Monopolistic Championships

Apart from the Spanish and Italian leagues, the other major European leagues seem to be monopolised by only one team.

Manchester United and Bayern Munich have been champions of England and Germany respectively for 11 of the last 21 years. Olympique Lyon won 7 consecutive French titles in the past 15 years. In Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid won 6 championships each out of the last 16. Juventus (7), AC Milan (6) and Inter Milan (4) dominated the Serie A for the past 21 years.

Once in a while, teams like VfL Wolfsburg, AS Roma or Bordeaux springs a surprise by winning the league. But such occurrences will be very rare; the monetary resources of the big team(s) cannot be matched and they have the ability to attract the best talents of all ages, for two reasons; monetary and success track record.

Maybe the recent phenomenon of wealthy businessmen (mostly from the Middle East) buying football clubs is a good way to break the monopoly of the traditional champions. It sort of proves that money could buy success which may be true for a commercial enterprise; it may not be the best thing for sports.

Pouring too much money into sports is also a resource misallocation. Paying a rival club RM100 million for the services of a football player is not only ridiculous but also very obscene. No doubt it has positive economic implications; it does stimulate economic activity via consumer spending and infrastructure (stadiums etc) building but it is still resource misallocation none the less. It will also create a spiral effect when more clubs revalue their star players upwards and the players themselves demand better financial terms. The virtual monopoly of the big teams will continue and the strength and success of the clubs will positively correlate with the fortunes of their owners. It would be good for the clubs and players but would it be good for the game?

I’m a traditionalist, old fashioned maybe. While I believe money is important and making as much as possible is crucial especially for their relative short sporting careers, I am of the opinion that sports should be motivated primarily by passion and love for the game and in the case of club based football, maybe a little bit of loyalty.