Introduce a salary cap to football to reintroduce competition in a level playing field
Introduce a salary cap to football to reintroduce competition in a level playing field
The Issue
The recent events surrounding the proposed instigation of a "Super League" should have made it very clear that finances in football at the highest level are being horrifically mismanaged and are putting the wider game at risk.
The governing bodies, along with owners/chairmen/presidents of certain clubs have allowed the game to arrive at a situation where they can erroneously claim football is somehow broken and needs to be fixed. Of course, they need only look in a mirror to find the true cause of the majority of problems in football.
These men now have so much power that they can threaten the very existence of football clubs outside their cabal of self-appointed "elite" clubs. And they have demonstrated they will do this without a second thought, solely for their own financial gain.
Salaries are the principal cause of clubs spending beyond their means. The percentage of wage expenditure to turnover is above 50% in each of Europe’s “big 5” leagues (1). Think about that for a second. All that money those clubs have, and they are using on average more than half of it (sometimes upwards of 70% (2)) for player wages alone. Bearing in mind the eye-watering amounts of money flowing in to football (3), this should alarm us fans. It impacts OUR clubs, and therefore US.
The money now involved in the game has caused opportunistic players, and their greedy agents, to become something of a black hole in football where money just gets sucked up. This illuminates their contempt for clubs and fans, as well as the irresponsibility of the people that run the clubs and sanction these deals.
If Florentino Perez and his peers are so upset about dwindling audiences and financial instability (4) maybe they should stop spending so much of their clubs’ money (the fans’ money) on player wages. We need the governing bodies and all members of the ECA to collude with fan groups to impose a salary cap in football. This will help Florentino and his mates run their clubs more sustainably since they obviously can’t do so themselves.
A hypothetical for your consideration: €50,000 per week is €2,600,000 per year. That is crazy money. Most people would be retired after a year of that salary. In addition, make it so players can't earn that much until they've been with a club for a set period of time. In this situation, not only do players still get rich, we've also incentivised loyalty, reduced wage expenditure, and potentially removed agents from contract discussions. Remember, all players actually have to do is stay fit, understand tactics, and kick a ball around. Does that really warrant the kinds of wages that are bleeding our clubs dry? The kinds of wages that could bring countless families out of poverty? (5)
Allow players and their agents to go and get all the sponsorship deals they want. Better still, train young players to become their own agents, custodians of their own finances, and do away with the necessity for these disdainful leeches in our game. (6)
This is an easily attainable solution and would end the necessity for any kind of “Super League” as a financial saviour of these irresponsibly run clubs and, bigger picture, would greatly enhance the game as we know it by introducing a more level playing field, simultaneously safe-guarding the future of all clubs outside of this small, self-serving, and openly destructive group.
The time has come for a salary cap.
Please note, I am not at all attacking the great fans of any of these historic, footballing institutions. All fans are equal. Please respect those who are greatly effected by these decisions, but are just as powerless as the rest of us. Leave the tribalism aside. Come together to make a change.
Sources:
2 https://en.as.com/en/2018/01/17/football/1516210881_006124.html
5 https://theentrepreneurtalk.com/top-10-highest-paid-football-players-in-the-world-in-2021/
253
The Issue
The recent events surrounding the proposed instigation of a "Super League" should have made it very clear that finances in football at the highest level are being horrifically mismanaged and are putting the wider game at risk.
The governing bodies, along with owners/chairmen/presidents of certain clubs have allowed the game to arrive at a situation where they can erroneously claim football is somehow broken and needs to be fixed. Of course, they need only look in a mirror to find the true cause of the majority of problems in football.
These men now have so much power that they can threaten the very existence of football clubs outside their cabal of self-appointed "elite" clubs. And they have demonstrated they will do this without a second thought, solely for their own financial gain.
Salaries are the principal cause of clubs spending beyond their means. The percentage of wage expenditure to turnover is above 50% in each of Europe’s “big 5” leagues (1). Think about that for a second. All that money those clubs have, and they are using on average more than half of it (sometimes upwards of 70% (2)) for player wages alone. Bearing in mind the eye-watering amounts of money flowing in to football (3), this should alarm us fans. It impacts OUR clubs, and therefore US.
The money now involved in the game has caused opportunistic players, and their greedy agents, to become something of a black hole in football where money just gets sucked up. This illuminates their contempt for clubs and fans, as well as the irresponsibility of the people that run the clubs and sanction these deals.
If Florentino Perez and his peers are so upset about dwindling audiences and financial instability (4) maybe they should stop spending so much of their clubs’ money (the fans’ money) on player wages. We need the governing bodies and all members of the ECA to collude with fan groups to impose a salary cap in football. This will help Florentino and his mates run their clubs more sustainably since they obviously can’t do so themselves.
A hypothetical for your consideration: €50,000 per week is €2,600,000 per year. That is crazy money. Most people would be retired after a year of that salary. In addition, make it so players can't earn that much until they've been with a club for a set period of time. In this situation, not only do players still get rich, we've also incentivised loyalty, reduced wage expenditure, and potentially removed agents from contract discussions. Remember, all players actually have to do is stay fit, understand tactics, and kick a ball around. Does that really warrant the kinds of wages that are bleeding our clubs dry? The kinds of wages that could bring countless families out of poverty? (5)
Allow players and their agents to go and get all the sponsorship deals they want. Better still, train young players to become their own agents, custodians of their own finances, and do away with the necessity for these disdainful leeches in our game. (6)
This is an easily attainable solution and would end the necessity for any kind of “Super League” as a financial saviour of these irresponsibly run clubs and, bigger picture, would greatly enhance the game as we know it by introducing a more level playing field, simultaneously safe-guarding the future of all clubs outside of this small, self-serving, and openly destructive group.
The time has come for a salary cap.
Please note, I am not at all attacking the great fans of any of these historic, footballing institutions. All fans are equal. Please respect those who are greatly effected by these decisions, but are just as powerless as the rest of us. Leave the tribalism aside. Come together to make a change.
Sources:
2 https://en.as.com/en/2018/01/17/football/1516210881_006124.html
5 https://theentrepreneurtalk.com/top-10-highest-paid-football-players-in-the-world-in-2021/
253
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Petition created on April 20, 2021