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fans' opinion on the Importance of money in pro foorball.
| Football, commercialisation and the fans |
jay1992
Posts: 1
Joined: 04 March 2013
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Mar 04, 2013 23:33
fans' opinion on the Importance of money in pro foorball. I'm currently in my third year of study at Cardiff Met university and for my dissertation I'm looking into the effect commercialisation has had on football and if the importance of money and the need to make money from football and the fans in particular is having a negative effect in any way?
Because i am mainly focusing on the thought and opinions of fans on the matter I felt that using forums was the best way to go about researching the question Im trying to answer.
Which is - Is the need to make money, and the importance of money and profit to Professional Footballers and Clubs ruining the game?
Is the cost of supporting your team driving you away from the matches and supporting your club as much as you might have in the past?
And finally if the competitivity that english football is famous for being demolished by the success of clubs that are increasing their success rates through the use of financial backing?
Any replies would be great.
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dlw10
Posts: 1187
Joined: 14 September 2011
Location: Stoke on Trent
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Mar 05, 2013 00:05
Some huge questions you have set yourself there! It is very difficult to answer any of the questions simply.
For what it is worth my own view is that money full stop is ruining the game. From the point of view of competition, we have the example of the Premiership where everyone knows it is impossible to compete at the highest level without huge financial backing. It is hard to see any club winning it these days without a multi billionaire individual or corporate body funding it, that inevitably limits the competitivity of the league.
The pull of the financial weight of the top Premiership clubs also means that even those clubs that do not actually have the wherewithall to compete financially are going out on a limb to at least stay in the Premiership - the loss of income resulting from relegation is so great, even with the parachute payments, that clubs simply have to borrow money they do not have to keep their noses in the Premiership trough. The knock on effect then runs down through every other level of football such that the best players, players who consider themselves able to play at Prem level, just cannot be held by Championship clubs...unless those clubs gamble that by paying "Prem" level wages, they can keep those top players and win a place at the top table. This is the dilema our own club has had for the last few years when the owners did not have the finacial clout to keep several top players without gambling they would get to the Prem - so far neither Bates nor in the short time we have had them, GFH,have been prepared to take that gamble. Some clubs have, albeit usually the ones that have billionaire type owners who can actually afford to lose the gamble.
I personally hate how money now dominates every aspect of the game. Until ones own club lands a wealthy owner, you really have to settle on trying to tread water staying in the league you are in, as you can't compete. There will always be a few clubs that through pure chance or brilliant management can move up a division, but it is becomming rare.
Another aspect is how the fundamental problem of the ridiculous amounts of money being paid to footballers at all levels is crushing the clubs. It amazes me how so few clubs have disappeared - although I know the reason is the stupid rules on insolvency and administration, particularly in respect of football clubs. Those rules mean that it is the non football creditors who are footing the bill all the time. Every time a club goes bust, new owners come along (usually folk who have not long before been involved with another club in difficulties) and pick up the bust club for next to nothing. In fact as long as they can raise the money to pay off the football creditors, that is actually all they need! The richest folk in the jigsaw (the players) never lose a penny! Meanwhile the prices the fans are being asked to pay to try to fund the highest wages possible to try to attract the best players possible are getting to ridiculous levels. The hope must be that now that some tickets prices are getting so high that fans literally cannot afford them (£62 for Man City Fans to go to the Emirates) maybe someone will see the light! Again Leeds showed how important pricing is recently when, having struggled to get 19 and 20 thousand for home league games GFH introduced a £15 adult ticket and a £5 junior ticket for a recent game v Blackpool on a cold Wednesday night. We got our biggest home league gate of the season! It is a shame we fans dont get to see all the figures but most of us assume that if you can get folk through the door they will then spend a fortune on programmes, food, drinks, the club shop, car parking, etc etc. Against that we have to remember that the gate receipts are no longer the biggest part of the income for a football club - certainly not in the higher leagues anyway. It is generally only something like a third. The biggest element at the top level is the TV money and then advertising and commercial revenues, sponsorship and the like.
So, good luck with your project! Loads to think about!I am sure your questions will spark the usual thoughtful debate on this forum and it may be worth you scanning through the topics we have covered before to see if there is anything useful for you.
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zigzag
Posts: 12
Joined: 14 November 2012
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Mar 06, 2013 10:19
I must agree that money is ruining the game, but that ruination is exaggerated towards the upper levels, i.e. the Premier League.
Now I’m going to sound like a heretic here and I fully expect punishment from the board, but such ruination of the game is why I enjoy being in the Championship and really, other than to rub peoples noses in it, have no desire to return to the PL.
Money now dominates the PL, and as said above, realistically very few teams now have a chance of winning, and such a gap gets ever wider. Consequently the competitiveness declines and there are now leagues within leagues, the annual relegation battle is far more exciting and closely fought than the battle for the crown. Contrast that with the Championship, and whilst there are clubs who can and have spent big amounts (Leicester & Hull spring to mind) there is still a much higher degree of competitiveness, any team can beat any other on the day, and it takes a brave man to predict who the top 4 or 5 will be - in the PL thats not the case. In short, due to the relative absence of money the lower leagues are more competitive, and as a result are more compelling to watch.
To me the quality of sportsmanship and endeavour, or cheating if you like, is more pronounced in the top flight than the lower leagues. The PL attracts many more foreign players with their continental ways, diving, going down at the slightest touch, staying down in order for the ref to blow and deny the other team the advantage then being ok, arguing with the officials etc. This doesn’t happen to the same degree lower down, if a bloke stays down he’s usually hurt etc. Lower level football is much more akin to what I grew up watching in the 70s/80s, teams broadly made up of UK players, with the odd one or two foreign 'stars', with a much more honest brand of football being played. Why is there a distinction between the PL and others, money can be one reason in two forms, the need for clubs to stay in the PL heightens the need to win at all costs, the need to attract skill at an affordable rate (by lower clubs at least) in order to maintain their top flight status leads to an influx of cheaper foreign players with foreign ways and means.
To fuel this need to stay at, or arrive at, the top table players are able to demand astronomical wages. Yes these can be funded by sugar daddies, by TV money, but they are also funded by the fans. In my view, and again this is more evident at top level, that the cost of a matchday is becoming increasingly unaffordable (more so if it involves a family going). The inevitable result is that a fan will still spend the same over a season supporting their team, but with higher prices will go to fewer games. This could lead to lower gates, which reduces atmosphere, which reduces the attractiveness of the product on offer, which etc. etc. etc. This would then affect the TV audience - we all prefer watching a game with a full house crowd generating atmosphere rather than see acres of bare plastic. If the TC product becomes less attractive then less TV money, etc. etc., a downward spiral and the danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
And finally, BUT, and this is a big big BUT, the one thing that football has going for it against all this doom gloom and the pursuit of the dollar is that it isn’t like any other business. We the fans are loyal to our clubs for life, we will always be there, no matter what happens. What other business has the same ability to generate such blind brand loyalty (hate applying that to football - but in a hardnosed business sense its true).
Last edited by: zigzag
- Mar 06, 2013 10:28.
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