Football: The Real Driving Force Behind Global Cities Arik Patino [2013]
*Photo of a midweek football match between Fenerbahรงe and Trabzonspor
Created for Global Urban Lab Rice University: School of Social Sciences & Kinder Institute for Urban Research
Table of Contents Cover Page .................................................................................................................................................... 0 Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 2 Report ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Related Research………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…3 Research Question……………….......................................................................................................................5 Methods……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………5 Findings……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Club Supporters………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 Stadiums…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11 Community Relations…………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….12 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 16
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Executive Summary The following research report analyzes the impact of several different football clubs on the identity of the cities of London and Istanbul. In order to measure the influence that the clubs play, several different aspects of the teams were measured. The report analyzes more than just the players and coaches of the clubs; it examine other components that are vital to a successful football organization and that have a large impact on the city at large. With the high number of clubs that are located within these two cities, football has a large presence in their identity. London and Istanbul were chosen as the two cities to be examined in this study because of their status as global cities and access by the author to the football and culture of these cities.
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Report Introduction Early this year, 2013, Manchester United Football Club became the first sports team in the world to pass the $3 billion valuation mark. The club has actually reached a value of over $3.3 billion, while the next highest valued sports team in the world is the Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.1 billion. 1 In fact, four of the top ten sports franchises in the world are football (soccer)* clubs, with the Manchester United FC and Real Madrid FC claiming the top two spots. What have these football clubs done to be so financially successful? More importantly, what effect do these clubs have on the cities in which they are located? When analyzing the social, economic, and even the political implications that the sport has on cities, it is clear as to how football has helped drive forward global cities. This influence has been reciprocal, with cities influencing the growth and course of football clubs. 2 Related Research Studies and research exploring the economic powerhouses that are football clubs can be found in high abundance, with some of the more comprehensive data coming from consulting goliath Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, more commonly known as Deloitte. Clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United have enlisted the help of Deloitte, who over the years has produced reports for the each club. UEFA, the football governing body for all of Europe, and the Barclays Premier League, the English professional league for association football clubs, have both also hired the consulting firm. 1
Ozanian, Mike. "Manchester United Becomes First Team Valued At $3 Billion." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. 2 For the purpose of this paper the term “football” will be used in place of the American term “soccer.” With the exception of the United States it is referred to as football in the rest of the world. This is not to be confused with American football, or possibly even rugby.
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However, the most important report that Deloitte releases is an annual financial summary of what it refers to as the “Football Money League”. The report, now in its 16th edition, is “the most contemporary and reliable analysis of the club’s relative financial performance” which profiles Europe’s highest earning football clubs by focusing on the “club’s ability to generate revenue from day to day football operations.” 3 One of the more shocking findings that have come from these reports is the level of dominance that British football clubs have had over the other top clubs. Football clubs from London have exemplified this dominance, with Chelsea and Arsenal the fifth and sixth spot respectively in Deloitte’s top twenty list. Another London club, Tottenham Hotspur, is just right outside the top ten. This means that three of the six clubs in the Premier League are listed within the top twenty football clubs that have the highest annual revenue in the world.
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Captains of Industry: Football Money League. Rep. Deloitte, Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. 2. Ibid. 8.
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The annual report released by Brand Finance, an independent intangible asset valuation consultancy, is another report that further cements the economic dominance of London-based clubs. This specific report lists the top thirty most valuable European football clubs through gathering information regarding market share, market growth, and company financials. They define the brand as the trademark and an associated intellectual property, and acknowledge that clubs are “made up of a mixture of fixed tangible assets (stadium, training grounds) and disclosed intangible assets (purchased players) with brand value, internally developed players and goodwill making up the difference to provide the combined clubs value.” 5
Research Question This research paper analyzes the roles that football clubs in the Barclays Premier League and Spor Toto Süper Lig play in creating the identity of the global cities of London and Istanbul through archival research and participant observation. The football clubs that are analyzed in this paper are those that compete at the highest level of professional football within their respective countries. While not each football club receives the same amount of evaluation as another one, it was not for a lack of investigation and each club is represented within this study. The following football clubs listed were evaluated in this report. Within the city limits of London are Arsenal F.C., Chelsea F.C., Tottenham F.C., West Ham F.C., Fulham F.C., and Queens Park Rangers F.C. 6 Based in Istanbul, Turkey are the clubs Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü, Beşiktaş
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European Football Brands 2011. Rep. Brand Finance, 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. The acronym F.C. stands for football club
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Jimnastik Kulübü, Galatasaray Spor Kulübü, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Spor Kulübü, and Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü.7 Methods Reports from third party consulting firms were collected, as well as annual financial reports that were published by the individual clubs themselves. In addition to conducting archival research, it was also crucial to carry out several participant observation sessions so as to fully study the influence that the clubs have on the cities of London and Istanbul. I attended a football match in Turkey between Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor and two in London, one between Fulham and Queens Park Rangers and the other between Queens Park Rangers and Wigan. I also visited and toured Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium (Fenerbahçe), Emirates Stadium (Arsenal), Stamford Bridge (Chelsea), and White Hart Lane (Tottenham). Findings The manner in which these football clubs function is on a level that most people in the US have never experienced. Even the empire that Jerry Jones has created in Dallas, TX does not compare to the overwhelming domain that these football clubs have created. For example, unlike European football franchises, there is no example of a US professional sport franchise owning its own radio station, TV station, youth academy, and even its own proper university. Not to mention that it also has teams for several different sports, from sailing to table tennis, and state-of-the-art facilities for each of these different sports. While football is the main focus and source of revenue for clubs, investing in interests within other areas has allowed clubs to increase their sphere of influence. Currently Fenerbahçe competes in men’s and women’s 7
For formality purposes the full name of the football clubs and stadiums are listed, however from here on they will be referred to as what they are commonly known as by most fans, ex. QPR is Queens Park Rangers F.C.
