The European club footballing landscape report was released last week by UEFA. This can be accessed here. It is an interesting read and I think some of the data in here could be a useful point of departure for students searching for ideas. The variation in practices and rules across leagues are well defined in the report. For example, UEFA show how domestic leagues adapted their schedules for the World Cup, in addition to outlining the suite of post COVID format changes across leagues. There is also data on squad size variations across leagues, player usage and salaries and transfers.
The key picture that captures the economic fundamentals for the Irish context is below.