What to do with all that money?
The 2017/18 football season is starting. For many fans a long dry spell is coming to an end, but for many clubs the cash registers are just starting to ring. Never has there been so much money in the game.
An avalanche of cash
It's obvious that the 222 million-euro ($260-million) transfer fee helped convince Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. that kicking the ball around the Eiffel Tower is simply more fun than in Barcelona. A Brazilian moving from Spain to France all because a sheikh from the Middle East dug deep into his pockets - that is globalization!
Follow the money…
... for example to Dortmund: The millions for Neymar's transfer had not even reached Barcelona when Barca sent a delegation to Germany to try and convince the talented Ousmane Dembele that he could earn more money in Spain than at Borussia Dortmund. (But if not now, maybe in winter?)
Spending money freely
However, those who complain about the inflation in transfer fees should not only blame the Arabs, Chinese, or Russians. The Bundesliga clubs have also had their hand in the game: Borussia Dortmund recently transferred 20 million euros to Freiburg for Maximilian Philipp, a promising striker. By German standards, Philipp - though talented - is already a very expensive player.
In the end 'a lot of money' is only relative
But what do the athletic millionaires actually earn? In this regard the Bundesliga is pretty secretive, but rumor has it that Neymar will make about 30 million a year. To put things into perspective, on average the head of a German DAX company makes around 6.4 million and a Bundesliga player around 1.9 million. The average soccer fan on the other hand makes only 42,000 euros.
It doesn't end there
The Bundesliga players cost the league's 18 teams around 75 million euros. The UK's Premier League has to spend more than twice as much - 152 million euros - to insure that anybody will move to the island at all. But Neymar's 30-million-euro salary is going to skew the whole equation.
Contributions great and small
The cash for the playes doesn't only come from big sponsors - it also comes from the fans. An HSV Hamburg fan can pay more than 800 euros for a season ticket - a premium for a near guaranteed slide into the relegation zone! And then of course all fans need a home jersey, the club's current away jersey, and plates, mugs, pans or toasters emblazoned with the club logo.
A free-for-all
In the Bundesliga the so-called 50+1 rule applies for most teams. This rule is meant to prevent a rich Russian, Chinese or Arab investor from coming in and buying a whole club. Now another team has joined in and abolished this rule: Hannover 96. Apparently club President Martin Kind thinks it won't be so bad. You can't earn as much with Kind's hearing aids as you can with crude oil.
Winning games with money
And nearly everyone agrees that Bayern Munich will win the German championship again. It is also the most valuable club in the league - valued at around 2.4 billion euros. What's for sure is that Dortmund and Schalke won't make it. Both teams together are only worth 1.7 billion euros.
Christiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Paul Pogba: All three have cost their current clubs a little more or a little less than 100 million euros each in transfer fees. Many have already commented that this is unacceptable. But suddenly thanks to Neymar we have reached a whole new level. Now even the Bundesliga will surely feel the repercussions.