Is Bundesliga taking over the top spot from the Premier League?
October 22nd 2010 11:19
I have recently read an interesting article from Leander Schaerlaeckens
of ESPN which discuss the popularity and growing success of the Bundesliga.
Article By Leander Schaerlaeckens
The Germans, to borrow a cliché, aren't so much known for being unpredictable. The country's soccer has never been confused for being high on octane, scoring and entertainment. But all bets are off in Europe's healthiest soccer league.
In its first eight rounds of topsy-turvy play this season, the Bundesliga has seen Michael Bradley's Borussia Monchengladbach beat Bayer Leverkusen 6-3 before losing its next games by 4-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt (which had yet to garner any other points) and 7-0 to Stuttgart (a team that has mustered just one draw from its seven other games). Two matches later, Stuttgart lost 4-1 to the very Leverkusen that had gotten trounced by Gladbach. Meanwhile, powerhouses Schalke 04 and defending champions Bayern Munchen languish in second-to-last and 10th place, respectively. Mainz, which came in ninth last year and wasn't even in the Bundesliga the season before that, sat at the top of the table with an unblemished record until this past weekend.
While the English Premier League is seen as the gold standard, a scenario is unfolding in which the Bundesliga could surpass the EPL to become the world's most popular and successful soccer league. If that sounds like a stretch, consider that the Bundesliga is already the best-attended league and arguably the most exciting one, too.
German soccer is leading the way on another front as well. Most European soccer clubs are struggling with massive debt. The 20 English Premier League clubs have a combined debt that has spiraled to $4.45 billion. In La Liga, last year's 20 teams rang up $4.65 billion in debt. (For more on the European debt crisis in football, click here.) Contrast that with Germany, where the country's 36 pro teams are (wait for it) actually making money. Or at least not finding themselves under the weight of crushing debt.
"The Bundesliga is being held up as a model of financial virtue and good governance," said Simon Chadwick, a sports economist from the University of Coventry in England.
In Germany, you don't read stories about big-money buyouts and hostile takeovers by wealthy foreign investors. There's no talk of teams going bust. And there's a simple reason why.
Clubs aren't allowed to behave like irresponsible teenagers with their parents' credit cards at their disposal.
The steady growth of the Bundesliga is made possible, in large part, by avoiding the injections of cash that have turned middling Premier League clubs such as Manchester City into transfer market giants. Honoring the German federation's 50 1 rule, Bundesliga clubs all have the same majority owner -- their fans, who maintain control of 50 percent of shares plus one. There are a few exceptions, such as Wolfsburg, which is owned by Volkswagen, which, of course, is based in the same city as the team. Ditto Bayer Leverkusen, which is owned by Bayer pharmaceuticals. But in both cases, ownership is still community-based.
The 50 1 rule means that German soccer avoids the economic instability that comes from deep-pocketed entrepreneurs swooping in to purchase a club. Such arrangements go sour at least as often as they work out (see: Newcastle United, Portsmouth FC and Liverpool FC, to name just three).
"What you're not getting is entrepreneurs buying up clubs and amassing massive debt and then leaving the club behind in difficulty," said Chadwick.
Ok, you get the point to finish the article visit Really Long Link
So what do you think? Thats my question to you.
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