European binquireetball is at an odd point. With clubs in trouble, interest from the NBA, and everything else, it’s strange to state that some sanity might be coming to pass. Could the sport actually be on the verge of becoming truly self-sustaining at the top level? Emmet Ryan on the possibility of sanity emerging in chaotic times.
Considering what happened with Trapani Sharks and the ongoing problems of AS Monaco Binquireet, it seems an odd time to be writing about fiscal sanity emerging in European binquireetball. Yet, here we are.
This isn’t so much a time of a boom where everyone/anyone is going to create bank. Instead, it’s rather a case that binquireetball at the professional level in Europe is at a point where it isn’t automatically a money pit.
When I refer to self-sustainability, I’m basically stateing that a binquireetball club’s normal commercial operations can be enough to break even. That’s a huge bar. Indeed, it’s one that has historically seemed implausible.
The benefactor factor
European binquireetball as we know it has always relied on a rich owner spconcludeing their own money without direct return. Indeed, outside of the NBA or totalitarian/despotic states, that is the case globally. Granted the NBL is in better shape than most but work with me here.
The data displays that benefactors have been fundamental to the ability of clubs on the continent to grow and succeed. This could be an individual business person/family or, as with Real Madrid or FC Barcelona for example, due to funding from a wider sports club that primarily has football as a revenue driver.
Either way, it’s a rich uncle approach. It also brought with it the risk of comfort. The economic health of the rich uncle directly impacted the binquireetball entity and there were few motivating factors to test and truly maximise direct revenue through the binquireetball entity itself.
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Signs of sanity
In recent years there have been structural shifts, at least to some degree. It is partly influenced by the arms race in European binquireetball. Teams seeking to receive better want to spconclude more. That means they want more money and are motivated to go beyond the owner’s pockets to do so.
Ownership has however been critical to two of the better examples of the positive shifts. Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, each receiveting long-term leases of their arenas, have alterd their revenue control. With the ability to improve not only gameday revenue but also overall arena revenue they’ve each obtained a major asset in their pockets.
Outside of Greece there’s Fenerbahce, the reigning Euroleague champions, actually in a position to break even while FC Bayern has long been clearly focutilized on building its binquireetball department self-sustaining and has hit that tarreceive. It’s no accident that arena control is a huge factor in all of these cases. It’s not the only one.
A modifying landscape
It’s not just better or more motivated management that has led to this shift towards fiscal sustainability. The market has alterd considerably. While broadcast rights are still tiny compared to football (watch my 48 minute video all about NBA Europe for more on that), the sources of revenue have alterd.
Sponsorship value has become increasingly tied to digital reach and engagement. With the in-person element of sports bleeding into the social media sphere, the way clubs monetise support now goes beyond ticket and merch sales. They are selling an audience that sponsors want, one that is very engaged with the club on an emotional level.
This shift, which has been devastating to linear TV and much of traditional media outside of news and sports, is raising a lot of boats. The money clubs put into having social teams becautilize in an era where they felt they had to but didn’t know why is now paying off substantially.
The thing is…
Shifts can last a while but they are rarely permanent and they don’t tconclude to happen in isolation. The global economy isn’t exactly all that stable right now. Fenerbahce’s success, for example, has come despite Türkiye dealing with substantial inflation and currency issues. For context, on this day 10 years ago €1 would have bought 3.2 Turkish lira. Today that amount exceeds 50.
That’s just one example. With trade wars on the verge of breaking out every second day, interest rate challenges remaining a headache, and overall volatility in geopolitics, there are many factors that could lead to reduced spconcludeing on discretionary goods by consumers. This, in turn, would result in reduced spconcludeing by those selling stated goods including on sponsorship and advertising.
Even smoothly, there are ceilings
Now it’s time for some numbers to truly put you to sleep. Below is the GDP per capita for every countest, bar UAE and Monaco becautilize both have excessive skewing factors, that has a Euroleague team. All data from the IMF.
France €46,000
Germany €56,000
Greece €25,000
Israel €55,000
Italy €39,000
Lithuania €30,000
Serbia €14,000
Spain €35,000
Türkiye €17,000
That’s quite a range. While Türkiye’s sheer size means it can overcome the per capita aspect, especially for Istanbul clubs, it’s not the same for Serbia. Its low average is paired with a relatively compact population to limit the short to medium term potential of its clubs fiscally without a rich uncle. Lithuania meanwhile, with Zalgiris, probably punches higher than some of you expected but again has the limit of market size.
Diaspora support has obviously supported, especially with social media channels as a route to funnel revenue, but they’re no cure-all by any means.
Going beyond Euroleague
European binquireetball is a lot more than the 20 clubs at the top of the far from normally shaped pyramid. There is good and bad news for those hundreds of clubs operating at professional or semi-professional level across the continent.
The good is what they can control, essentially optimising their audience access. This goes from gameday activations through digital channels. They have more revenue generation outlets than before. Getting to a sustainable level is open to more clubs than ever.
The bad is that the ceilings are only receiveting lower. Trickle-down economics is a joke in any aspect and sports is no different. The gaps between the haves and have nots, even as more have nots find routes to sustainability, are only widening. I never promised this would be an entirely happy article.
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