Why would anyone own a football team?

Owning a football club is not lucrative. Rarely have clubs ever made a profit, they require huge sums of capital, and football fans are fickle and can turn on even the most supportive owner.

So why do it? Abhishek Raj explains explains the pros and cons of owning a football club. Craig Silcock illustrates.

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[wawa-twji]

I think the biggest thing is running a successful football club can buy you what many billionaires cant buy, love and admiration. Think of the good press the haslams got in the MLS for buying and winning with the crew, or how leicester city owner became a legend for winning the prem. Or even on the smaller scale of the love that Brightons and Brentford owners get. Owning a football team can be passionate and provide a sense of meaning and purpose that not many other businesses do

[leobestbote]

Had a debate with my dad about this very matter as he was of the opinion that football owners have loads of profit and I was saying not necessarily. Thanx Tifo for this one now I will show my old man

[lancestone]

Owing a professional sports team is just a pissing contest for the mega billionaires!

[cupertinoish]

Owning a football club can also lend the owners massive influence on the community's land prices and development opportunities.

[the-d]

I just wanna be someone that can say, "I played manager mode in real life"....

[ovuncozkan]

Owning a club gives you easier access to local leaders, mayors, MPs of region etc. etc. It also provide you chance lead a community established around club, so even club is in negative, your other business can thrive enough to compensate.

[fIFTi]

Could you do a piece on pitch invaders? To me it feels like it has fallen out of fashion since the broadcasters will cut away but I read online that it has been a much more common occurence in the last years. Maybe there's other reasons I can't think of, would be an interesting discussion, I think.

[grantmasden]

idk how taxes work in the UK, but in America you can reduce your taxes by filing for losses. Many owners are likely saving money elsewhere by losing it in Football.

[ESCtdyerwestfield]

Same goes for all sports teams. Not a single one was set up originally in order to make money, they're just people that wanted to play for fun that has since become commercially marketable.

[ernestaddo]

Got the new TIFO FOOTBALL book and I'll say it is immaculate. Something that Ghana football wont do

[slow.poetry]

Nowadays in Portugal there's investors all the way down to the 4th division, which is wild. In fact there's so much money sloshing around that supporter owned clubs are unable to compete even on the 2nd division. It's a confusing business.

[iBhacaBeats]

In RSA it's done to destroy careers and history of the clubs. Our laws here allow you to buy a top tier team, relocate and change names. If another interests you, you go buy it change it. If you from England and frustrated by clubs being purchased, you don't know the pain South African football lovers go through. A team like Bloemfontein Celtics can be sold to MaMkhize while she still owns Royal AM then change the name of Celtics and move it to Durban. Leaving passionate Bloemfontein Celtics fans stranded all thanks to the business and football laws in my country.

[redstone]

Footballers are like artwork or rare gems. You can put any price you want on those items because it is like an auction. If a player is bought from Latin America into Europe then sold on later to England, you have swapped 3 currencies…the price can vary widely and how to tell if the money transferred was earned legally or not when you are dealing with multiple jurisdictions. A player normally valued at 25 million for most clubs, could be bought at 100 and no one can say anything because all the buyer has to say is they had to pay the high release clause because the club didn’t want to sell. This can be used by agents and clubs to launder money.

[victorian]

Could you have a video that compares the profitability of football to other sports like tennis, basketball, rugby etc. It should be really long.

[Evemeister]

Enhanced public profile, sportswashing. That sort of thing.

[seandelap]

With the latest developments about a possible European super league could you do a video on the implications on domestic football throughout Europe if it ends up happening

[lsr]

People are acting like there are only 20 football teams in this country.

We have so many teams in the football league and below. Take Scunthorpe United for example, the current ownership there risked everything to save the club and they are making no money themselves, whilst giving up all their time to save the club after the actions of the previous owner.

Many owners are good people, we can’t just hate on people generally. Everything needs to be taken on a case by case manner.

[dennyolderechterschot]

Running a football club has incredibly high business expenses that will allow the owners to basically pay a lot lower tax, maybe even zero

[BALHAM]

if anyone is interested
Afc Wimbledon ownership membership is £20
And Clapton CFC in east London is £5 i heard 😊

Edit update
How much are the Bundesliga teams to be a member?:)

[lawrenceporter]

The video says that an owner might entertain a potential or existing client by taking them to a game at their club. However the laws about this have recently become
extremely restricted in the last five years in Europe and the UK. A ticket to a football match is considered a gift in kind above a nominal value and therefore legally you cannot gift football tickets to potential or existing clients as it’s a form of bribery.

Most corporate hospitality now is used by a firm’s own employees or indeed paying members of the public. This is why clubs have recently started marketing hospitality packages to the public much more than they used to and why the price of hospitality tickets has fallen relative to match ticket prices. The new laws have limited this market.