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Football and the World Economy
Topic Started: Dec 31 2008, 02:15 PM (1,214 Views)
Simon
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Johnbuildr,Apr 13 2010
01:36 PM
Oh, and Simon, don't be too hard on your English clubs vis-a-vie their treatment of fans; American pro football and basketball owners and clubs are just as bad if not worse.

Yeah, that is true.

In fact, as ursus says - "here in North America, for instance, pro sports teams are able to extort ridiculously one-sided stadium deals from municipalities desperate for the cachet that comes from being a "big league city"."

What's the name of that scumbag American Football club owner who has done precisely that in Tampa? Oh yeah, Malcolm Glazer!

Honestly, sometimes I read about what fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had to put up with, and it almost makes me feel we've got off lightly...
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Martin
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ursus arctos,Apr 13 2010
11:54 AM
The German rules really had to make some accomodation for Leverkusen and Wolfsburg because of their very special circumstances. Both Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are "company towns" to a degree that is pretty much unknown in the contemporary US, with the vast majority of people who live and work there either working (or having worked) directly for Bayer or VW, or else being materially dependent on the support of people who work for one of those firms. The football clubs need to be seen in the context of a much wider network of corporate community support programs that goes back a century and includes housing, libraries, cultural support and the multi-sport organizations from which the two professional clubs sprung.


Wasn't Uerdigen once known as Bayer Uerdigen? Did Bayer have an interest in that club at one time?

I seem to recall earlier this year there being some discussion that Schalke were in some financial difficulties and might need to sell some of their better players, but I have not heard anything further about any financial problems there. Maybe success in the table has caused the club to forget about it's problems? But this could be example that even German clubs are susceptible to money problems in these times.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Gregoriak
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Martin,Apr 14 2010
09:51 PM
ursus arctos,Apr 13 2010
11:54 AM
The German rules really had to make some accomodation for Leverkusen and Wolfsburg because of their very special circumstances.  Both Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are "company towns" to a degree that is pretty much unknown in the contemporary US, with the vast majority of people who live and work there either working (or having worked) directly for Bayer or VW, or else being materially dependent on the support of people who work for one of those firms.  The football clubs need to be seen in the context of a much wider network of corporate community support programs that goes back a century and includes housing, libraries, cultural support and the multi-sport organizations from which the two professional clubs sprung.


Wasn't Uerdigen once known as Bayer Uerdigen? Did Bayer have an interest in that club at one time?

I seem to recall earlier this year there being some discussion that Schalke were in some financial difficulties and might need to sell some of their better players, but I have not heard anything further about any financial problems there. Maybe success in the table has caused the club to forget about it's problems? But this could be example that even German clubs are susceptible to money problems in these times.


Bayer withdrew their sponsoring of (then) FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen. As a consequence, Bayer Uerdingen changed its name to KFC Uerdingen (Krefelder Fussball Club Uerdingen -> Uerdingen is a part of the city of Krefeld).
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Simon
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Martin,Apr 14 2010
09:51 PM
I seem to recall earlier this year there being some discussion that Schalke were in some financial difficulties and might need to sell some of their better players, but I have not heard anything further about any financial problems there. Maybe success in the table has caused the club to forget about it's problems? But this could be example that even German clubs are susceptible to money problems in these times.

That's definitely true, there was talk that they'd have to have a major fire sale in January, with Kuranyi as the star attraction. Perhaps they found some funds from somewhere? I'm not sure how that one panned out.

Their rivals Borussia Dortmund were virtually bankrupt just a few years ago as well.
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Yogi
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Quote:
 
Bayer withdrew their sponsoring of (then) FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen. As a consequence, Bayer Uerdingen changed its name to KFC Uerdingen (Krefelder Fussball Club Uerdingen -> Uerdingen is a part of the city of Krefeld).


And here I thought Uerdigen had replaced Bayer with KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)as their new patron! :P

Seriously though was there some reason why Bayer dropped it's support for Uerdigen? I imagine they felt it was not financially feasible to support two professional clubs. But is Uerdigen, or Krefeld, as closely associated with the aspirin maker as much as Leverkusen is?
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ursus arctos
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Bayer couldn't justify the expense of supporting two 1. Bundesliga clubs*, and though they are still the largest employer in Uerdingen, it isn't as much of a one company town as Leverkusen. They've also spun off one of their larger operations in Uerdingen.

Essentially, Bayer decided that it could only afford to bring one club up to European standard, and chose Leverkusen, which is much more identified in the German public mind with Bayer, it being where the company is headquartered (and where it was founded).

* I think that they still provide some support to the non-football sections of the club, which are amateur.
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valenciano
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I am always amazed at the collective knowledge of world football of this bunch here. Just about any question can be answered by at least one of our posters. Makes this such an enjoyable site to visit, and post.

Back to the topic at hand, Michel Platini is using his bully pulpit:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=a...rc1engprplatini

Quote:
 
UEFA president Michel Platini on Wednesday slammed the free-spending attitude of European football clubs, notably in the English Premier League, which he claims is destroying the sport.

And the former France international said the only way to save the sport was to return to old-fashioned economics of not spending more than you earn.


OK that is absic economics, few would dispute that concept. The qestion is how to get there from where we are now?

And here is something I did not know,

Quote:
 
According to a report published by European football's governing body in February, English Premier League clubs have a combined debt of 3.8 billion euros, more than the combined total of all the other European top flight clubs.






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