欧洲各大足球联赛贫富差距根源
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国际顶级足球赛事欧洲冠军联赛（Champions League）于9月16日展开小组赛。欧洲的顶级俱乐部将利用这次机会，展示他们夏季斥资引援的成果。 这真是个一掷千金的夏天：英超球队总共花费了10.5亿欧元（约合14亿美元）购买球员，而去年这一数字为7.52亿欧元。西甲球队购买球员的总开支为4.79亿欧元。意大利和德国职业球队则分别花费了3.28亿欧元和3.15亿欧元。 当然，欧洲足球的人才机制与其他行业的国际人才聘用模式没什么不同，表现最好的员工都倾向于为最慷慨的雇主工作。 美国范德比尔特大学（Vanderbilt University）体育经济学家约翰•弗鲁曼表示：“转会花销类似于国际贸易差额。比起收入较低的国内足球联赛，富有的联赛通常会引入更多人才。” 根据德勤会计师事务所（Deloitte）发布的足球财政年度报告（Annual Review of Football Finance），在2012-2013赛季，英超联赛收入29亿欧元，而德国和西班牙联赛分别收入20亿欧元和19亿欧元，考虑到这点，英超联赛的俱乐部花钱最为慷慨也就不足为奇了。不过今年夏天的斥资引援也体现了欧洲足球联赛在组织上的很大差异。将英超联赛和西甲联赛进行对比，这种差异体现得尤其明显。 自英超联赛于1992年成立以来，电视转播收入的分配就十分公平。目前，所有国际转播收入由各队平分，国内电视转播的一半收入也采用这种分配方式。另一半国内电视转播收入则根据球队表现和在电视转播中出现的频率进行分配。 这种分配相对平均的做法，使得英超联赛各队的电视转播收入相差无几。在今年5月结束的赛季中，赚钱最多的利物浦队（Liverpool）在电视转播上收入1.22亿欧元，仅是垫底的卡迪夫城队（Cardiff City）的1.57倍（收入7,770万欧元）。这种公平的分配体系让规模较小的英超球队也有财力购买球员，这使得联赛在人才引进方面的整体花费水涨船高。 国际体育经济学家协会（International Association of Sports Economists）主席兼西班牙奥维耶多大学（University of Oviedo）经济学教授普拉西多•罗德里格斯表示：“因为各队都有着不错的收入，因此英超联赛垫底的球队也能角逐转会市场。” 当然，最大英超球队的收入和花销都远远多于那些小球队。在2014年的转会市场上，被弗鲁曼称为“体育爱好者”或“糖果老爹”（即那些更在意球队输赢，而不是盈利状况的富人）所持有或控制的四家俱乐部在购买球员上的花费，就占到了整个英超联赛该项花费的一大半。这些俱乐部分别是利物浦（1.458亿欧元）、切尔西（Chelsea，1.113亿欧元）、阿森纳（Arsenal，9,270万欧元）、以及在德勤足球队财富排行榜（Football Money League）上位列第四的曼彻斯特联队（Manchester United）。 |
When soccer’s top international tournament, theChampions League, begins its group stage on September 16, it will offer a chance for Europe’s top clubs to show off the results of their summer spending. And quite a summer of spending it was: Teams in England’s Premier League spent €1.05 billion (about $1.4 billion) buying players, up from €752 million last year. In Spain’s La Liga, the teams paid €479 million. And in Italy and Germany, they spent €328 million and €315 million respectively. Of course, European soccer operates like any international talent business, with top performers gravitating to the most generous employers. “Transfer spending is analogous to the international balance of trade, where wealthy leagues usually import more talent than lower revenue domestic leagues,” says John Vrooman, a Vanderbilt University sports economist. So it is no surprise that Premier League clubs spent the most, considering that its revenues hit €2.9 billion in the 2012-2013 season, compared to €2.0 billion and €1.9 billion for the German and Spanish leagues, according to Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance. But this summer’s spending also puts on display the vast differences in how European soccer leagues are organized. This is especially true when one compares England’s Premier League with Spain’s La Liga. Since its founding in 1992, the Premier League has distributed television revenue fairly evenly. Currently, all international distribution revenues are spread evenly among the teams, as is half of the domestic TV income. The rest of the domestic income is paid out depending on performance and television appearances. This relatively egalitarian distribution means that the difference in TV revenues among Premier League teams is low. During the season that ended in May, the top earner, Liverpool, received €122 million in TV revenues, 1.57 times what last place Cardiff City got (€77.7 million). The Premier League’s equal payout system allows smaller English teams to buy players, which increases the league’s overall spending on talent. “As they all have good incomes, the last team in the Premier League can participate in the transfer market,” says Plácido Rodríguez, president of the International Association of Sports Economists and an economics professor at Spain’s University of Oviedo. Of course, the biggest English teams make and spend a lot more than the smaller ones. During the 2014 transfer window, Premier League buying was driven largely by the spending of four clubs owned or controlled by what Vrooman calls “sportsman” or “sugar-daddy” owners (i.e. rich men who care more about winning than profit): Liverpool (€145.8 million), Chelsea (€111.3 million), Arsenal (€92.7 million) and the fourth richest team in Deloitte’s annual Football Money League ranking, Manchester United. |
