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The Sports Strategist
Oliver Buchannon
The Sports Strategist

The Business of Football, Explained Like an Analyst Would Explain It

Two Clubs, Two Mandates

Jul 12, 2026

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7 min read

Two Clubs, Two Mandates

Madrid finished a second consecutive season without a major trophy. Revenue will hit a sports-team record. Both facts come from the same playbook.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
The Champions League Tax

Jul 5, 2026

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3 min read

The Champions League Tax

Missing the Champions League costs a club far more than the prize money it doesn’t collect. Here’s the full accounting.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
The Tournament Effect

Jun 28, 2026

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4 min read

The Tournament Effect

A great World Cup performance isn’t just a memory. It’s a synchronized information event that reprices an entire asset class. Here’s the mechanism.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
La Masia’s Real ROI

Jun 21, 2026

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5 min read

La Masia’s Real ROI

Barcelona runs its academy on a fraction of what a single elite transfer costs. Here’s what it would take to replace that academy’s current output on the open market.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
How the World Cup Actually Makes Money

Jun 14, 2026

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4 min read

How the World Cup Actually Makes Money

FIFA’s commercial machine generated a record $7.5 billion in the cycle that ended in 2022 — and has budgeted $11 billion for the cycle that closes with this tournament, with recent estimates pushing toward $13 billion. Here’s the structure.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
The Sixth Street Deal, Priced Like a Bond

Jun 7, 2026

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4 min read

The Sixth Street Deal, Priced Like a Bond

Barcelona sold 25 percent of its TV rights for 25 years to raise emergency liquidity. Here’s what the implied cost of capital actually was.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
What State Capital Actually Bought in Paris

May 31, 2026

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5 min read

What State Capital Actually Bought in Paris

Saturday’s Champions League final put fifteen years of Qatari investment in PSG to its most public test. Either result tells you less than the coverage is going to suggest.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
The Wage Bill Problem

May 24, 2026

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4 min read

The Wage Bill Problem

How a football club ends up committed to paying more than it earns — and why getting out is harder than it looks.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist
How Barcelona Built and Nearly Broke a €1B Empire

May 17, 2026

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16 min read

How Barcelona Built and Nearly Broke a €1B Empire

A portfolio strategist's look at the most fascinating ongoing business case in world football.

The Sports Strategist
The Sports Strategist

The Sports Strategist

Institutional analysis on the business of football. Free, every Sunday.

The Sports Strategist



© 2026 Views my own. Educational, not investment advice. @thesportsstrategist · Sports business · Football finance · Institutional analysis.
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