Pay Up, Or Else It's Luxembourg For You

That's the story coming out of The Scottish FA, "any future glamour games will be based on the fact that fans can afford the ticket levels." With eyes toward Argentina's visit to Hampden Park, there have been murmers about how much Scottish fans are willing to pay to see their side play host some of the world's best teams.

Moneyquote:

Scottish soccer executives say that future games with Brazil and other high- profile teams may depend on fans' interest in the Argentina match.

Scottish officials almost canceled the match after baulking at the South American team's pay demands, Banks said. A compromise was found with Scottish fans being charged the same prices as they would be for competitive internationals, higher than for previous exhibition matches. Scottish media reports said Argentina asked for 1 million pounds ($1.59 million) to play.

Diego Maradona's debut on November 19th will be quite telling: a packed house will let us know who'll be visiting Scotland in the years to come.

Scotland Supporters Must Prove Appetite for 'Glamour' Games [Bloomberg]

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Oh, Stan? We've always loved him . . . .

It's amazing how benevolent Stanley Kroenke looks now, especially since Arsenal's board, namely Peter Hill-Wood, officially dated himself as a relic by claiming the club didn't want "his sort". It was easy to recoil at Silent Stan, because to the Arsenal board, he undeniably represented all that was wrong in the football world, with its foreign owners and their tasteless riches.

The last thing the Arsenal board needed was to become another plaything to the world's richest, but to an American? What shall be next, oh noble English? Perhaps those vile American things like obesity and violence. We shall not import that into this sacred isle. Footballers, yes, but not one to share our expense accounts and to join us in pretending we have anything to do with what happens on the field.

Enter Alisher Usmanov, "the hardman of Uzbekistan", and now PHW is eating those words like a business lunch in an Emirates luxury box. It is hard to ignore that Usmanov is more akin to the Roman Abramovich sort (non-Western European, rich by dubious means), but it is his bullishness and teaming up with the ousted David Dein that makes Kroenke look like a a dream savior (especially since his partnership blocks Usmanov further). It doesn't help Usmanov that he looks like he can crush a man to death, or at least make a call and have someone else do it for him.

How is this different than the presumptions that we all make? The Dutch are technical, the Italians defensive, Brazilians play joyfully, with big provincial smiles on their faces as they samba through midfield. These attitudes haven't changed. Of course the old-school ways of the Arsenal board are the same, but the ugly American just became a prom queen in the light of someone perceived to be a thug by reputation and association. And so PHW is carefully primping a lovely cushion for Silent Stan's big, fat Costco-sized, gas-guzzling, Bush-loving ass, which of course will be sore from all the incessant love bites sent his way now.

Does any of this matter? Only if the Kroenke's arrival leads to an injection of money, to which strings are always attached. Expectations are hard to let go of for club owners, especially when the drama and allure of top flight football can make new fans dream big, oftentimes to bitter disappointment. The current talk surrounding most of Wenger's supposed targets seem to rely heavily on getting some cash for Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor. All of Kroenke's teams have yet to establish themselves in the upper echelon of American sports, so he isn't a Steinbrenner, or even the Glazers. Like everyone else, he could just be in it for the Premier League money. It's just interesting how an annoying American accent can change its timbre against the backdrop of a Turkic tongue.

Arsenal warm up seat on board for billionaire Stan Kroenke [Times Online]

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Euro Ticket Prices Touch The Sky

With just 81 days left until the country faces off against Italy at this summer's Euros, the largest online ticket agency in the Netherlands is charging $2,148 per ticket to Holland's match against the World Champions. The same goes for the game against France, played eight days later. Seems as good a time as any to refinance the house.

No word on how much it'll cost to watch the Dutch play against Romania, but I imagine still a bit pricey on any budget. Not long ago, in a report filed on February 28th, the AP claimed that a ticket to the Germany v. Poland match would run about $1,500. And in an example of how far the dollar has fallen, a seat to watch Holland v. France would cost $1,285. That's almost 60% less than it would cost today, three weeks on.

