The problem with money in sports

For once it isn’t a case of there not being enough of it, to the contrary, it’s rather the opposite – and it corrupts club officials’ minds and clouds their judgment.

Two examples from earlier this year in the U.K. show once again the nefarious impact money can have on sports: in the rugby league Saracens got relegated for paying its players higher than allowed salaries through underhanded arrangements, and in football Manchester City had I initially been banned by UEFA from the champions league and fined €30 million for overstating its sponsorship revenue from 2012 to 2016, but was cleared on appeal in July.

Rugby as well as football draw huge crowds, not least on television, and hence, in order to play at the top of their respective leagues, both Saracens and Manchester City need to pay top salaries to attract the best sportsmen and get lucrative tv- and sponsorship deals. It is a vicious circle with no doubt a tremendous temptation to shift the odds in the club’s favour.

But there are rules whose purpose it is to ensure that all teams stand a chance at success and glory, and not only the ones with the deepest pockets. Where would we end up, if only football teams owned by billionaires could afford all the best players (and to some extent this is already the case nowadays)? The best players show – normally – the best performance, which in turn then draws the biggest crowds and TV audiences, which in turn leads to the most lucrative deals for the club. Such a situation would inevitably lead to a widening gap within the leagues, a system of have and have nots.

And this would not be in the spectators’ interest either, as football seasons would become much predictable and clubs such as Leicester City who won the 2015-16 premier league would stand even less of a chance of such a success. Note, for example, that since the inception of the premier league in 1992 only 6 different teams have won the coveted title. So the cash-rich clubs in Britain – and not only there, I am sure – already have an advantage over less well endowed teams.

All this is obviously notwithstanding the pandemic, which has affected cash rich and poor teams alike: Manchester United announced in October that their revenues were expected to have dropped by £70 million in the period to the end of June 2020.

Finally, these examples also show once more to what extent sport has become commercialised: I like to believe that athletes main concern 50 or 60 years ago would have been their sportive achievements, with the financial and other ensuing benefits more a consequence than a primary objective. How times have changed…