TIME EUROPE
June 5, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 22
The Money Game
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In some cases, big money has been a godsend. In Germany, UFA Sport, a rights marketing company, recently resurrected Hertha Berlin from the brink of extinction with a $15 million cash infusion that it hopes to earn back through increased advertising commissions. In Britain, money has also helped to transform the game from decline to boom. This was precipitated, oddly, by the fallout from the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy in Sheffield when 95 fans were crushed to death against wire cages designed to contain spectators. Afterwards clubs were forced by law to convert their stadiums into all-seat venues, which drew new fans — including women and families — who no longer had to run the gauntlet of the sometimes unruly standing-room areas.
If such changes make soccer better to watch they can only be applauded, but commentators think some of the forces now entering the game the English devised in 1863, and which is now played in 202 countries, are driven by greed, not love of sport. "Are those most active in football today in it for the football, or the money?" asks Michel Platini, French former football star and now an adviser to Sepp Blatter, president of the game's world governing body, fifa. Adds Taylor: "There's a sense that some people are looking at something that took 100 years to build and saying to themselves, 'We'll take what we want, and then we'll move off.'"
The advent of private television contracts in the 1980s brought a major flush of money to football, but the commercial tidal wave that some fans fear might drown their game got much bigger after a 1995 decision by the European Court of Justice. Known as the Bosman ruling — after Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman, who sued football authorities and his Belgian club when it blocked his transfer to a team in France — the decision guaranteed the free movement of all footballers within the European Union, and removed transfer fees for players no longer under contract. It enabled big clubs to snap up high-profile foreign names rather than local talent, and players in turn moved to wealthy leagues from poorer ones.
A glance at English side Chelsea, which last month won England's F.A. Cup, shows the effect — the only British-born player to start the game was captain Dennis Wise. The rest of the team included players from Italy, the Netherlands, and several members of the French national side that won the World Cup in 1998.
The reverberations of this are felt far from the big clubs and the big leagues. Belgium may be just about to host some of Euro 2000, but virtually every member of its national team plays in a foreign league. "When I was a kid, I used to identify myself with a player on my team and follow his every move," says Bruno Delbart, 31, a supporter of Brussels-based Division One side Anderlecht. "You can't do that anymore, because players come and go."
Recently Platini has been looking for support for a FIFA-sponsored "6+5" proposal, a measure that would require Europe's professional clubs to field at least six home-grown players. The idea is to preserve the character of national play in each country, and to provide a home market for local talent. "There are attractions to having foreign players," says Derek Foster, chairman of Britain's Education and Employment Select Committee, "but it restricts opportunities for our young players to play at the highest level, and restricts choice for the coaches of our national sides." Cynics might argue that the proposal would strengthen national competitions while weakening club competitions. Few people believe the Bosman ruling can be reversed. Marie-Georges Buffet, France's Minister of Sports, has said she will pursue the matter when France assumes the E.U. presidency in July, but any restriction on players will likely fall foul of the principle of professional freedom of movement.
Despite these expressions of concern, most countries have become caught up in the competitive whirlpool. France itself has recently introduced legislation allowing clubs greater business freedom. Some Spanish clubs will be permitted to float on the stock exchange from 2002. In Italy, current Serie A champion Lazio listed in May 1998, and its sister club Roma went public last month. English clubs long ago set the precedent: Tottenham Hotspur listed publicly in 1983, and 10 others have since followed suit.
Clubs looking for new sources of revenue are realizing that the big money is to be made playing away from home. In 1998, UEFA revamped the format and finances of its Champions League in response to threats of a breakaway European super league. Part of the new deal was that clubs would take home far more money for playing in pan-European competitions. Real Madrid, which won the first final of the updated competition by defeating fellow Spanish side Valencia last month, will take home about $32 million, much of it from broadcasting rights. This new focus on Europe inevitably lowers interest in domestic competitions. "The team which plays games against foreign clubs is a very good one," says Victor Murillo, a Real Madrid fan, "but the [same] one which plays most of our league and cup games has been dreadful." Both fans and administrators are complaining that, in an already crowded fixture schedule, top clubs only bring out star players for European games.
As greater revenues from European contests pour in, the clubs at the top are likely to stay at the top, reinforcing a wealth divide common in many domestic leagues. Big clubs dominate, mid-level clubs potter along, and yo-yo clubs bounce back and forth between divisions under the strain of constant relegation and promotion. And things are probably going to get worse for the small fry: in some leagues where revenues are shared among clubs, the larger ones are trying to secure more of the pie. In egalitarian France, the six teams competing in European tournaments are arguing that the collective system should be dropped to allow clubs to negotiate directly with broadcasters.
With television rights deals so crucial, and match day receipts waning in importance, where does the traditional fan now come in the pecking order? "The most important policy question for European soccer," says Szymanski, "is, 'What is the exchange rate of a couch potato for a diehard fan?'"
But without the diehard fan, will another vicious circle start drawing itself? Will broadcasters still want to cover games if instead of singing and spectacle their cameras pan vast banks of empty seats? "Everything that has happened in the past few years is taking us toward virtual football," says Lucio Caracciolo, a fan of Roma. "But you can't have football without the public."
The word fan is an abbreviation of fanatic. In Italy, fans are known as tifosi, as in people in the grip of typhus-induced delirium. "It's like the relationship you have with a crack dealer," says Szymanski. "You're addicted." But even drug dealers know that if you cut the product too much, the clients eventually go elsewhere for their kicks.
With reporting by Greg Burke/Rome, Bruce Crumley/Paris, James Graff/Brussels, Jane Walker/Madrid and Steve Zwick/Cologne
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June 5, 2000
COVER
Baby, It's Cold Outside
Tony Blair gave birth to a new Labour Party, but the Prime Minister's promise of a "modern Britain" is going to take much longer to deliver
New Kid on the Block
An open letter to Leo Blair, Britain's youngest celebrity
EUROPE
A Difficult Performance
David Trimble squeezes a close vote from his party to rejoin Northern Ireland's government
All Quiet on the Eastern Front
A decade after the end of the cold war, Germany plans to revamp its army
Guilt by Association
In an apparent postwar payback, a Serbian court jails a group of Kosovo Albanians for "terrorism"
MIDDLE EAST
Courage under Fire
In a defining moment, Prime Minister Ehud Barak makes good on his promise to withdraw Israeli troops from southern Lebanon
The Time Had Come To End a Tragedy
Israel's Prime Minister insists that withdrawing from Lebanon will not harm security, and he warns against a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state
AFRICA
Showdown to Savagery
After Ethiopian forces blitz their way into Eritrea, a bloody two-year war may be closer to its conclusion
Hope Springs Internal
African women may be the key to saving the chaotic continent
BUSINESS
The Money Game
Even as football's cup runneth over, there is a growing sense of unease among fans that riches may ruin their sport
For Love and Money
Why shouldn't a top-level footballer earn as much as an actor does?
Fertile Fields
Movers and takers
Beenz Counters
An upstart firm tries to make its new product the first legal tender of the World Wide Web
The New European Challenge
E.U. firms must grasp the opportunities of an expanding home market
THE ARTS
Dark Victory
At Cannes this year, the jury danced with Björk, but some fine Asian films made a lasting impression
The Art of Science
The eclectic but elegant Musée des arts et métiers reopens in Paris after a decade-long restoration
DEPARTMENTS
Techwatch
World Watch
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