Stadiums of commercial and social control: Overlapping rationalities within European football’s transformation

Ludvigsen, J Stadiums of commercial and social control: Overlapping rationalities within European football’s transformation. Sport in Society. ISSN 1743-0437 (Accepted)

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Abstract

The transformation of European football has been subjected to much scholarly attention over three decades. In analysing these changes, we may look towards one research trajectory emphasizing the role of commercial and neoliberal economic free-market forces. Another trajectory highlights how developments in the politics of risk and security shaped European-wide counter-hooligan policies which, again, had a transformational effect on European football. These supplementary insights share European football as a site of analysis and agree that the Heysel tragedy (1985) accelerated new eras of commercialism and social control that, respectively, marginalized supporters. Still, they are seldom drawn together to examine how economic and security rationalities overlap within European football. Filling this gap, this article contributes with an updated, Foucauldian understanding of the interplay between the pursuits of profit and control. As argued, these in tandem, have revolved around the creation of controlled stadiums and spaces that express economic and disciplinary power.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript version an article, accepted for publication in Sport in Society. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences; 1504 Commercial Services; 1608 Sociology; Sport, Leisure & Tourism; 4207 Sports science and exercise; 4702 Cultural studies
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Humanities and Social Science
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
Date of acceptance:	3 October 2025
Date Deposited:	21 Oct 2025 08:05
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2025 08:15
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27387

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