Should UEFA introduce a salary cap?

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

PSG have won 6 out of 7 titles since 2012-13 in France, the one time they didn't, they signed Mbappe, their title rivals best player.

Juventus have won 8 Serie A titles in a row since 2011-12. The season they were run close by Napoli, they signed their best player.

Real Madrid or Barcelona have won 14 out of 15 titles in Spain since 2004-05

Bayern Munich have won 7 Bundesliga titles in a row since 2012-13, and have signed several of their closest title rivals best players in that time.

Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea have won 14 out of 15 titles in England since 2004-05

There's an absolute monopoly of the big European leagues, and what do they all have in common? The dominant teams have by far the highest annual wage bill. Financial fair play was a waste of time, and we can argue about transfer fees forever, but what about introducing a cap on what every European club can pay their players per season? Let's say £50m per season for example. We would see great young teams like Ajax, Monaco and Dortmund actually being able to keep their squads together and competing in Europe. Bayern wouldn't be able to just buy every decent player Dortmund, Leverkusen and Schalke produce. Teams with giant wage bills like City, Madrid, PSG, Barca, Juve and ourselves would actually have to offload some higher earners and look to bring through young players.

What you reckon? I know it's unlikely, as our game is as corrupt as the day is long and big money will always win with UEFA, but it'd be nice. Football is just kinda boring these days.

 

[Hulksmash]

Impossible , the EU law forbid it. Also teams would just use their sponsors to get money through players.

Uefa should scrap or change FFP which makes it impossible for weaker teams to catch up

 

[711]

PSG have won 6 out of 7 titles since 2012-13 in France, the one time they didn't, they signed Mbappe, their title rivals best player.

Juventus have won 8 Serie A titles in a row since 2011-12. The season they were run close by Napoli, they signed their best player.

Real Madrid or Barcelona have won 14 out of 15 titles in Spain since 2004-05

Bayern Munich have won 7 Bundesliga titles in a row since 2012-13, and have signed several of their closest title rivals best players in that time.

Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea have won 14 out of 15 titles in England since 2004-05

There's an absolute monopoly of the big European leagues, and what do they all have in common? The dominant teams have by far the highest annual wage bill. Financial fair play was a waste of time, and we can argue about transfer fees forever, but what about introducing a cap on what every European club can pay their players per season? Let's say £50m per season for example. We would see great young teams like Ajax, Monaco and Dortmund actually being able to keep their squads together and competing in Europe. Bayern wouldn't be able to just buy every decent player Dortmund, Leverkusen and Schalke produce. Teams with giant wage bills like City, Madrid, PSG, Barca, Juve and ourselves would actually have to offload some higher earners and look to bring through young players.

What you reckon? I know it's unlikely, as our game is as corrupt as the day is long and big money will always win with UEFA, but it'd be nice. Football is just kinda boring these days.

And salary caps would make it a lot more corrupt. You will never create a truly level playing field but there are things that could be done, such as reducing maximum squad sizes and not allowing loans to other clubs.

Also it's a bit unfair to include England in the same list as the others, with three frequent winners and Liverpool very close on top.

 

[Loon]

For Alexis Sanchez exclusively. Yes.

 

[exit35]

PSG have won 6 out of 7 titles since 2012-13 in France, the one time they didn't, they signed Mbappe, their title rivals best player.

Juventus have won 8 Serie A titles in a row since 2011-12. The season they were run close by Napoli, they signed their best player.

Real Madrid or Barcelona have won 14 out of 15 titles in Spain since 2004-05

Bayern Munich have won 7 Bundesliga titles in a row since 2012-13, and have signed several of their closest title rivals best players in that time.

Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea have won 14 out of 15 titles in England since 2004-05

There's an absolute monopoly of the big European leagues, and what do they all have in common? The dominant teams have by far the highest annual wage bill. Financial fair play was a waste of time, and we can argue about transfer fees forever, but what about introducing a cap on what every European club can pay their players per season? Let's say £50m per season for example. We would see great young teams like Ajax, Monaco and Dortmund actually being able to keep their squads together and competing in Europe. Bayern wouldn't be able to just buy every decent player Dortmund, Leverkusen and Schalke produce. Teams with giant wage bills like City, Madrid, PSG, Barca, Juve and ourselves would actually have to offload some higher earners and look to bring through young players.

What you reckon? I know it's unlikely, as our game is as corrupt as the day is long and big money will always win with UEFA, but it'd be nice. Football is just kinda boring these days.

I imagine if you introduce a salary cap the image rights, bonuses or signing fees could increase to make up for it.

 

[Abe144]

Why give UEFA more power? Let the leagues decide

 

[adexkola]

"It won't work

"You'll never eliminate inequality in football

"Its earned money

That's how this conversation will go

 

[Ish]

"It won't work

"You'll never eliminate inequality in football

"Its earned money

That's how this conversation will go

“Clubs will simply just find loopholes or ways around it”

“It’s not lawful” etc.

 

[RyRy11]

I think a more even distribution of TV and prize money would help across the European leagues.

