The footballers have already warned of a possible strike due to this crazy schedule that they have imposed so much FIFA as UEFAbut rather than knowing whether this will happen, we need to know the opinion of sports economics experts. This is the case of Benito Perez Gonzalezprofessor at Master in Sports Management and Direction from the International University of La Riojain addition to being a founding member of the Spanish Society of Sports Economics (SEED).
The renowned professor speaks to OKDIARIO to explain the consequences that this demonstration of actors could have on the economic health of the country. Suspenders and especially clubs. First of all, it is no secret that “a players’ strike causes a change in the football ecosystem.
“The players are right: physiologically, the load they are subjected to is enormous. And that, added to the fact that many of them cannot carry out the pre-season properly due to lack of time or because they have participated in national team championships, makes them feel subjected to very high loads that inevitably lead to injuries, fatigue and bad ends to the season,” he begins. Perez explaining the state of the footballer with the dispute of a marathon that does not understand the periods of the year.
Without going any further, the the real Madrid faces 11 months of uninterrupted competition and his second captain, Daniel Carvajalhas already raised the possibility of a strike. The right-back corroborated what other stars like Rodri Hernandez either Jules Koundethe first to raise their voices against the very high level of demands imposed on them by the organisations that govern today’s football.
The question of salaries
But of course, the law is made, the trap is made. And their salaries also contribute to television revenues. And what do the distributors want? Well, games and more games. “About 30% of the income of the big clubs comes from television rights. Obviously, if there were a strike, there would be fewer games, that would mean fewer rights and, therefore, that would affect the teams’ income and that should translate in one way or another into a lower economic capacity to assume salaries and to assume signings”, says the professor.
“As a general rule, players will always demand more and as clubs earn more, agents and players themselves will demand more. They know that clubs have income and they want to optimise the charges according to the clubs’ income, trying to make them as high as possible,” he adds.
From an economic point of view, Pérez considers it “impossible” that, as is said, it would be possible to reach squads of 30 or 40 players, although this would guarantee “rotation” and avoid “the exhaustion of players”. “It would also create new problems because there are some players who always want to be starters. It would take away importance. It would cause friction between athletes and, of course, it would be unaffordable for the clubs, unless salaries were considerably reduced,” he explains.
And in the hypothetical case of such a strike, what would be the economic consequences? “When it happens, we will have to look at the scenarios. Is it a lasting strike? Does it only last one match? We would have to readjust the calendars, which is difficult because there are very few gaps. “If it were a more sustained strike over time, it would obviously have very serious repercussions.”
“The strike would cause a cataclysm”
After this warning, Pérez guarantees that the teams would have a “lower collection of television rights” and that “this would also affect the sponsorships of the clubs, the box office… which are also maintained at a very high percentage.” “In the short term, the athletes would cause a cataclysm if they achieved their goals,” he says. “There would be fewer matches and therefore fewer television rights, fewer sponsorships, fewer ticket sales, fewer salaries,” he insists.
Addressing the issue of sponsorship, which is now key to the survival of clubs, Pérez believes that “if the image of the sport in question is not good, it scares away sponsors”. The image has long since ceased to be the best, since at the beginning of last season two of the best coaches in the world, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, had already warned of the absurdity of this calendar. And the expanded format of the new Champions League and the new Club World Cup, which could extend Real Madrid’s campaign until July, had not yet come into force.
A players’ strike is in no way comparable to the humanitarian woe that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, but could the strike lead to a similar drought at clubs? “It was the first time in many years that there were more expenses than income at clubs. Normally, the accounts are now positive. First and second division clubs are already earning more than they currently spend.
Fear of a scenario similar to the pandemic
Other possible similarities with the pandemic: “It could be that the situation is similar to that of the pandemic, since a large part of the income would not be realized in the short term, while expenses would continue to accumulate.” But what if the strike added to the poverty of some clubs drowned by the agreement of our League with the investment fund CVC? “The truth is that it would be an unfavourable situation for these clubs,” he concludes about this possible scenario.
The only clear thing in this whole story is that there is not a single culprit, but only one cause: the health of the footballer. Since the beginning of the season, which lasts no more than a month, an epidemic of injuries has devastated European football, which has not had a single respite after the end of the season. European Cup and this means that we can count in pairs the players who have already fallen in the battle that this calendar implies.
