CUSTOMER SERVICE
The failed attempt to set up the European Super League that would have had permanent members proved that, as fans like the ones pictured above outside Chelsea’s Stanford Bridge grounds, came together to protest the plan. It was the main story on the nightly news in Britain for three days, and it was the main football story the day Spurs fired manager, Jose Mourinho.
The thing is, the proposed arrangement made perfect business sense for the 12 teams that organised the league, especially after a year of empty seats and cancelled matches had plunged 11 of them into debt. And it would have brought football in line with the way most professional sports are run… including county cricket and rugby in the UK and all the American leagues, where the same teams compete every year.
But don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying I liked the idea of doing away with promotion and relegation battles and the need to qualify for Europe’s top competition. That would have been bad for the fans and bad for the teams outside the new league. But guaranteed places would have more than tripled the value of the permanent clubs.
That’s because businesses with unpredictable incomes are worth about five times their average annual earnings, while ones with steady incomes sell for nearly 20 times their yearly takings.
In the current system, however, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan and England’s big six struggle to plan for the future because they don’t know how much money will be coming in until near the end of the season.
And sometimes it comes down to the last day because qualifying for the
Champions League can more than double earnings. Normally, the Spanish and Italian teams mentioned make it, but there are only four places for English teams so each year at least two of the big six miss out.
So understandably, the businessmen at Man City, Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal wanted to lock in the profits, even if it meant making the top leagues around Europe less interesting.
But as we have seen, football is different from other sports where fans often support their clubs at all costs. Many UK fans support a football team in the Premier league and also follow lower league clubs that they would like to see win promotion to higher divisions. So, even the supporters of the big six opposed the move that would have locked their teams into big money and insured they would be playing against the most famous teams in Europe every year.
The Super League organisers didn’t expect that. They also failed to appreciate that most supporters believe they have a say in how their teams are run… even if they don’t directly pay the bills.
But then again, football is entertainment, and the only reason anyone makes money from it is that fans are willing to pay to watch matches. So, just like in any other business, the owners have to keep their customers happy.
The odd thing is, to do that, professional football team owners have to keep the competition’s customers happy as well.
Strange business indeed.