The relentless hunting of football after winning still does not correspond to global popularity Finance

WHen William Goldman wrote in his memoirs Adventure in screen trade In Hollywood “Nobody knows anything”, he shaped a sentence that spoke directly to the chaos in the heart of the film industry. It was a remark that was made in 1983, the year of classic films, how ToolPresent Trade places And Local hero And an era when the box office was booming.

The expression fell last week in the ballroom of the Peninsula Hotel in London, where the Great and the good and the rest of the global football industry gathered the latest FT business of the football summit.

Just like Hollywood in the early 80s, the football industry has a lot to scream today. There is the success of the expanded Champions League (at least in the sense that it has increased income for a larger number of clubs and nations). There is more power for clubs within the European system, a reaction to the Super League act. There is the ubiquitous chorus that in a world does not do anything of unlimited content that can live live. For the Premier League, it can even point out that the value of your media rights has further growth in value.

Despite all of this, the background noise was one of people who scratched their heads. With all the brand awareness, the eye apples and solidarity payments, most in football business, have difficulty making the whole profitable. When it comes to diagnosing the problems and solutions that should be persecuted, opinions differ greatly.

Todd Boehly was the headlining act and made a significantly energetic tour around his thinking. The future is Netflix for the Chelsea-Mit holder. At least it is the Premier League that puts a global media law contract with a global brand (like the MLS with Apple or the NFL with DAZN). A one-stop shop for every fan around the world, the extent of the chances, thinks that it must be an option that the league looks at and, in his opinion, is “where we go”.

All of this is good and good for the richest domestic soccer league in the world, but for others such an opportunity may not be viable. There must be “new ideas” for clubs like Marseille. For their president, Pablo Longoria, this includes transforming the Stade Vélodrome into a target outside of the games and using “digital possibilities” better.

For sports in Portugal and its managing director André Bernardo, dynamic ticket prices must be on the table. For Giorgio Chiellini, the legendary defender, who moved to institutional relationships between football in Juventus, more games are inevitable, but the proceeds from these games should be shared. “It is difficult to go back and the direction of travel is more games,” he says. “The only answer is more redistribution.”

While every manager seems to have an idea of ​​doing things better, there is no consensus about which approach is most likely to work. Likewise, there is no agreement on the other end of the money puzzle: Which regulations are necessary to create the sacred grail of financial sustainability and the amount of competition. One topic in the center of the debate about the independent supervisory authority for English football. It is something that everyone in European football (including the American owner) says that they want it, but in their own way.

For Richard Masters and the Premier League, the introduction of an independent regulatory authority will be excessively restrictive, with the “unintentional consequences” an even greater risk. For Charlie Marshall, managing director of the European Club Association, who speaks for more than 700 men and women clubs, the concern is also “over-regulation” and “rules that do not allow dynamics”.

For Fausto Zanetton, an Inter board member and an investor, the focus must be on the containing of the losses, and for Ian Lynam, a leading sports attorney, concerns about a stricter regulation through the risks of the laxies will outweigh. “You cannot say that a more competitive balance means a better league,” he says, “but a complete absence of it leads to destruction.”

The lack of agreement was impressed, as was the tendency for the spokesman to use the same terms (“financial stability and competitive amount” among them in order to mean very different things. This reflects the problems of a sport that has never been more popular worldwide, but does not generate any income.

But maybe it also shows the complicated and complex reasons why investors get into football at all. With all the what sports washing and financing have, you can also play a role if you also hear very strong personal motivations to the owners and managers: a desire for inheritance, excitement and even affection.

The human component in every business decision, especially such an emotional company as football, may be undervalued.