Under the current Financial Fair Play (FFP) structure of the
English Premier League, it is time to dig deep into whether or not the spending
limits created by the FFP are beneficial or detrimental to the league as a
whole. When the FFP was introduced 2009, spending limits were enforced with the
intention of preventing clubs from spending more money than they brought in to
ensure long-term financial stability. UEFA, the governing body of European football,
strongly believed that by setting cap restrictions, clubs will focus more on
developing their youth programs, develop more analytical personnel strategies,
and lower transfer fees because teams could no longer outbid other teams based
on how much money owners are willing to spend.
On the surface, the FFP seems to shine a positive light over
the most competitive league in the world by leveling the finances of the
playing field. Nonetheless, the FFP causes issues that make people question
whether or not it is the most effective system that serves as a salary cap. One
major argument against the FFP is that it takes away from the overall value of
each club. For example, Aston Villa was put up for sale in 2014 and felt the
negative consequences of Financial Fair Play. The FFP spending restrictions
prevented Aston Villa from being an attractive investment for potential owners
because these owners knew that they could not compete with powerhouse teams
without a blank check. Since they are located in an economically deprived area
compared to powerhouses such as Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United,
owners cannot charge fans the same amount of money for tickets, which
essentially prevents Aston Villa from signing any big name player because they
do not take in enough revenue to splurge on talent. Additionally, there is no
reason why a top-tier player would sign a contract with Aston Villa – a team
stuck at the bottom of the standings with no real chance of winning – for the
same amount of money, or less, than a top tier team.
With this in mind, it is evident that the Premier League
must part ways with FFP and implement a system that is similar to the salary
caps seen in the United States. With an American-like salary cap, not financial
restrictions based on individual team’s revenue streams, clubs ranging from the
top to the bottom of the standings will have an equal opportunity to attract
talented players. This is where talented front offices will come into play.
They will develop creative ideas to attract players and start building a solid foundation
to a competitive team. With this type of system, teams and fans will no longer
be able to complain that their club is not competitive because of financial
inequality, but will start calling for managerial changes and higher player
standards.
The question maybe should instead be, is it actually legal what FFP wants to do. the EU allows for free trade throughout the region through prohibitive anti-competition laws. So this must be looked into with regards to the FFP.
ReplyDeleteI think that having no salary cap has negative implications on an individual team basis, as seen with the Aston Villa example. However, a salary cap could create issues for the league overall. The power houses, like FC Barca, bring in so much revenue and attention due to its their abilities to maintain better players, widespread advertising, and therefore, a larger fanbase. A strict salary-cap may hurt the industry. I believe that some sort of salary-cap or regulation needs to be put in place, but it must be reasonable to all matters.
ReplyDelete-Darcy Horn
I agree wth your opinion. I think the Premier League should adopt an "American-Like" salary-cap system for it seems to bring on more fairness in terms of talent compared to the FFF. Even in the La Liga this appears to be a problem as Real Madrid and Barca for example seem to tip the scale extremely in their favor because they have money. I think the reason they have had this money is because of the history they have winning and accumulating the money over the years as a result. There should be a system that does allow for big money holding owners can influence players monetarily, but mostly a system that can influence players to join their team based on the current state of talent the team has.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Darcy and Ryan and believe that salary cap systems should be put in place but I feel like now it would just even harder to implement. How are you going to tell someone like Neymar that the next team or club that they go to they will have to get paid less. Not that I agree with it, but it seems that not having the salary cap is the most effective way of insuring that you get the best players because money speaks. - Daniel Dzhurayev
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with having some sort of salary cap system for the most part. With the way the FFP is set up it looks like it will just be the same power house soccer teams dominating their leagues which is great for those teams and the fans who follow and cheer for them. Having that competition and that sense of any team can beat any team because of all the talent split up evenly makes for a more entertaining sport if you ask me, much like most of the American sports. -Connor Butler
ReplyDeleteI think that UEFA should use a system similar to the NFL and the American system. My favorite part about the NFL's salary caps is that a team can go from being the worst in the league to the best in the matter of just one year and almost every team seems attractive and a team that any player would be happy to play for. It is not fair that some teams in Europe are getting all of the good players just simply because they can afford it because those teams such as Aston Villa will never get the players that they want and never look nearly as attractive. The league needs to be more fair in this sense because teams should not be the best in the world every year.
ReplyDeleteTo the overall question of is FFP the best salary cap option for the Premier League, I'd have to say no. We have already seen teams try to undermine the rules of this system specifically Manchester City. With a system like this teams are always going to look for loopholes in order to spend the most money. However I don't think the Aston Villa example is necessarily a good one. 5 or 6 years ago Villa was a consistent team finishing around 10th place. However this year they are looking as if they could get relegated for the first time since '92. I don't think thats a result of FFP but rather a lack of youth development compared to in the past when they developed stars like Gabriel Agbonlahor and were willing to spend money on upcoming stars like Ashley Young.
ReplyDelete