Earlier this school year, I discovered that I really enjoy watching soccer, specifically the English Premier League (EPL) variety.
It’s quickly become one of my favorite sports, as it has just about everything I love in a game: constant action, deep tactics and it is truly beautiful to watch.
When I began watching soccer I decided I should have a team to root for, and seeing as I don’t live in England, I was free to choose any team I wanted, without regard for geography.
Now, many in my situation would have chosen one of the “Big Six” teams, like Manchester United or Arsenal.
I, on the other hand, decided to root for Crystal Palace, a consistently mid-table team that hasn’t won much of anything in recent memory. Maybe it makes sense that I was drawn to a team like that…my beloved Chicago Bears aren’t exactly the picture of success.
But there is a huge difference between why the Bears have had only had two truly successful seasons in my lifetime and why Palace has lived in the low reaches of the PL for nearly the league’s entire 30-year history.
See, the league has these things called “profitability and sustainability rules.” According to the Athletic, these rules dictate that teams are only allowed to lose up to $15 million over a three year period, or $105 million if a club owner invests in the club in a certain way.
And if you lose more than that? Well, Everton found out late last year, when they were penalized 10 points in the standings for violating P&S rules.
For reference, last season 10 points was the difference between finishing in 12th place (of 20) and being one of three relegated out of the PL.
Right now, Everton is facing a further points deduction for another violation, while Nottingham Forest is also at risk of being docked points for their own “overspending.”
This brings me back to Palace. Why don’t I have any hope of Palace even sniffing the top 4 of the PL anytime soon? Well, to start, they just make so much less money than the Big Six I mentioned before.
These teams are called the Big Six because they dominate the rest of the league; they make so much more money, allowing them to purchase better players and completely dominate on the field (and with no salary cap or luxury tax in soccer, teams can spend as much as they can afford, within S&P rules).
Sometimes, the Big Six have challengers. Right now, Aston Villa sits in fourth at the table despite not being one of the Six. But in the long term, it is incredibly hard to displace those top teams, and it is exceedingly difficult to compete with them because they just make so much more money than everyone else.
Teams just can’t afford to challenge the Big Six. To spend big you need to earn big, but to earn big you need to build a big stadium and be good enough to fill it, and to do all of that you need to earn big. It’s a closed loop that only the teams at the top have access to, and as a result there is very little parity in the league.
The PL (and the Union of European Football Associations more broadly) should ditch these rules, because soccer just isn’t as fun when the same teams always win. Let smaller teams drop loads of money on a roster, in the hope of hitting it big at the top of the table. Maybe they make it, maybe they flame out and crash out of the PL, but either way, it’ll be more fun.
