1. this is per club since MLS is so big 2. if they keep spending at the level of the big five, they have to catch up sooner or later right? 3. Leagues 2-5 seem to be stagnating or in decline or having financial problems while the Premier League zooms ahead (financially speaking)... but then the UK economy seemingly goes from one disaster to another post-Brexit, currently in a recession unlike the EU... US on the other hand consistently has higher economic growth rates than all those other countries. 4. I'm guessing MLS valuations are rising faster than any of the big five leagues, aside from maybe the Premier League. Forbes: "Since 2019, the average MLS team’s valuation has climbed 85% to $579 million." We know at the top Chivas USA / LAFC went from $7.5 million expansion fee in 2005, to bought back by MLS for $70 million in 2015, to LAFC paying a $110 million expansion fee in 2018, to a $1 billion valuation in 2023... LAFC is now value higher than 14/20 Premier League clubs, so all but the big six.
A lot of top teams are in financial trouble and will drag their leagues down when they fail. Juve just did in Serie A and will have a hard or impossible time trying to make CL now. Barcelona has been in debt and payroll hell for a while now and it sure seems a hard landing will happen sometime. What happens to Everton if they drop? The French league lost their main sponsor ?TV revenue about a year ago. Did they get another?
Three years ago, a stake sale in LAFC valued the club at $700 million. Forbes' $1 billion valuation estimation then seems reasonable. Report: LAFC valued at US$700m in minority stake sale - SportsPro (sportspromedia.com)
It is sort of insane how much the EPL has surpassed the other top 5 leagues when it comes to spending Net balance (income v expenditure) on transfers this season: Ligue 1 🇫🇷 + €93.82mBundesliga 🇩🇪 +€44.93mSerie A 🇮🇹 +€25.95mLa Liga 🇪🇸 -€53.77mPremier league 🏴 -€2.07b— Stefan Bienkowski (@SBienkowski) February 1, 2023 It's a whole different stratosphere at this point, though Chelsea definitely skews the numbers a bit. 💸 Premier League clubs spent record £815m in January💷 £275m spent on deadline day alone💰 Chelsea (£290m) biggest spenders🏧 Bournemouth (£50m) still paid out more than whole of La Liga📝 @PJBuckingham— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) February 1, 2023
The EPL has simply monetized so much better than everywhere else, especially in Asia. The British Empire plus a smattering of American economic dominance (English as a common language) plus the EPL being aggressive and outward looking means they grabbed a first mover that they won't ever have to give up if they aren't dumb. Germany has opted out of the race with 50+1 and a culture of not trying to optimize financials. Italy was well-poised as the dominant league, but between things like Calciopoli and a cultural insularness (Serie A is for Italians) they have fallen irrevocably behind. Barca and Real are holding Spain up, and that's the impetus for the Super League. They can stay up, but the league, which was better than the EPL five years ago, really can't compete consistently past them unless they sell out. Oil Sheiks and rich Americans and the such. I don't love the idea of a Super League, but I understand the drive for it outside of England. At some point, the other leagues are watching themselves fall behind. Some are more okay with it than others.
It’s interesting to me that this has all happened during a period where the UK overall is struggling economically (they are the only G7 member with an economy smaller than it was prior to the pandemic and the average British family is now less well off than the average Slovenian one and on pace to have an lower average standard of living than a Polish one by the end of the decade). But as you’ve noted, they’ve been very good at really beating other leagues to the punch when it comes to international rights. Real Madrid has the advantage of being Real Madrid and people wanting to go there for that reason, but they can’t they really compete spending wise. Barcelona has that same advantage, and has tried to keep up financially. But it’s led to them basically having bankrupt the club and sold off a good chunk of their future earnings. We’re now at the point that Bournemouth, a team that is likely to be relegated, is outbidding the current Italian champions for players (as happened this window). It’s not sustainable for the rest of Europe and why the Super League might come around again at some point. Otherwise we’ll get to the point where there is a Super League and it’s just the EPL.
The top divisions of Spain, Italy, England, and Germany have each had periods of dominance. The current England period too shall pass.
I see we read the same article or follow the same account on Twitter (the bit about Slovenia -> Poland)... the difference is that the Premier League is truly international and thus insulated from the economic situation in the UK. If I remember correctly, at the time the Bundesliga first put an office in the US, there was a news article about how the Premier League made more money from their broadcast deal in Singapore than the Bundesliga did for all foreign (outside Germany) deals... Edit: On a related note, my friend is going to a conference in Puerto Rico and we tried to guess how it compared in per capita GDP to other countries... it's well below the poorest US state (Miss) but around Spain / Poland / Portugal / Russia. I doubt San Juan would be one of the top 50 most desirable North American markets for MLS.
I'm not following your point. We just saw the CONCACAF Champions play the 9th Austrian BL squad in a tune up friendly for both sides. It ended 0-0. We will see Seattle play the top CAF team tomorrow in the Club World Cup. Those are real matches and real data points. Most of the "relative quality of league" discussions on BS are just mastrubation exercises with little basis in reality.
