(Greg Stutchbury) – The global economic slowdown is a concern but sports revenues worldwide should grow by about 3.7 percent to $145.3 billion by 2015, according to a research report released on Friday.

The Changing the Game report, undertaken by financial services and consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, also pointed to sponsorship issues, a growing generation gap between fans, managing media rights and burgeoning player costs as problems facing the industry in the near future.

The world we live in at the moment is so volatile, you just have to look at what is happening in Europe, Bruce Baillie, PWC New Zealands markets managing partner, told Reuters in an interview about the report.

But you also have to take a look at Asia and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies, which are going to be real growth areas.

There is a growing middle class in all those countries and theyre the people that buy the tickets and watch sports on television … and that is what will drive greater revenue.

The report, which analyzed four main areas of sports revenue — ticket sales, media rights, sponsorship and merchandising — estimated global sports revenues were about $121.4 billion in 2010 and projected them to grow on a cumulative average of 3.7 percent to $145.3 billion by 2015.

Tags: Industry