By Daragh O'Leary
In the most recent episode of the Overlap fan debate Gary Neville did something that I rarely give him credit for. He made a good point. Panellists on the show began talking about how great it is having smaller clubs like Luton Town in the Premier League and naturally enough, people began to discuss the ever growing gap between the revenue generated by the Premier League compared to the second tier Championship below.
The fact that a club as small as Luton Town can get into the Premier League and see a massive increase in their revenue is one of the great things about the pyramid system in English football. Teams can dare to go from non-league to the very pinnacle of football. Not only does this provide a massive incentive for lower teams to reach for the stars, the added factor of smaller clubs being able to slay one of the Premier League’s giants provides some extra drama to the Premier League.
These benefits which are derived from the pyramid system were some of the reasons that Neville was disgusted with the proposed Super League a few years ago. This was a proposed alternative competition to the UEFA Champions League where only the traditional Big Six clubs in England would be able to participate against other top European teams. Many criticised this proposition off the basis that big clubs had no God given right to play in Europe’s top competition and rather qualification should remain a possibility for any team in England which can finish in the top 4 of the Premier League.
While I agree with this critique, I think a point made by Neville on the Overlap could explain why the Big Six clubs wanted the Super League. Were Neville an economist, he may simply have called the newly promoted clubs to the Premier League free riders. Instead, he took the long way around and explained that the Premier League needs the Big Six because they are responsible for the vast majority of the interest in the competition. This is probably why punishments for the Big Six were so mild after they tried to join the Super League – a £3.4 million fine rather than relegation or expulsion.
Newly promoted teams to the Premier League see a massive increase in their revenue not because they are all of a sudden so much better at football that there is now massive international interest in watching them, but rather because they have gained entry into a league where they will be playing against some incredibly popular teams.
Yes, smaller teams are important and it is great to enjoy the occasional giant slaying, but I doubt most people would be too fussed over which club does the slaying. I, and I assume other fans, am equally as happy to watch Luton Town play one of the Big Six as I would be to watch Wimbledon, Leeds, QPR, or Leicester City do the same. As for how happy I am to watch matches where smaller clubs play other smaller clubs, it depends what else is on!
This is a nice illustration of the free rider problem in economics whereby certain individuals within a group can benefit from a resource they share with others which they don’t contribute towards as much themselves. Of course newly promoted teams in the Premier League deserve to be where they are and certainly shouldn’t be happy to simply “make up the numbers”, but the main reason they make as much money as they do is because of the interest in their famous opposition.
In the most recent episode of the Overlap fan debate Gary Neville did something that I rarely give him credit for. He made a good point. Panellists on the show began talking about how great it is having smaller clubs like Luton Town in the Premier League and naturally enough, people began to discuss the ever growing gap between the revenue generated by the Premier League compared to the second tier Championship below.
The fact that a club as small as Luton Town can get into the Premier League and see a massive increase in their revenue is one of the great things about the pyramid system in English football. Teams can dare to go from non-league to the very pinnacle of football. Not only does this provide a massive incentive for lower teams to reach for the stars, the added factor of smaller clubs being able to slay one of the Premier League’s giants provides some extra drama to the Premier League.
These benefits which are derived from the pyramid system were some of the reasons that Neville was disgusted with the proposed Super League a few years ago. This was a proposed alternative competition to the UEFA Champions League where only the traditional Big Six clubs in England would be able to participate against other top European teams. Many criticised this proposition off the basis that big clubs had no God given right to play in Europe’s top competition and rather qualification should remain a possibility for any team in England which can finish in the top 4 of the Premier League.
While I agree with this critique, I think a point made by Neville on the Overlap could explain why the Big Six clubs wanted the Super League. Were Neville an economist, he may simply have called the newly promoted clubs to the Premier League free riders. Instead, he took the long way around and explained that the Premier League needs the Big Six because they are responsible for the vast majority of the interest in the competition. This is probably why punishments for the Big Six were so mild after they tried to join the Super League – a £3.4 million fine rather than relegation or expulsion.
Newly promoted teams to the Premier League see a massive increase in their revenue not because they are all of a sudden so much better at football that there is now massive international interest in watching them, but rather because they have gained entry into a league where they will be playing against some incredibly popular teams.
Yes, smaller teams are important and it is great to enjoy the occasional giant slaying, but I doubt most people would be too fussed over which club does the slaying. I, and I assume other fans, am equally as happy to watch Luton Town play one of the Big Six as I would be to watch Wimbledon, Leeds, QPR, or Leicester City do the same. As for how happy I am to watch matches where smaller clubs play other smaller clubs, it depends what else is on!
This is a nice illustration of the free rider problem in economics whereby certain individuals within a group can benefit from a resource they share with others which they don’t contribute towards as much themselves. Of course newly promoted teams in the Premier League deserve to be where they are and certainly shouldn’t be happy to simply “make up the numbers”, but the main reason they make as much money as they do is because of the interest in their famous opposition.
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