Parity, Profitability, & the Fight for the Soccer’s Soul

The dynamics of the world’s game continue to change, leading us to wonder if the need for commercialization has usurped the upholding of sports longest traditions

The English Premier League is widely considered to be the best soccer league in the world. It also boasts a distinction as the richest soccer league in the world as well. Of the ten highest value clubs in the world, six of them play in England’s top flight league. Since the league was renamed to the Premier League from the former Football League First Division, there have only been two years where a team outside of the top six earners (Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea) have won the league title: Blackburn Rovers in 1995 and Leicester City in 2016. The Premier League, like the rest of the major European leagues, is a bit top heavy.

The reason for this is easy to understand, without strict financial regulations the richest teams are permitted to spend exorbitant amounts of money on players, which allows them to be competitive. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, teams without massive amounts of capital never truly feel that they have an opportunity to win trophies. To solve this problem, the league has introduced the framework of a salary cap system where clubs would only be permitted to spend five times more…