European championships costs fans dear [DutchNews.nl]
With 100 days to go, Euro 2008 chief warns fans to avoid black market tickets [International Herald Tribune]

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Who Makes The Money When Africans Move Abroad?

Well, in this case, it for sure as hell isn't the player. While we've highlighted the business of African player-trafficking in Europe (see here and here), little did I know it exists in Pakistan as well.










Plight of Nigerian footballer highlights player-trafficking in Pakistan [Play The Game]

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It's Your Lucky Day: Mediocre English Clubs Edition

In the rough and tumble world of Russian economics, news of 40 new Russian billionaires doesn't seem so strange (I just saw Eastern Promises, I know how it works). The real news will be about who'll be willing to splash the cash for one of the dozens (and dozens) of middling English soccer clubs out there.

Come on, which one of you guys wants to battle it out with Chelski?


Battle of the oligarchs... the amazing showdown between Roman Abramovich and his arch rival [Daily Mail]
Russia Adds 40 Billionaires [Bloomberg]

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Shirt Sponsors: Who Makes What Edition

Bloomberg published an interesting article on the economics of shirt sponsorships in Europe's top six soccer leagues. A recently released report by sponsorship consultant Sport+Markt AG says that Manchester United top the list, raking in $30.4M a year from American International Group. Bayern Munich is a close second with Deutsche Telekom AG paying $29.1M for the right to plaster T-Home onto the famous red shirt. Looking at the list of clubs, doesn't it look like Milan are getting shortchanged by Bwin?

Collectively, clubs in England make about $142M a year from shirt sponsorships. That is followed by Bundesliga teams with $139.1M and Serie A sides with $104.7M.

The most interesting piece in the report, at least for top-tier clubs: "On a European scale, and especially among the top teams, the full potential has still not been tapped."

European Soccer Clubs to Receive $589 Mln From Jersey Sponsors [Bloomberg]

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Umbro Gets Gobbled Up

As Reebok is to Adidas, Umbro will be to Nike. Eventually squeezed out and marginalized... But all you traditionalists out there need not worry, Brian Bartwick will calm your fears:

"We are delighted that the proposed acquisition will allow us to continue our strong historical relationship with Umbro while benefiting from the marketing expertise and financial strength of Nike. Nike has provided firm assurances that the FA relationship with Umbro will be protected and enhanced, and we look forward to working closely with both companies moving forward."

Expect England to be wearing Nike after the 2013/14 season.

Nike to buy Umbro in £285m deal [BBC]
FA announces long-term Umbro deal [BBC]

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I'm Not Calling Soccer In Italy Dirty, But...

Things can't be all that clean either. According to a recently released annual report by Confesercenti, a major business association in Italy, the four main mafia groups in the country together take in about $126B a year (yes, that's more than Italy's largest companies), amounting to an astonishing 7% of Italy's gross domestic product. Most of the money is "earned" through drugs, extortion, loan sharking and prostitution, though the estimate excludes the revenues from the sale of drugs.

Is it naive to believe that some of that money isn't derived from gambling and match-fixing?

Organised crime does pay in Italy - to the tune of €90bn [Guardian]
Italy's in the Global Fortune 500 [CNN]

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Nike Making A Move?

We could very well be seeing the end of Umbro as we know it. The soccer-only apparel company has seen it's stock hit new heights after it claimed that that it had been approached in a takeover bid. Reuters is backing up Umbro, reporting that Nike is the potential buyer making waves.

With Nike and Adidas already controlling huge shares of the soccer market, do we really want to see them gobbling up a bigger piece of the pie? And what if Umbro decides to sell? The third-most recognizable soccer kit maker, out of business, out of sight at major tournaments: how sad would that be?

