European football now belongs to the highest bidder

[morvillz7z]

I found this topic on Twitter and thought i'd share it here. Apologies if this has already been mentioned.

In short, it's about football, an insight into the revenue discrepancy between the Premier League and the other top leagues in Europe, as well as the Champions League in recent years, and what the imbalance and concentration of money and talent in just a few locations mean for the sport's future.

Only posting a link to the thread itself wouldn't do justice and probably fewer people would read it, so pretty much copy-paste but it's definitely worth a look. You can find the full thread here.

All credits go to John Burn-Murdoch, a data scientist from England, you can follow him on Twitter if you like @jburnmurdoch.

Source: https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1530523036545335296

"For decades the sport has been quietly having its "frog in a pan of water" moment, and it feels like we're approaching boiling point."

"Let's start with a chart:
Premier League clubs' revenues have been higher than other leagues for decades, but the size of the gap is now vast.
Today the gap is more than €2bn, allowing English sides to comfortably outbid most of their continental rivals on transfers and wages.

Most of the difference is caused by the Premier League's much higher broadcast revenues. This season EPL 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 booked £3.1bn for TV rights, vs £1.8bn for La Liga 🇪🇸
Next year the La Liga 🇪🇸 package will dip to £1.6bn, while EPL 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 will rise to £3.4bn, according to @Football_BM 

Some club-by-club examples are ... eye-opening. When Inter won the Italian title in 2021, they made around €85mn from Serie A TV money (via @SwissRamble)
That same year, Sheffield United received around €115mn for finishing 20th in the Premier League.

While the bulk of the Premier League's financial advantage comes from its vast TV deals, commercial revenues also play a big part.
Since the mid 2010s both broadcast and commercial incomes have skyrocketed, far outpacing the other big four leagues.

Now you might look at all that and say, "okay so some football clubs make a lot more money now. So what?"
The issue is, this money ? and who has it ? has *completely* transformed the competitive balance of the game, and it's glaring wherever you look.

Let's start with the Champions League. In the early 1990s, clubs from all across Europe routinely reached the semi-finals.
We had 13 different countries represented in the semis across 5 years, including clubs from Serbia and Romania. Today? It's virtually a closed shop.

It's now exceptional when a club from outside the big five leagues reaches the last-four, and when they do their stars are gobbled up by the superclubs
In a typical season, *three quarters* of UCL semi-finalists now come from just six cities, let alone countries (HT @KuperSimon)

Here's another view of the same data.
In the 5 years ending 1987, *18* different clubs reached the semis, including Steaua București, Dundee United, IFK Göteborg & Widzew Łódź.
Today, it's a safe bet that 2-3 of this year's final four will be in next year's semis, too.

This is the metaphorical frog in a pan of water. There have been few overnight black-and-white transformations, but after years of incremental increases in inequality,
the experience of supporting the average football club in 2022 is unrecognisable from the same in the 70s or 80s

And of course the Premier League is not alone here.
The gap between top and bottom of every one of Europe's big five leagues is far wider today than in decades past.
(And looking at the shape of that Ligue 1 line, it's a wonder French fans aren't on the brink of revolution...)

Here's the same thing over time. Two decades of increasing competitive inequality in almost every league.
And no coincidence that the biggest gaps and steepest climbs feature clubs owned by nation states, whose budgets are essentially limitless.

We celebrated last year when the European Super League collapsed, but the current model is only superficially better.
Sure, at least with the current formats there's a *theoretical* chance of a superclub dropping out of the elite. But really...?

Let's be honest: the structures of European club football today are *far* closer to the protectionist,
plutocratic model of the Super League than they are to any kind of "socialist" model that was supposedly at risk from the Super League."

[Hydrogen]

Yesterday I saw a sports celebrity claiming NASCAR (racing) is scripted with predetermined winners and losers:

NASCAR is scripted...
30,220 viewsJun 1, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwFR_UDAmk

Last year former chicago bears running back claimed the NFL (american football) is scripted:

Former Chicago Bears Running Back Calls NFL "Scripted"

It seems like Benny Cunningham wanted people to think so when he tweeted, "The NFL is scripted but they make us sign something so we can't go into detail... Tired of holding back.. Who want the full story .."

He sure made it sound like he had a saucy little scoop he was willing to sell to newspapers.

Predictably, tons of folks began flooding the former Chicago Bears running back for details.

