Les 10 clubs qui annonceront le retour de la Super League aujourd’hui :

🇪🇸 Real Madrid
🇪🇸 FC Barcelone
🇪🇸 Atlético
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester United
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester City
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chelsea
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool
🇮🇹 Inter
🇮🇹 AC Milan
🇮🇹 Juventus

(@voz_populi)

— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) March 3, 2022

not shocked at all. the clubs want to cut out UEFA.

Ignorant question since I've only followed soccer closely for the past 6 years or so… has there always been a monumental lack of parity in club quality/valuation or is this something that has escalated in the last 20-30 years?

Considering things in terms of club valuation… ManU we're worth $4.65B last May, but Burnley worth only $180M. Furthermore there's a massive gulf between #6 Spurs at $2.3B and #7 Everton at $525M.

It's not surprising that #6 is worth half of #1… I might expect relatively similar numbers in college football, but it's absolutely stunning that #7 is worth 1/4 of #6.

And the EPL is best case… the difference between 1 and 6 in other leagues is monumentally worse… and I can't imagine how laughably bad the valuation of bottom teams are compared to RM, Bayern, or PSG.

I get the anger at the ravaging of historical systems, but at what point do we have to admit that the current systems are broken because the top teams are too good? (Same question needs to be asked in college football IMO) And how can you even attempt to fix it when the rich teams can always threaten to pack up and go elsewhere? (Again, similar to college football).

I certainly don't know the answers, and as I've stated in past discussions of this topic - I don't want any super league system that doesn't also have robust promotion/relegation… but I can't help but feel like all the leagues would be more competitive and might actually generate more money for teams "left behind" if the elite teams had a super league of their own. I fully realize I'm a dummy and am probably wrong, but it seems wildly unfair to let clubs that perennially have UEFA competition money compete in the same leagues against teams that don't.

Interesting questions. I wouldn't compare valuations of professional soccer clubs to college football, though - seems an apples to oranges comparison.

Couple of thoughts on the matter. One, you're talking about what amounts to entertainment and merchandising enterprises. The most valuable clubs are WAY ahead of the rest of the competition in terms of merchandising their product, and have true global reach (ManU, Real, Barca, PSG, Bayern, etc). That has to have some impact on club valuations.

Second, how much does the threat of relegation impact a club's value? I don't know, but it certainly has to devalue a club like Norwich or Burnley, or any of the MANY other clubs under threat of relegation year-in and year-out. Most soccer clubs are break-even prospects, at best, and many are under constant threat of bankruptcy. There are some good books out there that delve into that topic.

The NFL, NBA and MLB in the US are monopolies. When you have one of the several dozen businesses that operate in that monopoly, values would tend to be elevated, no?

carl spacklers hat said:

---

Interesting questions. I wouldn't compare valuations of professional soccer clubs to college football, though - seems an apples to oranges comparison.

Couple of thoughts on the matter. One, you're talking about what amounts to entertainment and merchandising enterprises. The most valuable clubs are WAY ahead of the rest of the competition in terms of merchandising their product, and have true global reach (ManU, Real, Barca, PSG, Bayern, etc). That has to have some impact on club valuations.

Second, how much does the threat of relegation impact a club's value? I don't know, but it certainly has to devalue a club like Norwich or Burnley, or any of the MANY other clubs under threat of relegation year-in and year-out. Most soccer clubs are break-even prospects, at best, and many are under constant threat of bankruptcy. There are some good books out there that delve into that topic.

The NFL, NBA and MLB in the US are monopolies. When you have one of the several dozen businesses that operate in that monopoly, values would tend to be elevated, no?

---

So there's a good documentary on Leeds from when they got purchased a few years ago, I think it's called Leeds United: Take Us Home, should be on Amazon. They were in The Championship at the time, the second tier of English soccer. They said in that show that the difference between the EPL and The Championship is $100MM a year in revenue. They were bought by an Italian businessman, this was all part of the valuation equation, where are they now, and what does it take to get to the next level because revenue plummets or skyrockets depending on whether you get relegated or promoted.

A more apt comparison for the states would be if college football instituted relegation. What if the SEC dropped the lowest team each year and brought in someone else? Sorry Vanderbilt, you've been relegated to the AAC, next season Cincinnati will take your place. Vanderbilt revenue is crippled, Cincinnati's skyrockets.

I was against the super league before, and that hasn't changed. The issue with all the most valuable teams in England is they aren't owned by anyone in the UK. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U, and Man City are all owned by non-Brits. I don't know about what happened in the other countries involved before but there was a huge blowback in England, the owners backed out immediately because the fans were really against it. It also completely ruins what they've all been so used to. It ruins the EPL, the Champions League, and the other leagues.

I don't think the English clubs would do it, even if the clubs from France, Spain, Italy, and Germany did.