Raba- Unlike many other types of sports considered elitist, football (soccer) owes its popularity and success to the fact that it is commonly known as being the sport of the poor. However, this popularity turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing to the sport adored by millions, if not billions, throughout time and space.
The immense popularity of football and its huge following only caught the attention of business conglomerates sniffing around for promising opportunities to maximize their returns. Yet, if we can agree to the idea that the influx of money introduced by these companies has contributed largely to the improvement of football in too many aspects, we cannot agree with the fact that these deep-pocketed titans have hijacked the sport and turned it into a ruthless industry unaffordable to the sheer numbers of diehard fans who make its beating heart.
Contrary to all the principles it was built upon, football has now become more and more an industrialized, selective and expensive experience. Lifelong football aficionados are no longer capable of affording the soaring prices of tickets to watch games, and the broadcasters who own exclusive rights to football competitions followed by mass audiences such as the World Cup are putting significant barriers before the fans through outrageous subscription fees.
Media moguls, oil tycoons, sovereign wealth funds and sheikhs united behind the desire to diversify their portfolios are in quest for the next goose that will lay golden eggs. In this case, that goose is football. These investors all of a sudden figured out how investing in an untapped territory and lucrative business like football will make them even richer.
Roman Abramovich from Russia decided in 2003 to pump millions into a mid-table English team called Chelsea FC with a popularity that did not exceed its stronghold in London. The cash flow turned the Blues into a world class team that nowadays rivals the continent heavyweights like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and AC Milan.
Sheikh Mansour from the UAE followed the steps of Abramovich and took over Manchester City. The Sheikh started splashing hundreds of millions of pounds buying players with ridiculous weekly wages without worrying too much about defying or breaching financial fair play (FFP) regulations. The team won two Premier Leagues in the last three years and it is expected to more domination over English football in the years ahead.
Qatar, a small country with an unlimited oil and gas wealth, also followed the trend. Qatar bought the French team Paris Saint-Germain, spent couple hundreds of millions, and ever since PSG are the crowned champions of France’s Ligue 1.
Let’s admit it. The money has done few good things to the sport like signing more talented players, building beautiful stadiums, and snatching teams from relegation and bankruptcy. However, business and money have hijacked the sport from its main purpose, which is to remain fan-owned and not money-owned.
The money flow has turned football into a business rather than a sport and athletes into merchandise. Players now care about the lavish deals, the sponsorship contracts and they forgot about the attachment with the fans and the roles they should play in society. Football is no more about the values of sportsmanship and competitiveness. It is now a hostage in the hands of greedy businesses who only seek to maximize profits even at the expense of the most important part of any sport: the fans.
Recently we saw how Qatari-owned and funded beIN Sports won over the exclusive rights to broadcast first class football competitions, including the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
The company has made sure it puts technical and legal measures disallowing those who will hack into the content it provides making it almost impossible to watch the FIFA games or any other major league or tournament outside the beIN Sports realm.
Unfortunately the beIN monopoly will deprive millions of poor people in the Arab world from the joy of watching the sport of the poor, because not everyone can afford to pay extra subscription fees and buy a special beIN satellite receiver especially in these dire economic times.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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