 

[Carolina Red]

And salary caps would make it a lot more corrupt.

I’m interested in why folks think this.

 

[Casanova85]

Big no. Freedom.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Where did the nonsense idea that it is against eu law come from ? It could easily be implemented

 

[R'hllor]

Dunno about salary but think rules around agents should be reworked. Still dont understand who was the smart one with idea of agents being paid by the clubs. Guess 20-30 years ago, bigger clubs used agents to do their bidding and they werent paid as much back then, now things went tits up, agents fee, they owning % of players, they taking % of transfer fees between clubs, its madness.

 

[Eriku]

I’m interested in why folks think this.

You don’t think agents and sponsor will craftily find shady work-arounds? Same as FFP.

 

[Jack - City Fan]

Absolutely, but they wont.

 

[Red_toad]

"It won't work

"You'll never eliminate inequality in football

"Its earned money

That's how this conversation will go

What would anyone have to do to earn half a million per week? No one works that hard, so it should be impossible to 'earn' that amount.

 

[duffer]

Impossible , the EU law forbid it.

How so? Plenty of jobs in the UK have a maximum salary.

 

[Carolina Red]

You don’t think agents and sponsor will craftily find shady work-arounds? Same as FFP.

From an American perspective, it appears to be the better system. Most of our major professional leagues use salary caps and revenue sharing. Hence my question.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Impossible , the EU law forbid it. Also teams would just use their sponsors to get money through players.

Uefa should scrap or change FFP which makes it impossible for weaker teams to catch up

They have salary caps in Rugby. Why would the EU have a specific rule for football? I don't buy that.

 

[JPRouve]

Leagues don't have the same Economy and wages are vastly different, so how is that supposed to work at the confederation level? A salary cap that is low enough to bother PSG, will cripple bigger leagues like the PL.

 

[Eriku]

From an American perspective, it appears to be the better system. Most of our major professional leagues use salary caps and revenue sharing. Hence my question.

Yeah, I dunno where I stand on the value judgement. I just know if there’s a salary cap and a ton of people circumventing it through semi-legal means, that is corruption by definition.

 

[Carolina Red]

Yeah, I dunno where I stand on the value judgement. I just know if there’s a salary cap and a ton of people circumventing it through semi-legal means, that is corruption by definition.

How would the circumvention happen though, is my question.

We don’t see that here, and we’ve a ton of leagues with salary caps.

 

[JPRouve]

From an American perspective, it appears to be the better system. Most of our major professional leagues use salary caps and revenue sharing. Hence my question.

I don't agree with the corruption argument but american leagues are single leagues in one competition. It's like saying that the FIH should determine the rules of the financial rules for the KHL, NHL, Liiga, etc.

 

[ATXRedDevil]

They have salary caps in Rugby. Why would the EU have a specific rule for football? I don't buy that.

Does rugby have a collective bargaining agreement between the league and a union representing the players? That’s the only way it works in the US. Without a CBA and a union representing the player, the draft and cap systems violate antitrust/labor laws.

I’ve no clue on the EU laws.

 

[Carolina Red]

I don't agree with the corruption argument but american leagues are single leagues in one competition. It's like saying that the FIH should determine the rules of the financial rules for the KHL, NHL, Liiga, etc.

I agree that the hurdle comes in with multiple separate national leagues. I just didn’t see where the corruption argument was coming from.

 

[darko]

From an American perspective, it appears to be the better system. Most of our major professional leagues use salary caps and revenue sharing. Hence my question.

If Japan, European nations or some other country could have the financial power to compete with MLB, NBA or the NFL, North American League's salary cap wouldn't last that long.

 

[Carolina Red]

If Japan, European nations or some other country could have the financial power to compete with MLB, NBA or the NFL, North American League's salary cap wouldn't last that long.

I’m not sure of the relevance here.

 

[Snowjoe]

I agree that the hurdle comes in with multiple separate national leagues. I just didn’t see where the corruption argument was coming from.

Over here we have teams like Saracens who’s owner happens to invest in companies set up and owned by their players.

All above board of course...

 

[JPRouve]

I agree that the hurdle comes in with multiple separate national leagues. I just didn’t see where the corruption argument was coming from.

Funnily enough one of the solutions is obvious but it's the one that people dislike the most. A closed super league organized by the UEFA, you take the biggest clubs, that represent the biggest markets in the main UEFA nations, put them in conferences and use a regular season- playoff format. The teams that aren't part of that super league will still be part of their respective national leagues and the CL could still be a competition for them.

That's pretty much the logic of Sanzar with Super Rugby.

 

[711]

I’m interested in why folks think this.

A mixture of knowing human nature and experience. Corruption is widespread around the world as people use money and other inducements to gain advantage over whatever system they're confronted with. In British sport I'm old enough to remember when athletics and rugby union were supposedly 100% amateur, but everyone knew they weren't in practice. In European football now there are rules against paying under age players yet huge clubs have been punished by the football authorities for doing just that, and it won't stop, they'll just get more subtle about it with jobs and houses for the parents and so on.

