Beyond the issue of inflation, the rise in player prices is multifactorial. Firstly, globalization and the internationalization of football have led to a considerable increase in the value of TV rights: 1.3 billion euros in England, 1 billion in Spain, 945 million in Italy, 748 in France. Two to three superior to the time of Zidane. The clubs, whose budget depends on an average of 60% of these TV rights, have grown rich and have the means to spend more.
Then, this same globalization and this inflation of rights attracted new foreign investors, the "sugar daddies". The latter, Russians, Chinese, Qataris, Emirati, etc., injected a lot of money, initially for a symbolic purpose before lucrative, and supported the budgets of their respective club.Puis, toujours à travers la mondialisation, le nombre de fans a augmenté, ce qui a permis une hausse considérable des recettes. Plus de fans à travers le monde, c'est plus de ventes de maillots, de goodies, de places, de billets, etc., donc c'est plus d'argent pour acheter.
Finally, the famous financial fair play, contrary to what might have been thought, allowed a rationalization of the management of the clubs. Compelled to pay attention to their expenses, they have applied cost killing and have streamlined their accounting, less absurd expenditure and a better search for profit, via regional and local partnerships, in order to earn more and therefore spend more.
Is there a financial bubble around football?
When setting up financial fair play, in 2011, the primary goal was not to support sports fairness or competitive balance, but simply to fight sports debt and avoid a probable bubble . The football leaders were afraid of the 2008 subprime crisis.
They then imposed a golden rule in football: "You can not spend more than what you win. "This rule has indeed allowed a reduction in sports debt by the virtually automatic abolition of annual deficits. Moreover, this new constraint, as explained above, has led clubs to rationalize their accounts and therefore to pay more attention to their management. As a result, football finances are gradually rebalancing.
But there is a considerable risk of bankruptcy. Whoever is linked to TV rights: with the increase in rights and competition, consumers will have to spend more and more money to watch football on TV (in France Canal +, beIN and SFR). A disgust could settle and lead to a reduction in demand (just as the competition of the streaming could appear, or even that of the bars). The profits of the channels could fall and cause a disincentive to renew the amount of the rights
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