Quo Vidas

Bob Koep
Senior Staff Writer
InsideSoccer Magazine

With the new season of Champions League soccer in Europe pulling in unprecedented amounts of money, people in the know and professional forecasters are projecting where this sport is going and where it could be in 10 or 20 years.

And for a soccer aficionado the projections are sort of frightening.

Big time professional soccer, they say, will soon only be played to make money, big time money. It will plainly be a vehicle for advertisers and sponsors, and these people will control much of what is going on on the field. It seems things will go the direction of the big pro leagues in the USA (Football, Baseball etc) lots of commercials interrupted by some action on the field.

Less than a generation from now with Russian oligarchs, Arabian Sheiks and major United States (and perhaps Chinese) corporations calling the shots, top players in the world will generate ever higher incomes in order to produce more and more revenue. Even though top clubs are already up to their ears in money, those people say this is only the beginning.

This trend is inevitable, the predictions go. It has already begun with several top English clubs having been bought by enormously rich individuals, all foreigners, and more want in before it is too late.

And when you look at Real Madrid having spent $250 million for just two players (Ronaldo and Kaka) they are looking to get their money back rather sooner than later.

It will come to a point, the projectors say, that the top clubs in Europe will simply split away from UEFA and FIFA, form their own league and run their own show as do all the big pro leagues in the USA.

And they’ll do that mainly for business reasons, and most of all, get their hands on all the money available, not only 70 or 80 percent.

At this time, UEFA or FIFA, depending on the type of competition, is pocketing 20 percent and more of the available funds to finance their own organization and support such worthy cases as developing the sport in underdeveloped countries, amateur level etc.

You can see how much escapes the big clubs when UEFA budget for the current season set aside some $400 million to run its own organization out of a pot of some $1.7 billion available from television, sponsors and other marketing projects.

This amount is particularly remarkable in this season of a major recession where nobody is said to have any liquid funds to spare.

This year’s budget is an increase of 33 percent over last year and the figures are projected to rise in leaps and bounds.

This season, the 32 elite clubs in the Champions League group stage are guaranteed $ 11 million each before play even starts. On top of that each victory pays $1.2 million and a tie $600,000. This payout increases until the winner of the final gets an extra $14 million for the title game while the runner up has to make do with $8 million.

Winners of the competition are looking at $50 million overall and that does not count home TV rights, home field ticket sales and sale of merchandise.

Top clubs already can pocket more than $100 million a year from all operations. Some even make more than $150 million. But that doesn’t seem to be enough as more resources seem to be untapped.

Last year’s winner FC Barcelona earned a total of $50 million from its Champions League play alone while runner up Manchester United got even more, namely $ 60 million. That is because the home television market in England is much richer than the one in Spain.

Now if the top clubs in Europe could break lose from UEFA and do their own marketing, they could easily pocket another $10 $20 or $30 million per club (always in 2009 perspective, but a lot more in future years) and believe me, if the super rich smell the money on the table they don’t want to share it with some organization that is only a nuisance to them.

Naturally UEFA and FIFA will fight like hell to prevent this sort of scenario because, if and when it happens, they will be reduced to rather meaningless organizations looking after amateur and minor league affairs which do not generate any funds and still cost money to operate..

And if the breakaway clubs have their own way they might even refuse to provide players for the World Cup and that could put FIFA in a major bind.

But let’s assume the clubs are cooperating and provide their stars for the World Cup. They’ll probably charge FIFA through the nose for their services.

Of course one major question would be: what about promotion and relegation?

Well, that will likely be abandoned because once a club is in the fold its entire budget depends on its membership in the big league and its owners will not enjoy being shut out from the trough if their club finishes poorly.

One could see some clubs folding and others coming in via the purchase of a new franchise, but relegation?

Unlikely.

At this time everything is still in limbo and will be for some time to come. But an attempt to break loose was made some nine years ago by the continents top 14 clubs, at the time called the G14.

FIFA was barely able to block that move by vastly improving the payout for the Champions League and offering other perks. But the problem will not go away. Question is how long FIFA can control the situation.