IT WASN’T QUITE as cinematic, but I couldn’t help thinking there was a touch of “I’m Spartacus!” about the walkout of Liverpool supporters in the 77th minute of their draw with Sunderland last Saturday.
Their protest against the club’s new ticket pricing plan – including a £77 charge for Anfield’s priciest seat – was a bold gesture of mass solidarity; strength in numbers against a cruel, unfeeling overlord.
The comparisons end there: while the slave rebels made the ultimate sacrifice, the Liverpool fans were forgoing 13 minutes of defensive chaos. And unlike Spartacus and co, the Liverpool protest was successful. With a mass crucifixion along Anfield Road remaining an unacceptable form of ‘fan engagement’, the club instead abandoned its controversial ticketing scheme.
The success of the Liverpool fans’ gesture has led to hopes of a new era of respect and consideration towards supporters of all clubs from their owners, who, given their propensity to act as a mutually beneficial cabal, we shall call ‘Big Football’. Think Big Tobacco or Big Pharma, but without the social conscience.
Campaigns against Big Football jacking up ticket prices have gathered momentum in the wake of the news that the Premier League’s global TV windfall would top £8billion over the next three seasons. The logic of fan groups is simple: you’ve got enough money now, stop screwing us for more!
It wasn’t just Liverpool fans who struck successfully against Big Football. Arsenal’s wheeze to charge season ticket holders an extra £30 for the Champions League tie against Barcelona (a fixture they had already paid for) was shouted down by fed up supporters.
While the club made the point that they were entitled to add a surcharge for ‘Category A’ matches such as this one, they were eventually shamed into not asking purchasers of the Premier League’s most expensive season ticket to stump up yet more cash.
These victories remain few. Big Football is resolute in its efforts to make big profits, by charging big prices. Last week Premier League clubs voted down a motion to cap tickets for away fans at £30.
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Well, not all clubs.
It’s thought the votes of seven or eight clubs were enough to see the plan fail to gain the required two thirds majority, with Arsenal and other big clubs reportedly in the Scrooge faction. The clubs have promised to revisit the issue at their next board meeting in March; crumbs from the table may be forthcoming then.
The big clubs’ objection is believed to centre on not wanting the central body having any control on prices charged. Big Football, like all big business, doesn’t like pesky regulations restricting it from the unfettered pursuit of cash.
But Big Football has its mind on far bigger things than affordable ticket prices. Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is also the top man at the European Club Association, the successor of the G-14 group of superclubs, or the original Big Football.
Karl-Heinz is worried. “I recently talked to Florentino Perez, the Real [Madrid] president, and to [AC] Milan CEO Adriano Galliani,” he told German football magazine Kicker last month. ”We agreed that England poses a great threat to all other European leagues.”
He warned that “it will get difficult for Bayern to withstand the money pressure from England.” In other words: the Premier League is becoming bigger than the Champions League.
Bayern big wig Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Matthias Schrader
Matthias Schrader
But Karl-Heinz has an idea. “In the future, I can see a tournament consisting of 20 teams from Italy, England, Spain, Germany and France…A super league outside of the Champions League is being born.”
This is the backdrop to current discussions between the ECA and UEFA over the Champions League’s future structure. One of the mooted ideas is that historically successful clubs would be guaranteed their place in the Champions League, regardless of the feelings of the likes of Leicester City who look set to spoil the party next season, much to Big Football’s irritation.
The big fear of Rummenigge and the ECA is that the Premier League is already well down the path towards Big Football’s holy grail: becoming like the NFL, the truly global market leader in its sport, with all the riches that entails.
If you have any doubt that this is the Premier League’s objective, then check out their recent rebrand: it will simply be known as ‘Premier League’, with no title sponsor or mention of ‘FA’ and was accompanied by a feelgood and very, very global-centric corporate video.
“We all make it” is the tagline. Oh, we know what they all make, and in bucket-loads.
Whether in the form of a money-laden Premier League or a potential European Super League there seems to be no stopping Big Football, despite the success of the recent ticket price revolts.
Its appetite to conquer new revenue streams and untapped territories is insatiable. But that may change someday. Spartacus and chums didn’t bring about the collapse of the Roman Empire; that was down to Rome overstretching itself, internal corruption and the threat from the east.
The Chinese Super League watches on with interest.
