European Soccer and American Socialism
Throughout our world sports tend to be a microcosm of the greater society. Sports have players who are like the citizens in a society, officials who are like the law enforcers in society and sports have rules just as society has rules. European soccer is the best example of a sport that relates the most to society. The way soccer leagues in Europe are ran is similar to how our society is ran here in the United States The best soccer players get bought by the best teams just as the best lawyers get hired at the best law firms. The author Dominic Tierney argued in the Atlantic article European Soccer Needs a Dose of American-style Socialism that this needs to change and the way to change it is by adding American-style socialism. What he means by that is the way American sports are run is very socialistic, which is contradictory to the actually economy of America. America’s economy follows Capitalism, while their sports follow socialism and in Europe it is the opposite. In my opinion it only makes sense that the best go with the best, therefore I do not think European soccer needs a dose of American-style socialism nor could it flourish the way it does now with a change.
The NFL draft is a huge deal. Fans wait around by their TV’s in hopes that their favorite team will get that “college all star” that will help build their team, but over in Europe it is very different. European schools and colleges do not have sports teams like we do in the United States; therefore, they do not have a draft. Instead their sports are run out of clubs or academies. These academy teams are run by the professional clubs in Europe, such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and many more. By a young age many boys are enrolled in soccer academies all throughout Europe, they are born to play soccer over there. Before they can even read or write their parents put them into these academies in hopes they will eventually play at the professional level. These athletes are raised through the academy team and as they get older if they show potential to go pro the professional club who runs that academy offers them a spot on the team. Once they are on a certain team that does not mean they will actually play or will always be on that team. Clubs are always buying, selling or trading players to gain publicity or to actually help their team become better. Since there are no college sports in Europe it would be impossible for them to have a draft like we do for the NFL. The point of the draft would be to have the best players go to the worst teams which would give each team a better chance at winning the league, but the best players usually go to the best academies which are also the best pro teams. There is a long chain of events that if the top of the chain needs changed then we would have to also change the bottom.
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) recently proposed the financial fair play rules, which is set of rules that the clubs must follow financially. Peter Coates, Stoke City’s owner stated, “…I didn’t believe we could continue being the world’s richest league while all losing money”. This statement was a big reason the financial fair play rules began. Big clubs like Manchester City were spending large amounts of money on players and not making enough revenue in return: “The wage restraint required… as well as UEFA’s fair play rules limiting losses for clubs… led to clubs overall being [500m euros] better off.” This quote from David Conn’s article shows that what UEFA is doing now is helping the European leagues move toward the American style socialism. The financial fair play rules being in effect has already made the league better financially, therefore there is not much more they can do to change the league. The larger clubs have nicer and larger stadiums then the smaller clubs, which helps bring in more revenue. Manchester United’s stadium known as Old Trafford holds a total of 75,731 people. The larger stadiums hold more people, which means more tickets are sold for the games, therefore the larger clubs no matter what will always bring in more revenue then the smaller clubs. These larger clubs such as: Manchester United, Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea are going to bring in more revenue causing them to be able to buy the better players and giving them access to a better program, while the smaller clubs will have a harder time getting the money to buy the players.
European soccer fans are probably some of the most loyal fans in the world. The small cities in Europe are loyal to their small city clubs, even if they are not always winning games. These small cities have fans who are not only loyal to their small club, but loyal to the larger clubs as well. Daniel Taylor stated in an article in The Guardian “[t]he club [Manchester United] … recorded attendances in excess of 75,000 every time.” Manchester United has the largest fan base for the Premier League and is the most well known team. The bigger cities with the bigger and better clubs like Manchester United have fans from all over the world who tune into watch them play on TV and who will make the trip to watch them live; this does not happen in the NFL. If a NFL team continuously loses the fans will not make the trip to attend that games which results in the revenues of that team to go down. Also, the only people who tend to watch the NFL are Americans while those who watch the English premier league are people from all over the world. According to the Premier League website “[t]he Premier League is broadcast in 212 territories around the world, working with 80 different broadcasters” this makes it the most watched league in the world. If people are enjoying watching soccer now and are always tuning into the games no matter if their teams are winning or losing then there is no point in trying to change the system to make it more fair. Soccer is the most popular and most watched sport in the world, while the NFL falls far behind.
European soccer does not need a dose of American-style socialism like the author of the Atlantic article says it needs. There is no possible way for the European soccer league to have a draft without finding a way to change the fact that their schools are not associated with sports. In Europe if you want to play soccer you join a club team; the schools and colleges are not affiliated with sports only academics. The European soccer leagues are also now under strict financial fair play rules to keep them from spending outrageous amount of money on players and then not bringing in enough revenue for the league. Since UEFA is already putting these rules into effect that is helping solve the problem that the author of the Atlantic article discussed. These rules help keep the larger clubs from buying up players they do not need and not collecting enough revenue for the leagues. The final reason European soccer does not need a dose of American socialism is because they have some of the most loyal fans in the world. No matter how the clubs are run in Europe the fans will always attend the games and could care less what financial rules are put into play. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and fans from all around the world will tune into watch their favorite teams or even watch a random game because they love the sport that much. This is different form the NFL which is why the NFL has to have a draft and keep the teams equal. If a team in the NFL is losing all their games their fans tend to not pay the money to attend the games, which gives the team and league little revenue. In Europe the patriotism toward the cities is shown through the fans of the soccer teams; even if the team from the city where they live is losing they still attend the games to show their loyalty to their city. Overall changing the European soccer system so it is more socialistic has good potential and is a great idea, but it just can’t be done or there is no need for it to be done. European soccer cannot have a draft, they have already taken a step to fix the financial state and the fans are loyal enough that there is no need to make a change that benefits the losing teams. Soccer should continue to follow the capitalism path because that is how it has prospered to the most popular sport in the world.