In addition to the Bears, Benny also played for the Rams and Jaguars and was released by the Jacksonville franchise on August 11th, 2019. He's currently a free agent.

https://www.distractify.com/p/nfl-scripted

There could be something to the concept of professional sports being bought and owned by the highest bidder who decides the outcome of games.

But I think this remains a controversial topic for the moment.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Let's be honest: the structures of European club football today are *far* closer to the protectionist,
plutocratic model of the Super League than they are to any kind of "socialist" model that was supposedly at risk from the Super League."

I don't see why it has to be one or the other. I don't know how it is in other countries, but in Spain football clubs were forced to become public limited companies because before they were sort of associations that operated with large deficits and with some opacity in their accounts.. Now they also operate with deficits but they are more transparent and ultimately accountable to their shareholders.

So, if they are companies with shareholders and they compete in sports, I don't see why anyone should be protected.

The differences in income that you mention I suppose affect those who earn more and those who earn less, but they are not decisive, as the much higher income in the Premier League has not prevented Spanish teams from winning 7 Champions League titles since 2010, while English teams have only won 3.

That's why I see some sense in the European Super League that was proposed at some point.

[Mauser]

Very interesting analysis of the English and Spanish football league. I am not very familiar with the economics behind football. Its definitely true that English and Spanish teams seem to always be in the finals of champions league, and they have the best players from all around the world. But money is not everything, having the best players in the world is no guaranteed win. The players need to get along with each other and play as a team.
This years champions league final seemed like a huge marketing debacle. The kickoff delayed and seeing fans with tickets getting pepper sprayed was insane. Imagine buying an overpriced ticket and travelling to another country to see your favourite team in the final and then the security won't let you enter. Personally I enjoy watching live football in the stadium with a great atmosphere, but only at a reasonable price. All these big tournaments are just too expensive to get good seats. Otherwise watching in a bar with friends is much more affordable.
Maybe a hardcap on player salaries could help going forward? Somehow the weaker teams should also have a chance to participate more.

[Boristhecat]

If we draw similar graphs for any media business area (for example, for musical groups - I mean boy and girl bands that are created by producers using ready-made templates), then most likely we will get a similar picture - the earnings of the tops are growing far ahead of other market participants. Roughly speaking, winner takes all. Is it fair? Yes. Is it good for the leagues as a whole? No.
But there is only one alternative - the conditional model of the United States (NHL, baseball, etc.), that is, just like the Super League, which scares everyone so much, where there will be hard salary caps, a more equitable distribution of income, etc.
So I find it funny to read statements like this:

-skip-
We celebrated last year when the European Super League collapsed, but the current model is only superficially better.
Sure, at least with the current formats there's a *theoretical* chance of a superclub dropping out of the elite. But really...?

Let's be honest: the structures of European club football today are *far* closer to the protectionist,
plutocratic model of the Super League than they are to any kind of "socialist" model that was supposedly at risk from the Super League."

That is, people suffer from the existing model, but for some reason they blame the Super League, which has a more honest and efficient structure. "Plutocratic Super League" - seriously? "Socialist model" - what? This is complete nonsense and fairy tales that UEFA officials tell in order to continue their corruption deeds.

[KTChampions]

It would be interesting to see a graph comparing PSG's spending with other figures from the rest of Ligue 1. It seems that the most unfair moments will be clearly visible in such charts. As you can see in the first post, Ligue 1 has rather modest figures, but at the same time, a Frankenstein club has been created that spends space money on transfers and salaries. And at the same time, this club is an ally of UEFA in the fight against the Super League 

[Spack17]

Ligue 1 has always been modest. In the past, Lyon won consecutive titles, but they didn't win a championship in Europe. Same goes for PSG now. Although world star Messi is in the team, they are behind the Premier League and La Liga. And they still haven't won the Champions League. I think it will continue like this for a long time.

[KTChampions]

Ligue 1 has always been modest. In the past, Lyon won consecutive titles, but they didn't win a championship in Europe. Same goes for PSG now. Although world star Messi is in the team, they are behind the Premier League and La Liga. And they still haven't won the Champions League. I think it will continue like this for a long time.

The problem is that, on the one hand, investments in PSG contribute to the development of Ligue 1, but on the other hand, they kill it to a much greater extent. PSG develops not at the expense of natural progress and labor, but at the expense of "easy" money from the sheikhs. In its own way, this is a pump scheme - as soon as the easy money runs out, this club is expected to collapse. And other clubs that are trying to honestly develop are suffering right now.