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English fans pool cash to buy their own soccer team
As more billionaires buy out clubs, raising ticket prices, fans are gathering online to take back the game.
from the June 8, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Liverpool alone, for example, reports that it has 28 million registered fans worldwide.
But English soccer may not be the cash cow that US investors hope it to be.
Costs can exhaust the deepest pockets and revenues plummet if you get relegated to a lower division, notes Rory Miller, an expert in the financing of soccer at Liverpool John Moores University.
"In this country, you don't have salary caps, and you have to invest in academies because you don't have the college system from which to recruit," he says.
Take Leeds United. It was once a high-flying club that reached the semifinal of the European Champions League just seven years ago. Now it is relegated to the third-tier league.
A better business model
Experts expect the new US owners (the Glazers at Manchester United, Hicks and Gillett at Liverpool, and Lerner at Aston Villa) to try new ideas to boost revenues. Merchandising (selling items with team logos) is close to the saturation point in England, but there may be growth potential overseas, they say.
And there are always match innovations to try. An English soccer match is a far briefer experience than, say, a baseball game; it's over in less than two hours.
But owners could try ramping up match-day retail sales and securing better deals for naming rights, an area in which US investors bring considerable experience.
But the popularity of Brooks's myfootballclub.co.uk reflects the concern that the arrival of astute US businessmen will pull the sport further away from its working-class roots. [Editor's note: The original version misstated the web address of the site.]
Ticket prices are rising sharply; the average premiership game costs £35, practically a day's take-home pay for someone on minimum wage.
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