The influence of money in football

Arsenal Football Club has increased the price of their season tickets for the 2008/09 season by 4.5% after a 4-year price freeze. The cheapest season ticket price for the coming year is a whopping £925, up from the already high figure of £885, and this places them as the most expensive tickets in the Premier League, £275 higher than the 2nd most expensive, Liverpool. Money has become the central figure on football in recent years, with television companies BSkyB and the BBC holding significant power, even in deciding what time the matches are played! The 2008 Champions League final was played during the early hours of the morning in Moscow to account for the time difference and enable it to be shown at a reasonable time in the UK and across Western Europe.

This fascination with money means that some fans will pay more for an average football game in England than they would for Barcelona tickets for a match at the Nou Camp. Players can demand any fee they desire, and clubs will be willing to pay it, such as the recent Frank Lampard scenario with Chelsea, whereby he has just signed a new 5-year deal worth £150,000 per week – a figured that most people won’t earn in their lifetime.

At the same time, there are football clubs in the lower leagues who are struggling to turnover £150,000 per week, and are consequently suffering penalties for not being financially sound. This season has seen the most number of clubs ever starting on negative points. The three teams at the bottom of England’s League Two are Rotherham, Bournemouth and Luton who are on -11, -15 and -27 points respectively. All these point penalties were applied due to poor financial control and these clubs eventually going into administration. All the while, Frank Lampard is earning a cool £150k per week for putting in 90 minutes worth of effort every Saturday afternoon.
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