North America: TV rights will grow 3.5 times faster than ticketing by 2018 (PwC)

The value of the North American sports market will reach $60.6bn (€47.8bn) in 2014 and grow by 4.5% per year on average to $70.7bn (€55.8bn) in 2018, states the 2014 edition of the "Sports Outlook" from the American subsidiary of the consultancy and auditing agency PwC, published on 06/10/2014.

The main finding of the report is that the growth of the North American market will be driven primarily by audiovisual rights, which should grow 9.1% per year between 2014 ($14.8bn dollars, €11.7bn) 2018 (€19.35bn dollars, €15.3bn). These TV rights, currently the second largest source of revenue in the North American sports industry in 2014, are expected to grow 3.5 times faster than ticketing (first source of revenue, 2.6% annual growth on average) and nearly twice that of sponsorship (third source of revenue, 4.8% growth).

Ticketing will still be the primary source of income in 2018 (2014 Sports Outlook, PwC)

• The merchandising revenue forecast is a limited growth of 1.4% per year between 2014 ($13.3bn, €10.5bn) and 2018 ($14bn, €11bn).
• In 2018, the ticketing box office will remain the…