What's Wrong with Football?

In the summer of 2003, football's transformation from its hooligan-hell past to a kind of leisure-heaven seemed complete: The Football Association Premier League (FAPL) was in the final third of its three year, £1.1 billion TV deal with BSkyB; attendances were up across the professional game; the world's stars seemed to be queuing up to join English clubs, lured by the promise of sky-rocketing wages. Football equalled celebrity, fame, wealth and success. What could possibly go wrong?

Fast forward two years and it seems that at the highest level at least, football seems to have lost its nerve. Fears have grown about the popularity of the game, as some clubs report falling attendances. The product itself, the games that are served up as entertainment, are said at the FAPL level to be increasingly boring and uncompetitive. All but a handful of clubs seem to be more concerned with not losing their Premiership status, than providing a spectacle to paying fans.

TV is widely held responsible for the demise of the game at the highest level, with consumers and fans citing re-arranged kick-off times as one of their greatest annoyances. Clubs are accused of cashing in on the success of the game by hiking ticket prices beyond the reach of the traditional fan. Naturally, players themselves do not escape the criticism, being seen as remote from the paying spectators and unconcerned with the image of the game, as long as they continue to receive their five-figure weekly wages.

It appears that at the highest level of the professional game, this combination of over-exposure of football in the media, over-pricing of tickets at some clubs, and over-paid players are taking their toll on the appeal of the Premiership.

August 2003 was when Roman Abramovich bought himself a football club. Bankrolled by the Russian oligarch, Chelsea have moved to control the game in England like no club has ever done in the past. Chelsea's spending in pursuit of this goal has not been limited merely to assembling a squad of unrivalled strength. Chelsea have also secured the services of a series of individuals at the peak of their professions including the top coaches in Europe, the best medical services and fitness coaches, and the leading 'business brains'. It seems that no area of the club's activities has been left untouched by the revolution that has occurred at Chelsea.

Let's have a closer look at the concerns that many observers have about the professional game, particularly at the Premiership level and see if we can find out what's wrong with football.

Ticket prices

When ticket prices are compared to those charged by clubs before the dawn of the FAPL, the contrast is all too obvious. Recent articles in the British press have highlighted the growing gap between the costs of watching live top-level football in England and across Europe:

Football clubs' freedom to charge varying prices according to the opposition they face, has also come under scrutiny - not least by Sir Alex Ferguson. The Manchester United manager complained about Chelsea's policy of using price discrimination tactics. In so doing, though, Ferguson revealed his lack of understanding of UK competition policy and the work of the Office of Fair Trading:

One club domination

Has the Premiership really been brought to a state of crisis as a result of the success of oligarch-backed Chelsea FC? What about the domination of the top league in England enjoyed by Manchester United during the 1990s? Can we not compare Chelsea's threatened domination with that of Liverpool FC in the 1970s and 80s?

Perhaps the answer lies in the degree of financial superiority that Chelsea are able to boast? The following links are to news stories, which have surfaced about the many ways in which the club is able to exercise control over football, as a result of its financial power:

The broadcasters

Many observers of the game and, in particular, supporters have raised the impact of broadcasters on their enjoyment of the match day experience of watching football. Fans have pointed to the following practices that they find especially annoying:

The Premiership's chief executive, Richard Scudamore believes that the limit of TV exposure to football has been reached. The European Commission's (EC) response to the monopoly rights enjoyed by BSkyB to screen live football may in truth be the cause of the increase in live football on satellite TV screens. The EC believes that 'armchair' fans cannot enjoy enough Premiership matches. It wants a greater number of games made available to viewers.

Football fans in England may have suffered from recent changes to the game, but supporters seem happy elsewhere. © Andreas Just, Stock.Xchng

In other European countries such as Spain, France and Italy, every match is available on pay, pay-per-view or free-to-air TV. The EC says that the Premiership sells its product in an anti-competitive way, which breaks European law. See the Guardian story, Scudamore warns of TV overkill, for more. (http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1578209,00.html)

It seems that whichever way it looks, the Premiership is under attack. Critics of the game have one thing in common: fans, sponsors, broadcasters and the media have the power to change the environment in which the top level of English football operates. It may be just a matter of time before the clubs take proper notice of their changing market. It could take a dramatic reduction in Premiership revenues to force their hands. But either way there seems to be something wrong with football; and the problems won't go away quietly.

Activities

A Premiership football club charge £48 per ticket, with no concessions offered for junior, senior or disabled fans. Their attendance is 26,000, compared with its capacity of 35,000. Calculate the ticket revenue earned by the club.
What is the value of the ticket sales lost?
If tickets were priced at the following levels and the stadium was sold out, what would have been the revenue generated by the club?
- £30
- £35
- £40
At what level do you think this club should set its ticket prices? You should also bear in mind the following impacts on the club resulting from its actions:
- Effect on financial revenue
- Attractiveness of the club to its fans across the community
- The atmosphere in the club's ground
- The appeal of the club's fixtures to the broadcasters
Sir Alex Ferguson appears to believe that businesses are prevented from setting different prices for the same product as their local competitors. Find out more about competition law in the UK by carrying out a search on Biz/ed, using the search term 'competition law'.
Read the articles in the 'One club domination' section above. What action should Chelsea fans take in protest against ticket prices? Evaluate the likely impact of the protest action, given your answers to questions 3 and 4 above.
Why do you think there is such concern about the supposed decline in attendances at Premiership games? Is the reason any of the following?
- Football clubs' income
- Interest in the game from fans at the 'grassroots'
- Atmosphere within Premiership stadia
- Commercial interest in the game from sponsors
Write a short press release justifying the Premiership and BSkyB's agreement over the restricted number of live games shown on TV.

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At your Leisure - 03 October 2005