COMPARATIVE BUSINESS MODEL ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY PROFESSIONAL MUAY THAI PROMOTIONS: A DOCUMENT-BASED MULTIPLE CASE STUDY, 2020–2024
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Abstract
In 2020-2024, the professional Muay Thai industry in Thailand experienced regulatory change that altered the competitive dynamic among professional promotions at the ecosystem level. ONE Championship signed a long-term hosting deal at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and began broadcasting a weekly over-the-top (OTT) distributed product; Rajadamnern Stadium returned to the market under new ownership as the Rajadamnern World Series (RWS) with a pay-per-view model; and long-standing domestic broadcasts like Channel 7 Boxing Stadium programming remained, operating in a value chain connected to the camp network and rooted in traditional betting practices. While each promotion housed the same fighters, was regulated by the same government agency, and promoted matches of the same sport, they operated as separate commercial entities. Previous sport management research has focused on elements of each promotion individually but has never comparatively analyzed their business model architecture (BMAs). Document analysis was used to conduct a qualitative multiple case study comparing three purposefully selected promotions along the nine building blocks of the Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). Identified cross-case patterns were explained through the framework of institutional logics (Thornton & Ocasio, 1999). Four categories of documents (N = 123) were triangulated for trustworthiness (thick description), along with a clear audit trail. Results identified three institutional logics that coexisted within a pattern of bounded instability: global entertainment, premium heritage, and communal domestic. The resultant compartmentalization perpetuates tensions, evident in the variation of fighter pay between promotions and the inconsistent policing of regulations. Practical implications are discussed for sport promoters, the Sport Authority of Thailand (SAT), the Boxing Sport Committee, and developing combat sport ecosystems in Southeast Asia.
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