Competition makes professional sports compelling as a spectacle rather than an investment. A dozen European football clubs, including Liverpool and AC Milan, plan to form a new Super League with $6bn (£4.3bn) of debt backing from JPMorgan. This “closed shop” format raises worrying issues of potential anti-competitive activity — as might retaliation by football’s aggrieved ruling bodies.
Investors see scope for a payday in rights sales. Shares in quoted clubs such as Manchester United and Juventus rose about a tenth in morning and pre-market trading. But big, traditional media groups will be wary unless bodies such as the Union of European Football Associations can be mollified.
Breakaway leagues are nothing new. In the UK, football weathered the storm triggered by the creation of the Premier League in 1992. Some will point to its success as proof the Super League could flourish. In the last full pre-pandemic season, the EPL generated revenues of €5.8bn, more than 73 per cent higher than closest rival La Liga in Spain, according to Deloitte.