The only argument against the likelihood of corruption I've come across is that people say some US sports have a salary cap and it isn't abused. Then again they say there's no drug abuse as well.

 

[JPRouve]

Over here we have teams like Saracens who’s owner happens to invest in companies set up and owned by their players.

All above board of course...

And in France Altrad promised to build an hospital for the Du Plessis brothers.

 

[edcunited1878]

Does rugby have a collective bargaining agreement between the league and a union representing the players? That’s the only way it works in the US. Without a CBA and a union representing the player, the draft and cap systems violate antitrust/labor laws.

I’ve no clue on the EU laws.

Second this. The players union in America is very strong for all major sports and the CBA goes a long way. The CBA does a very good job, for the most part, in sharing revenue amongst owners/teams and players.

Even without a salary cap, baseball is pretty competitive because of farm systems (i.e. player academies if you will), analytics and the draft...among a few other things.

I would much rather see something done about player contracts and having players see them through and maintaining the terms of their contract unless the club decides to give the player renewed terms based on an increase in performance.

 

[edcunited1878]

A mixture of knowing human nature and experience. Corruption is widespread around the world as people use money and other inducements to gain advantage over whatever system they're confronted with. In British sport I'm old enough to remember when athletics and rugby union were supposedly 100% amateur, but everyone knew they weren't in practice. In European football now there are rules against paying under age players yet huge clubs have been punished by the football authorities for doing just that, and it won't stop, they'll just get more subtle about it with jobs and houses for the parents and so on.

The only argument against the likelihood of corruption I've come across is that people say some US sports have a salary cap and it isn't abused. Then again they say there's no drug abuse as well.

The salary cap is really difficult to waltz around because it's transparent policy, as are player salaries as they impact said salary cap. Teams can reduce the impact on the salary, but only a little bit, with deferred payment years, signing bonuses or locking a player in a longer than average contract to lower the average annual fee.

 

[Carolina Red]

In European football now there are rules against paying under age players yet huge clubs have been punished by the football authorities for doing just that, and it won't stop, they'll just get more subtle about it with jobs and houses for the parents and so on.

What are the penalties for doing this?

The only argument against the likelihood of corruption I've come across is that people say some US sports have a salary cap and it isn't abused. Then again they say there's no drug abuse as well.

They do?

 

[Carolina Red]

Over here we have teams like Saracens who’s owner happens to invest in companies set up and owned by their players.

All above board of course...

I don’t know if this happens over here or not, but I’ve not heard of it.

It might be something that would violate the CBA.

Funnily enough one of the solutions is obvious but it's the one that people dislike the most. A closed super league organized by the UEFA, you take the biggest clubs, that represent the biggest markets in the main UEFA nations, put them in conferences and use a regular season- playoff format. The teams that aren't part of that super league will still be part of their respective national leagues and the CL could still be a competition for them.

That's pretty much the logic of Sanzar with Super Rugby.

Yeah, I don’t think I’d want that, but I don’t see why a CBA couldn’t be drawn up that applies to all of UEFA. Then again, maybe not. It could be impossible to do without a Super League because of the massive differences in national leagues.

 

[JPRouve]

I don’t know if this happens over here or not, but I’ve not heard of it.

It might be something that would violate the CBA.

Yeah, I don’t think I’d want that, but I don’t see why a CBA couldn’t be drawn up that applies to all of UEFA. Then again, maybe not. It could be impossible to do without a Super League because of the massive differences in national leagues.

The answer is money, it doesn't come from the same pot and the pots have vastly different sizes. Also the UEFA isn't the league organizer.

 

[adexkola]

UEFA could mandate that squads that compete in the Champions League conform to a certain salary cap. Would prevent teams stockpiling talent to go at the CL.

The PL, La Liga, et al... Could institute their own salary caps as well, that are more in line with the economics of that specific league.

It would suck to see the extra money go into the pockets of the owners. Rather that money go into subsidizing fan tickets or bringing more coaches into the game.

 

[Velvet Revolver]

Salary caps make sense when the transfer fees are not involved. If you are talking about the US sports structure it is quite different from the way other leagues around the world work. I am all for it, have a salary cap for the team. However the draft process in the US system ensures that not all talent is hoarded in one team ( loan system being abused by chelsea). So yeah salary cap makes sense but it needs to be supported with other factors as well.

 

[Carolina Red]

The answer is money, it doesn't come from the same pot and the pots have vastly different sizes. Also the UEFA isn't the league organizer.

But they do control the CL and EL competitions.

Edit: what @adexkola said

 

[Carolina Red]

Salary caps make sense when the transfer fees are not involved. If you are talking about the US sports structure it is quite different from the way other leagues around the world work. I am all for it, have a salary cap for the team. However the draft process in the US system ensures that not all talent is hoarded in one team ( loan system being abused by chelsea). So yeah salary cap makes sense but it needs to be supported with other factors as well.

The MLS has blended a salary “budget”, a draft, transfer fees, and youth academies all together.

That said, it is a closed league with a franchise system.