English Megaclubs Earn Big Bucks Selling World’s Game

European Champions League winner will net millions.

ByABC News
May 1, 2007, 4:02 PM

May 2, 2007 — -- The English Premier League in 2007 is Europe's richest and most spectacular soccer league, an athletic and economic beast, feeding on a rich diet of cable television and upmarket ad money.

But as recently as 1985, the national game was in shambles. Violence in and around the match grounds had reached crushing levels, effectively barring women and children from stadiums.

A disaster before that year's European Cup final at Brussels' Heysel Stadium killed 39 spectators and earned Liverpool, whose fans were accused of sparking the violence, an indefinite ban from international competition.

New safety requirements put into place after the Heysel disaster combined with a new approach to marketing the game -- the Premier League will be paid more than $1.2 billion for international television rights through 2010 -- have made English soccer a force in the global marketplace.

Premiership teams spent more than $500 million on players from all five continents in summer 2006. The tremendous cost of fielding a competitive side has precipitated record increases in ticket prices and new corporate sponsorships.

"Some call it the gentrification of soccer," said Simon Kuper, author and columnist for the Financial Times, "but in fact the whole [of England] gentrified. And it was reflected in soccer."

The reconditioning of the English fan came under pressure by the government and media and as ticket prices began to rise. The goal was simple. Price out the violent young males and make the venues safe for upper-class fans.

"The corporate element came out later," said Jamie Trecker, Fox Soccer's senior writer, "and what you have now is a much more highbrow game."

Dilapidated grounds and violent hooliganism have been replaced by all-seater megastadiums and a white-collar fan base. The resulting surge in revenue has made the possibility of another Heysel almost unfathomable -- clubs simply have too much at stake.