Football's Brexit: How Much Will it Cost?
This breakup is going to change football forever. What lies at the heart of this? Read on.
A full-blown tremor has jolted the world of football. Everyone who worships the game is terrified because the top 12 football clubs have decided to launch their own tournament. It's a story of greed, need, betrayal and a lot more.
But, before we dive in, here's a quick brief for football virgins.
Every country in Europe hosts a football league, which gets participation from local football clubs (like India has a state-wise thing - CSK, MI, etc).
The winning clubs of these local leagues then compete in a mega league called UEFA Champions League. And this league is a very big deal. Why?
Well, everything boils down to money.
But, how do the clubs make money?
Selling tickets to football matches
Sponsorship and selling merchandise
Selling players of own club to another club
The prize money that the local and the champions league distribute to participants.
The prize money is arranged from selling match broadcasting rights to channels. And, this is the root cause of everything.
The leagues follow a pyramid structure for the distribution of the prize. The topmost winners take the largest portion of prize money and, as the ranking of a club goes down, the money reduces.
Now, there is no guarantee that the big clubs score big all the time or even get qualified for the Champions League. This way, they lose money. But, at the same time, they are the ones that pull huge crowds.
So, why should they share the money with the rest?
That’s why these clubs have now decided to form a closed franchise league of their own (named European Super League), where they have the guarantee of revenue as they will be playing every single time.
What's more surprising is 6 out of 12 of the clubs belong to the English Premier League. How did this particular league manage to become so big?
They had the most popular players, won a lot, and that popularity translated to a big fat premium. They got to negotiate better deals with TV broadcasters.
And with this higher broadcasting money, they could sign even better players. Having the star players on board was a crowd puller that led to even more cash!
Going by this trend, with the super leagues, the big clubs will become even bigger and stronger.
Now, when they also compete in the UEFA, the small clubs that thrive because of the pyramid structure won't stand a chance in front of the big ones.
UEFA is calling for a ban on these larger clubs and players. But the truth is, without them playing in the Champion's League, UEFA won't be able to raise much money. This too will kill the small clubs.
The big clubs have all run into financial troubles. A European Super League saves them and they can even mint more money than ever. But, at what cost?
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There's an update. 6 Premier League Clubs have withdrawn from this. Football is safe. For now :) Still a very compelling read.
Why don't we compare this with the tussle in cricket with ICL and IPL or the Kerry packer world series..that would've given some history but in cricket it was about players ..in this case it's about some clubs getting money based on their brand even if they don't play well a couple of years to qualify in champions league