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Liverpool fans' protest is part of a bigger struggle against 'Big Football'
IT WASN’T QUITE as cinematic, but I couldn’t help thinking there was a touch of “I’m Spartacus!” about the walkout of Liverpool supporters in the 77th minute of their draw with Sunderland last Saturday.
Their protest against the club’s new ticket pricing plan – including a £77 charge for Anfield’s priciest seat – was a bold gesture of mass solidarity; strength in numbers against a cruel, unfeeling overlord.
The comparisons end there: while the slave rebels made the ultimate sacrifice, the Liverpool fans were forgoing 13 minutes of defensive chaos. And unlike Spartacus and co, the Liverpool protest was successful. With a mass crucifixion along Anfield Road remaining an unacceptable form of ‘fan engagement’, the club instead abandoned its controversial ticketing scheme.
The success of the Liverpool fans’ gesture has led to hopes of a new era of respect and consideration towards supporters of all clubs from their owners, who, given their propensity to act as a mutually beneficial cabal, we shall call ‘Big Football’. Think Big Tobacco or Big Pharma, but without the social conscience.
Campaigns against Big Football jacking up ticket prices have gathered momentum in the wake of the news that the Premier League’s global TV windfall would top £8billion over the next three seasons. The logic of fan groups is simple: you’ve got enough money now, stop screwing us for more!
It wasn’t just Liverpool fans who struck successfully against Big Football. Arsenal’s wheeze to charge season ticket holders an extra £30 for the Champions League tie against Barcelona (a fixture they had already paid for) was shouted down by fed up supporters.
While the club made the point that they were entitled to add a surcharge for ‘Category A’ matches such as this one, they were eventually shamed into not asking purchasers of the Premier League’s most expensive season ticket to stump up yet more cash.
These victories remain few. Big Football is resolute in its efforts to make big profits, by charging big prices. Last week Premier League clubs voted down a motion to cap tickets for away fans at £30.
Well, not all clubs.
It’s thought the votes of seven or eight clubs were enough to see the plan fail to gain the required two thirds majority, with Arsenal and other big clubs reportedly in the Scrooge faction. The clubs have promised to revisit the issue at their next board meeting in March; crumbs from the table may be forthcoming then.
The big clubs’ objection is believed to centre on not wanting the central body having any control on prices charged. Big Football, like all big business, doesn’t like pesky regulations restricting it from the unfettered pursuit of cash.
But Big Football has its mind on far bigger things than affordable ticket prices. Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is also the top man at the European Club Association, the successor of the G-14 group of superclubs, or the original Big Football.
Karl-Heinz is worried. “I recently talked to Florentino Perez, the Real [Madrid] president, and to [AC] Milan CEO Adriano Galliani,” he told German football magazine Kicker last month. ”We agreed that England poses a great threat to all other European leagues.”
He warned that “it will get difficult for Bayern to withstand the money pressure from England.” In other words: the Premier League is becoming bigger than the Champions League.
But Karl-Heinz has an idea. “In the future, I can see a tournament consisting of 20 teams from Italy, England, Spain, Germany and France…A super league outside of the Champions League is being born.”
This is the backdrop to current discussions between the ECA and UEFA over the Champions League’s future structure. One of the mooted ideas is that historically successful clubs would be guaranteed their place in the Champions League, regardless of the feelings of the likes of Leicester City who look set to spoil the party next season, much to Big Football’s irritation.
The big fear of Rummenigge and the ECA is that the Premier League is already well down the path towards Big Football’s holy grail: becoming like the NFL, the truly global market leader in its sport, with all the riches that entails.
If you have any doubt that this is the Premier League’s objective, then check out their recent rebrand: it will simply be known as ‘Premier League’, with no title sponsor or mention of ‘FA’ and was accompanied by a feelgood and very, very global-centric corporate video.
“We all make it” is the tagline. Oh, we know what they all make, and in bucket-loads.
Whether in the form of a money-laden Premier League or a potential European Super League there seems to be no stopping Big Football, despite the success of the recent ticket price revolts.
Its appetite to conquer new revenue streams and untapped territories is insatiable. But that may change someday. Spartacus and chums didn’t bring about the collapse of the Roman Empire; that was down to Rome overstretching itself, internal corruption and the threat from the east.
The Chinese Super League watches on with interest.
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
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