Kenyon after all, suffered an embarrassing 19-1 defeat when making a similar proposal in 2003.
The Liverpool managing director is wrong but he probably knows that. It seems that they thought that they had support from other clubs, such as their Champions League rivals, but the prospects of getting the 14 required votes to change the TV rights deal is unlikely. Ayre isn’t stupid and he must have known this.
So the reason why he has chosen to talk about this was probably to raise the issue of Spanish TV rights, a neglected topic in the English media. It can’t have escaped anyone that Barcelona and Real Madrid are increasingly dominant in Spain, and that the former are rampant in Europe too. Before long, it looks like Real will be as well. The fact is that these two, backed by the ability to negotiate individual rights deals, and that they are the world’s biggest two clubs, have started to make that count and are moving ahead of the field.
If Barcelona, as is often said, are on a level of their own, then Real Madrid aren’t far behind. Manchester United valiantly battle on in third place in the world football hierarchy, but this is challenged by the fact that they are held back by the collective deal. Without breaking this, as Ayre suggests, the chances of England’s top clubs keeping pace with the Spanish giants is remote. Therefore a discussion has to be had, and Ayre was right to provoke it.
Liverpool appear concerned at the increasing dominance of Barcelona in European competition, as well as Real Madrid, who last year ended a six year run of not getting past the second round of the Champions League. It is hard to imagine that lasting much longer, and as Jose Maria Cruz, Sevilla’s general manager, told insideworldfootball last month, it seems plausible that the two teams could dominate European football in a few years in the same way they currently monopolise La Liga.
But any break with the collective model would be a disaster; it is crucial for the game. Inequality of income is the enemy of sport, as it reduces competition.
Whereas in the world of business, companies are looking to generate profits as an end goal, in sport the ultimate aim is trophies. It would not be difficult for Liverpool to make large profits each year whilst not winning anything if they so chose. The same for Barcelona or Real Madrid, but even these two, football’s biggest sides, are barely profitable most years.
But where it is understandable and even good for companies to seek to maximise profits in the world of business, bringing as it does economic growth and jobs to sustain the working class and keep them out of the self-perpetuating misery of unemployment, sport is fundamentally different. The US understands this better than most, and its sport structures are designed to prevent any team having too much money and therefore, too many of the best players. This encourages competition.
Football is not a business in which clubs look to maximise their profits as an ends in itself. Football is a business in which large revenues are the means towards winning trophies, rather than the end goal, and this is the crucial distinction between sport and the corporate world. For Liverpool, they have every right to try and make more money, but this should be through achievement on the field of play, not off it.
