Off Pitch: Football's Financial Integrity Weaknesses, and How to Strengthen
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Off Pitch: Football’s financial integrity weaknesses, and how to strengthen them Matt Andrews and Peter Harrington CID Working Paper No. 311 January 2016 Copyright 2016 Andrews, Matt; Harrington, Peter; and the President and Fellows oF Harvard College Working Papers Center for International Development at Harvard University Off Pitch: Football’s financial integrity weaknesses, and how to strengthen them Matt Andrews and Peter Harrington1 Abstract Men’s professional football is the biggest sport in the world, producing (by our estimate) US $33 billion a year. All is not well in the sector, however, with regular scandals raising questions about the role of money in the sport. The 2015 turmoil around FIFA is obviously the most well known example, creating a crisis in confidence in the sector. This study examines these questions, and the financial integrity weaknesses they reveal; it also offers ideas to strengthen the weaknesses. The study argues that football’s financial integrity weaknesses extend far beyond FIFA. These weaknesses have emerged largely because the sector is dominated by a small elite of clubs, players and owners centered in Europe’s top leagues. The thousands of clubs beyond this elite have very little resources, constituting a vast base of ‘have-nots’ in football’s financial pyramid. This pyramid developed in recent decades, fuelled by concentrated growth in new revenue sources (like sponsorships, and broadcasting). The growth has also led to increasingly complex transactions—in player transfers, club ownership and financing (and more)—and an expansion in opportunities for illicit practices like match-fixing, money laundering and human trafficking. We argue that football’s governing bodies – including FIFA – helped establish this pyramid. We explore the structural weaknesses of this pyramid by looking at five pillars of financial integrity (using data drawn from UEFA, FIFA, clubs, primary research, and interviews). In the first pillar of Financial Transparency and Literacy we find that a vast majority of the world’s clubs and governing bodies publish no financial data, leaving a vast dark space with no transparency. In the second pillar of Financial Sustainability we estimate that a majority of global clubs and governing bodies are at ‘medium to high risk’ of financial failure. We find, additionally, that European tax debts have grown despite Financial Fair Play, and confederations and FIFA contribute to a pattern of weak Fiscal Responsibility. We then create a new metric of Financial Concentration and find that the football sector is at ‘high risk’ of over-concentration, which poses existential questions for many clubs and even leagues. In the final pillar of Social Responsibility and Moral Reputation, we find that football’s governing bodies face a crisis of legitimacy stemming from a failure to tackle moral turpitude, set standards and regulate effectively. We suggest a set of reforms to re- structure FIFA in particular, separating its functions and stressing its regulatory role. 1 Associate Professor, Harvard Kennedy School, and Research Fellow, Harvard Center for International Development, respectively. This is Independent research commissioned by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) EUROPE as part of the Financial Integrity and Transparency in Sports (FITS) Global Project. All views and contents are strictly those of the authors alone and should not be seen to reflect the views of the ICSS EUROPE or the ICSS or Harvard University. The authors' thanks go to Katie Simmonds, who provided management support for research processes. The authors are also grateful for the involvement of officials in a number of confederations, associations, clubs and league bodies who offered information and data used in this study, and comments on earlier drafts. 2 Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3 1. Why Study Financial Integrity in Football? ........................................................................... 11 This Study’s Structure, and the Discussion Flow ...................................................................... 14 A Final Note of Introduction ..................................................................................................... 22 2. Describing Football’s Financial Landscape ........................................................................... 24 Global Football’s Financial Size ................................................................................................ 24 Global Football’s Financial Shape ............................................................................................. 31 Global Football’s Financial Growth .......................................................................................... 41 3. Football’s Financial Integrity Problems ................................................................................ 56 Global Football’s Financial Integrity Questions ........................................................................ 56 Existing Work on Financial Integrity in Football ....................................................................... 60 A New Approach to Examining Financial Integrity in Football ................................................. 65 4. Financial Transparency and Literacy .................................................................................... 68 Assessing the Status Quo ......................................................................................................... 68 Addressing the Status Quo ....................................................................................................... 85 Nothing Here Will Be Easy to Do ............................................................................................ 100 5. Financial Sustainability ....................................................................................................... 104 Assessing the Status Quo ....................................................................................................... 104 Addressing the Status Quo ..................................................................................................... 124 6. Fiscal Responsibility ............................................................................................................ 135 Assessing the Status Quo ....................................................................................................... 135 Addressing the Status Quo ..................................................................................................... 144 7. Financial Concentration ..................................................................................................... 152 Assessing the Status Quo ....................................................................................................... 153 Addressing the Status Quo ..................................................................................................... 160 8. Social Responsibility and Moral Reputation ....................................................................... 167 Assessing the Status Quo ....................................................................................................... 167 Addressing the Status Quo ..................................................................................................... 196 9. Football’s Pending Conversations ...................................................................................... 218 References .................................................................................................................................. 224 3 Executive Summary Global sport has grown significantly in the last generation, especially in monetary terms: the sports sector now generates US $80 billion a year. Such new wealth raises questions about financial integrity in sport. This study reviews these concerns in respect of men’s football. The study begins by assessing the financial landscape of football across the world. Data are very limited, but our research estimates that football produces about US $33 billion a year – more than any other sport, and about 40% of global sports revenue. Most of this is raised in Europe, with football remaining much smaller elsewhere, at least financially. FIFA, UEFA and national associations contribute about US $3 billion in additional revenue each year. Financially, global football is pyramid-shaped. A small minority of leagues, clubs, players, governing bodies and officials make significant money (about a quarter of global club revenue is produced by the wealthiest 30 clubs in Europe) whereas the rest make very little. This belies a common tendency to look at Europe’s rich clubs and assume football is awash with money. This pyramid took shape in recent decades due to significant growth, first centered in Europe’s top leagues but now shifting to Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This growth has exacerbated the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. It has been fuelled by new revenue sources—via corporate ownership, sponsorships, and broadcasting connections— and fosters an insatiable demand for talent at the top of the economic pyramid and links up and down the pyramid, making football more interconnected than ever. Entities at different places in the pyramid behave differently and face different challenges: ‘Win maximizing’ clubs at the top try to obtain the best talent and face high wage costs.