Umbro Shares Surge on Approach; Nike Behind Bid, Reuters Says [Bloomberg]
UK's Umbro gets approach, sources say it's Nike [Reuters]

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Catholics Swoop in to save Serie C

It looks like Catholics are bent upon shedding the requisite ignominy that accompanies pretty much anything involved with calcio in Italia, by taking over division three side AC Ancona. Apparently the perennial match-fixing, embezzlement, extortion and overall shady aura of Italian soccer doesn't sit well with the Church, even though one must wonder why exactly are they pouring in 1.6M euro in sponsorship of a Serie C club, not to mention where they get that kind of cash to throw around.

Church takes over team to save soul of Italian football [Guardian]

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Shirt Sponsors: Professional Arm-Twisters Edition

Gazprom, the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world, as well as German side Schalke 04's main sponsor, has quite an interesting history. Wholly owned by the Russian government, the policies of the company have been difficult to separate from the policies of Valdimir Putin's government. The excellent blog Culture of Soccer has an great primer on the subject.

The latest news on Gazprom shows, that currently, the intertwining of both the company and the Russian government is still alive and well. Gazprom officials were shocked (shocked I tell you) that anyone would accuse them of playing politics with natural gas. Just when Ukraine appears to have reelected a pro-Western coalition led by Yulia Tymoshenko, Gazprom suddenly warned that the country's $1.3B gas tab hadn't been payed. Ukraine, the company said, may find it's gas cut off if it doesn't cut a check. But it's just business, company officials say: "The problem is objective. It is not connected in any way with who wins or does not win in Ukraine. But it is connected to debts that have to be paid."

They might have added, "Who ya gonna believe? Me or your eyes?" But as one analyst put it to the Financial Times, "[T]his is sort of a way to send a signal to the next government that if Tymoshenko comes to power, expect things to get tougher."

If Ukraine doesn't pay up, how is Gazprom supposed to honor it's $35.5M-a-year deal with Schalke?

Gazprom’s Sponsorship of Schalke [Culture of Soccer]
Gazprom threatens Ukraine with gas cuts [Financial Times]

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Quote Of The Day

"Yet, Mr. Yakubu the assemblyman is confident that people would find the money to pay their electric bills, if only for one reason: football (soccer). When a Ghanaian football team plays, fans in the village pay the equivalent of about 11 cents U.S. to watch the 90-minute match in the home of the one person who has his own generator and television. Yakubu believes that if electricity were available to all, people would instead put the money they now pay to watch football games toward paying for electric power and, eventually, their own television sets."

-Peter DiCampo, writing about life without electricity in the Ghanaian village of Wantugu.

Life without lights in a Ghanaian village [Christian Science Monitor]

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South Africa's Neighbors Stock Up On Candles

As we continue to count down to Africa's coming out party (while listening to FIFA's assurances), South Africa's neighbors are set to have their electricity cut back between June 11th and July 11th, 2010. South Africa's main power provider, Eskom, is holding out the right to cut the juice to countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe if local power needs are not being met.

Eskom is not willing to publicly say if they have the capacity to deal with the World Cup as well as it's residential and commercial exports. Johnny Dladla, managing director of the company's 2010 World Cup Committee, would only go so far as to say that "the system will still be tight."

Sounds like the price of candles and matches just went up.

South African Blackouts Ease as Industries Cut Usage [Bloomberg]

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Up the Arsenal

Despite protestations from former chairman David Dein, it looks like moving from the Highbury library to the new soulless corporate monstrosity that is Emirates Stadium, turned out to be a good idea after all. I know money doesn't solve anything, but in Arsenal's case, it helps to dispel the notion that not enough money is going into the transfer market to keep the club competitive with the remaining top four.

But I'm not getting ahead of myself. A rout of probably already-relegated Derby County, a crisis at Stamford Bridge and some inconsistent performances for Liverpool do not mean that Arsenal are now the dominant team in the mini-league of the top four. The Gunners do need money to maintain quality, but it's the expectations that come with it that I don't like. As long as the board fulfill Arsene Wenger's wishes, they'll always be in it, and perhaps even amaze us with some quality. Thankfully, Roman Abramovich is setting a good example of exactly what not to do when you're an oligarch running the team. Though I don't expect you to, take note Usmanov and Silent Stan. [Forbes]

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