the financial efficiency of these enterprises, while state company ownership and private ownership have a positive impact. Local government-run clubs operate under a soft budget constraint and are favoured by their owners who protect them against bankruptcy. The different financial efficiency of the two groups of public sector enterprises may be the result of an active or passive governance of the controlling entity. The efficiency of public sector enterprises running professional football clubs may depend on the achievement of a wider set of objectives other than the maximisation of profit and sporting success. These may include training young athletes and providing young people with opportunities for physical development or the integration of the local community, which are desirable, but may have a negative impact on financial and sporting efficiency. The study of the impact of the ownership form on sporting efficiency found no statistically significant differences between the three groups of companies.