For over a decade, there have been discussions about the Premier League’s salary caps. However, with every passing season, more teams are feeling the pinch with no fundamental changes in sight. This concept of capping salaries has been around for a while and aims to create a level playing field. This even became a topic of discussion in parliament with the Financial Fair Play (FFP) law being introduced. But unfortunately, the law has so many loopholes that it remains wholly ineffective.
One thing to keep in mind as you read this article iswill a salary cap only work in the favour of those who don’t need to follow its rules? If the UK enforced a salary cap, would this simply rebalance Europe and bring the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Manchester United and Liverpool back down into the mix.
Now for the big question, should the Premier League have a salary cap? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. Of course, everyone might have wildly different opinions on the matter.
Most people will acknowledge that the Premier League is an example of ‘free market economics.’ You’ve got a supply of top-level athletes who are picked worldwide and demand from big clubs with the ability to write fat checks.
It’s not necessarily an easy question to answer. In recent years Chelsea and Manchester City posted an annual loss of £1.5 billion between them. 토토 That’s two teams out of twenty in the league. That’s a staggering amount of money, and maybe it’s a prime example of why a salary cap might just be the answer to solving issues like this. There are major disparities in how much one team spends on wages versus the other. Let’s take Manchester City, which spends roughly £360 million, and compare it to Norwich City, which spends around £100 million. We’re not talking a few million pounds difference. We’re talking £260 million. This isn’t a gap. It’s a chasm. How do these teams fair on the field? It’s predictable. Manchester City dominates Norwich City due to the fact that they can afford some of the best players in the league.
The major downside of allowing inconsistent spending between teams is that we’re getting predictable games where we’re not surprised when a team like Manchester City plays Norwich City. Is that what we want out of football?
The Premier League is made up of 20 teams. If you were to add up the annual salary spend and divide it by 20 teams, you’d be left with £190 million per team. That’s a reasonable amount to spend per team. However, 25% of the teams are spending more than this. So we’re not talking about a little over £190 million. As we’ve seen with Manchester City, the amount of money being spent is astronomical compared to a theoretical salary cap and the reality of other teams’ spending.