Some of that is just English, right? India, China, Japan, etc. the Middle East, they are more likely to know English than Spanish or Italian. Some of that is that the English were really the people to propagate the sport around the world, too. There's a reason why it is River Plate and not Rio Plata. So I think they got the edge and leaned in. The lean in to money is everywhere. Most of these countries would not approve some of these sales to foreigners or there would be outcry. Hell, fans in Germany get mad when the league proposes having games on other days to increase the media (a la American Football) -- nope, major outcry? Like who complains about that? There is a beauty in this sport in that in 1985 or whatever, it wasn't all about money. But the reality is with anything that isn't ruined by money ... it eventually will be. The people who want money and power always corrupt it... and if you try to fight it, you almost inevitably lose. It's sad, but reality. Once a league tried conquering the world, you needed to compete or get lost behind. The rest of the leagues moved too slowly. I think they can compete, but being a club, they can't screw up. They don't have the reserves to throw money in if they make a number of mistakes. The La Liga media deal also basically gives them disproportionate cash, while the EPL is more evenly shared. This keeps Real/Barca in play, but keeps the rest of the league lower.
Well the Club World Cup match tomorrow morning is on FS2 so don't miss it. JP played for the B team that lost to Hammarby 2-3 so he hopefully should be available for minutes if not the start.
I think this is a short sided mistake. Sharing makes all of the teams stronger which in the long run is better for leagues and their teams. Same reason the big American leagues are healthy and yes MLS copied them and is financially strong for it. If you are selling a league around the world which is more popular the one with two great teams that play each other twice a year or one with six to seven contenders and weaker teams that can still rise up and knock off the favorites? EPL chose the latter and La Liga the former.
I assume this is the article (or at least where i read it) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/opinion/uk-economic-decline-nhs.html
The EPL also has a much larger domestic deal than any of the other European leagues. This is why I wonder about the impact of the decline of the UK economy and I think most of this financial edge goes back to the formation of the EPL itself. As English soccer was a very different place in the 80s and before. In terms of international rights, I think the EPL has also just been more forward thinking and some of the other European leagues (like Serie A) have had restrictions in how they can sell their rights abroad that haven't been helpful. COVID has also exacerbated some of these financial disparities. But I do agree there is probably some sort of residual effect that is linked to the history of British colonialism around the world. This has been reduced somewhat, so it's not as disproportionate as it used to be. I believe there was actually a Spanish law passed that required La Liga to do so. I think the thing with Real Madrid is they've still been able to sign guys who had EPL options recently (Tchouameni and Camavinga) just because the attraction of playing for Real Madrid. They've also had some generational guys come through (Modric, Benzema, and Kroos for instance) where they've been able to be much more careful with their spending and still be very good. They also got rid of Ronaldo at almost exactly the right time to do so. They've been smart with their decision making and can continue to compete if they continue to be smart. Barcelona on the other hand has sort of gone in the opposite direction, and while it's served them well this season in the league, I'd worry about their long term future. But neither are in the position of an AC Milan, who are the league champions and losing guys to Bournemouth.
Part of this is the culture around it. The EPL has been willing to basically farm out EPL rights to the highest bidder and make fans pay through the nose for it. If you get all the services, I think it is well north of 350-400 pounds to get everything. In Germany, that'd never be allowed with the domestic league. People would riot to have to pay that much, and they wouldn't pay it. And as much as the English economy is struggling, Spain and Italy are usually not in better shape.
The Sounders XI today in the #FIFAClubWorldCup pic.twitter.com/6M3sDqcNyp— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 4, 2023
There were hints of Jackson Ragen over Arreaga, which if it isn't based on potential movement, is impressive for Ragen. But Atencio over Paolo is another American taking over the spot of a well-respected Sounder. Maybe Paolo isn't quite healthy yet, but good luck! Five players eligible for the USMNT, and five players developed in the US, though a difference five (Alex Roldan and Stefan Frei).
I don't have a great feeling about this. I'd love to be wrong. Al Ahly looked pretty sharp, at least in highlights. Whereas Sounders are still in preseason, if that. And I don't get how Seattle didn't fortify for this comp. Now they're taking a couple flyers. From our standpoint, we can learn some things about players. But the big test is obviously if they can get thru to Real Madrid. I'd have probably preferred for it to be Palmeiras instead of Madrid. Then they could have realistically played both.
Yep, the first team has had one scrimmage, so I think the biggest thing is getting through the first half hour.
Seattle looks great. They are very quick, aggressive, and running their stuff. The game plan is spot on, pressure the Barca tika-taka wannabes!
The British economy is more capitalistic than the continent. There are attributes of most of the leagues in continental Europe that are oriented towards things other than making money. That’s some of it.
Well, I gave Al Ahly too much credit. They're pretty bad. Unfortunately the Sounders haven't been much better. Slow, unclear thought processes and poor touches. Need to be a lot better to be respectable against Madrid, if they get thru this one. So far Atencio is the standout, of our Yanks. Our vets haven't covered themselves in glory.