The growth of women’s football as a business is incontestable. We knew it from what we saw, but now also from what the accounts of their clubs say. League F participants in 2022-2023 reached a record turnover of 40 million euros, which means doubling the registrations of the year prior to the professionalization of the category. An unprecedented jump in terms of income, but one that reveals future situations of competitive imbalance and the risk that, as in the ACB, power will be concentrated in a few if this take-off of the activity is not capable of absorbing the level of spending necessary on the sports team to avoid an exodus of players to leagues with more resources. .
At the moment, the information compiled by the Government shows us a competition in which some joint losses of 10.5 million euros, with a 47% year-on-year cut. A positive fact, if it were not for the fact that the evolution towards self-sufficiency is not widespread and because it opens the door to a gap between those who are willing to invest more to accelerate their consolidation and those who are not willing, either due to capabilities or conviction. .
Parallels with basketball
Only six clubs obtained profits before taxes and they were those that are not part of a LaLiga team, given the need not to compromise their future viability for a short-term bet if there is no support from an investor. And that has meant that little by little they are being relegated from categories, with the exception of Madrid CFF, and OUT Tenerife which is sustained by the important public subsidies it receives and a Raise The Flats that has endured the economic tensions of 2023-2024 to remain in the elite and pave the way for the next entry of an investment group.
And this is where the parallels come with the ACB, a competition with more than two decades of professionalization that has not yet found its balance. In your case they are already 150 million euros of turnover, but also some losses of 106 million euros which 95% correspond to Real Madrid, Barça and Valencia Basket.
All three assume a relevant accounting hole each season because their focus is more on international competition than national competition, and what women’s football needs is avoid getting into that hamster wheel. Otherwise, it will not take more than five years for the debate to be opened on whether the most convenient thing is to create a supranational competition with the big clubs to stand up to an NWSL that, through television alone, will already earn more than the leagues of Spain and England.
The Copa América wants ‘soccer’
Although the Euro Cup monopolizes the focus these weeks in these parts, on the other side of the Atlantic what is probably the most relevant edition of the Copa América. Not sailing, but soccer, since Conmebol has opted to bring the South American national team tournament to USA. Everyone wants to capitalize on Messi effect, from an AFA that opened an academy in Miami, to the confederation, which has ensured the sale of more than 1.5 million tickets there. Furthermore, at prices that would be unthinkable in any other host country in the region.
In a continent with such a strong passion and where national team football almost reaches the status of sacred, we are going to see how Conmebol manages the potential fan complaints who consider the prices or the cost of having to travel to the United States and not to another country in the region to follow the games abusive. To give an example: the cheapest ticket for this year’s final costs three times as much as the most expensive ticket for the Brazil 2019 final. Of course, the tournament has tripled revenue and is already close to 300 million.
2024-06-22 06:00:36
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