Football today happens to be a whole lot more than what goes on on the field of play. It has definitely become more than just a game, even metamorphosed in to a religion for some but that would not be my concern today, rather I would be particularly more concerned about the politics behind the game. It has become surrounded with so much intrigues that one is left wondering about what may happen next. Dwelling on the politics of the game might even sound a bit ambiguous because we are almost less concerned about the elections or who gets put in what office or not, but the maverick side to this whole business called soccer.
Need I remind you that with so many vested interests from such wide ranging perspectives, there is a constant jostle for power and who makes the final decisions or what gets to play out in the final analysis. Did I just hear you say, "let's just quit the suspense, and cut to the chase"? That's exactly what I am going to do next. The various stake determinants include betting ranks/sites, football governing bodies, tv right holders, the various teams, ticket sales, brand sponsors, speculators, book makers and the list can go on, but we must have mentioned some of the most important.
Now let's get a perspective to all of these. If we were to use the UEFA champion's league as our model and there is a draw to be made. There might have been so much hype about two teams whose meeting would be any fan's dream any day, maybe that would exclude the respective team fans especially at a very dicey stage of the competition, somewhere before the semi-final stage. Immediately these earlier mentioned forces set into play. The governing body begin thinking about delighting football fans to their own benefit in terms of television rights, ticket sales and other copyright brand gains. The television companies with rights cannot wait to start juicy negotiations so they would also lobby. The brand or team kit companies would give total support especially if both teams playing were to be displaying their labels, it would be a huge pay day.
Betting ranks and sites would sink in huge investments to see it happen because they know there can only be one result - smiles to the bank, as long as they can guarantee the governing body not to fix games. The whole business of betting begins to take on the 'legit-illegit' status especially with the strange but hidden alliance. Not forgetting the teams themselves who would gladly sell out the passionate fan's tears or pain of exit for a big pay day in ticket sales, remuneration from brand sponsors, sales of other rights, jersey sales, tourism revenue via stadia tour and the rest. Then comes speculators who would get a lot of benefit running analysis, winning strategies, proposed team tactics, speculations all mostly for financial gains and personal excitement, not leaving out book makers who definitely have become forecasters telling the future by the past and they would give anything to add to the records.
To think that so much has been said and even the draws have not been done yet. That definitely begins to tell you a lot about the mavericks and the intrigues involved just behind one matchday not to talk of several over one season and cumulatively over the years. It is just safe to note that football has gone beyond being just a game to whole business industry which comes along with its own saints and devils. The painful thing here is that the ones who should really get to enjoy the games considering how much they invest in finance, passion, and life; that is team fans just do not get a consideration as their interest is just a pin drop in this mighty ocean called the business behind the game.
It has become so pathetic that rather than just putting up the charade of a draw that we see on television with marked balls and the likes, especially when the outcomes are already predetermined, UEFA should just come out and tell us that they have made their authoritarian choices but wait a minute, how can they ever do that when there is also so much to make from selling television rights of the draw program itself. The million dollar question here is "just what is the way out of this quagmire?" Help! Football has been hijacked. Somebody save our souls, hear the passionate pleas of concerned fans.
Need I remind you that with so many vested interests from such wide ranging perspectives, there is a constant jostle for power and who makes the final decisions or what gets to play out in the final analysis. Did I just hear you say, "let's just quit the suspense, and cut to the chase"? That's exactly what I am going to do next. The various stake determinants include betting ranks/sites, football governing bodies, tv right holders, the various teams, ticket sales, brand sponsors, speculators, book makers and the list can go on, but we must have mentioned some of the most important.
Now let's get a perspective to all of these. If we were to use the UEFA champion's league as our model and there is a draw to be made. There might have been so much hype about two teams whose meeting would be any fan's dream any day, maybe that would exclude the respective team fans especially at a very dicey stage of the competition, somewhere before the semi-final stage. Immediately these earlier mentioned forces set into play. The governing body begin thinking about delighting football fans to their own benefit in terms of television rights, ticket sales and other copyright brand gains. The television companies with rights cannot wait to start juicy negotiations so they would also lobby. The brand or team kit companies would give total support especially if both teams playing were to be displaying their labels, it would be a huge pay day.
Betting ranks and sites would sink in huge investments to see it happen because they know there can only be one result - smiles to the bank, as long as they can guarantee the governing body not to fix games. The whole business of betting begins to take on the 'legit-illegit' status especially with the strange but hidden alliance. Not forgetting the teams themselves who would gladly sell out the passionate fan's tears or pain of exit for a big pay day in ticket sales, remuneration from brand sponsors, sales of other rights, jersey sales, tourism revenue via stadia tour and the rest. Then comes speculators who would get a lot of benefit running analysis, winning strategies, proposed team tactics, speculations all mostly for financial gains and personal excitement, not leaving out book makers who definitely have become forecasters telling the future by the past and they would give anything to add to the records.
To think that so much has been said and even the draws have not been done yet. That definitely begins to tell you a lot about the mavericks and the intrigues involved just behind one matchday not to talk of several over one season and cumulatively over the years. It is just safe to note that football has gone beyond being just a game to whole business industry which comes along with its own saints and devils. The painful thing here is that the ones who should really get to enjoy the games considering how much they invest in finance, passion, and life; that is team fans just do not get a consideration as their interest is just a pin drop in this mighty ocean called the business behind the game.
It has become so pathetic that rather than just putting up the charade of a draw that we see on television with marked balls and the likes, especially when the outcomes are already predetermined, UEFA should just come out and tell us that they have made their authoritarian choices but wait a minute, how can they ever do that when there is also so much to make from selling television rights of the draw program itself. The million dollar question here is "just what is the way out of this quagmire?" Help! Football has been hijacked. Somebody save our souls, hear the passionate pleas of concerned fans.
Motivational Thoughts and Insights from http://dakes83.blogspot.com is a blog born out the desire to bring about real inspiration, motivation and change by analyzing life issues and pulling out inferences as lessons learnt in real time. Some may say they are lessons derived from the school of hard knocks but we choose to call it lessons worth your while learnt in one of the best schools you could ever learn from. One thing that we can very much assure you is that YOU WILL BE INSPIRED!
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