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basketball, men’s and women’s volleyball, boxing, rowing, sailing, swimming, table tennis, and of course football. All of the different sports teams retain the same name as the sports club that they are owned and sponsored by. For example, in the case of Fenerbahçe they own the Fenerbahçe basketball team, the Fenerbahçe swimming team, the Fenerbahçe rowing team, etc. Other football clubs, including Fenerbahçe main rival Galatasaray, also practice similar tactics. While this helps increase interest and support in other sports that are not as big as football in Turkey, ultimately this is just another marketing scheme that the clubs employ to increase their brand name. The most important nugget to take away from this is that by using this tactic these Istanbul clubs influence their respective cities by controlling the nearly entire sports market in the city. However, this is not the case in London where the sports clubs almost solely focus on their football club. The influence that they have on the city of London is just as impressive as the clubs based in Istanbul, but their interests are not as wide ranging. This influence can be measured through analyzing three different aspects that are common with any football club, club supporters, stadiums, and community relations. Club Supporters Besides the players themselves the most essential component to any successful sports franchise are its fans and supporters, football being no different. Through my attendance of several football matches in London I found that there are two types of football fans in the UK: those that regularly attend the matches and those that watch from the comfort of their home or local pub. 7|Page
Attending a football match in London is like going to almost any other type of game in the United States in that those in attendance are all different level of fanatics. The makeup of the crowd consists of men, women, boys, girls, families, young children, teenagers, and the elderly. However what is not physically visible is the economic and social status of the people that attend these matches. Fans that attend Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham 8 matches tend to come from a higher social class than those that support QPR, Fulham, and West Ham simply for that fact that the cost of watching one of those teams play is considerably higher. The former group of teams charges a yearly membership fee to those who want to buy tickets, even if it is only for a single match. These membership fees range anywhere from £25 to £100+, and depending on the level of membership that someone purchases do they have the right to purchase a limited number of tickets to a game. The higher profile games that are of more importance require a higher level of membership than a match against a low-level club. It was not always like this, and in fact going to a football match used to be a lot more affordable and accessible for a wider range of people. Now many fans who used to regularly attend matches must watch the games from their own home or from a local pub. This change also has made it so that Londoners now support smaller teams that play in the lower English football divisions. It is a lot more economical for them to follow a second or third division club that they can afford to regularly attend home matches and buy the teams’ most recent jersey. This increase can be seen across the board with the average cost of the cheapest ticket increasing by almost 12% across the top four division of English football. 9
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Tottenham has historically been a mid-level team but its recent domestic and international success has allowed it to move up into the upper echelons of English football. 9 Gourley, Aaron. "Cost of Watching Football Rises by 11.7%." FC Business. N.p., 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
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Another observation that I made about supporters of London football clubs is that the image most of the world has of crazy hooligans10 at football matches is a false one. While there are still incidents of violence at games, they are now far and few. Instead now when you go to a match the majority of the time most of the fans are quite calm, with the exception of a small group. This forced major changes in regards to fan behavior and etiquette, and new rules where enacted that would penalize both the fans and the club. Currently there economic sanctions that can be levied against a club and they vary depending on the seriousness of the offense. Clubs can receive a fine or fans can be banned from attending multiple matches for making racist comments that are directed at players, fighting with supporters of the opposing team, or any other type of similar behavior. This has also discouraged the formation of organized supporter groups and has thus changed the atmosphere at matches in London. In Istanbul the situation is different. The level of fanaticism that exists among these supporters seems to me unlike any other that you will see in any other sport. Supporters of clubs based in Istanbul represent the traditional idea that people have when you mention, in a positive light, the word hooligan, hincha, or porra.11 If you are ever able to attend a match in Istanbul, especially one where either Fenerbahçe or Galatasary are playing, you will witness some of the most passionate fans in the world. Football supporters in Istanbul are extremely organized and almost every one of their actions throughout the game is choreographed. Fans sit on either end of the stadium behind the goal, with the objective of mentally intimidating the opposing team one half and cheering on their team the other half. With the exception of half
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The term hooligan has a negative connotation for many Brits due to the violence that they created at football matches during the 80’s and 90’s. Since then the level of violence has greatly diminished. 11 These are all different terms from around the world to describe a soccer fanatic. (England, Argentina, Mexico)
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time, fans are chanting, cheering, jeering, yelling, whistling, and standing for 90 minutes straight. The most interesting part of all this organized chaos is that the fans are being led by several different men who are standing on small platforms that rise above the crowd and are facing the stands. Violence in the sport is closely linked to the super fanatics who attend matches in Istanbul. Although security is extremely tight at matches, something that I witnessed firsthand when I attended a Fenerbahรงe match, this has not deterred fans in Istanbul from putting a stop to the violence. When speaking with Professor Korel Goymen from the Istanbul Policy Center, his initial reply when I asked him about football in Istanbul was violence. Violence is in the historical nature of Fenerbahรงe, which was originally formed when the Turkish youth were not allowed to play football under the Ottoman rule. 12 Still, all fan bases are making positive progress, working to reduce violent outbreaks.
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Stadiums 12
"Fenerbahรงe Worldwide โ ข History." Fenerbahce Worldwide RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013.
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http://www.wrobels.pl/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/fenerbahce_choreo.jpg
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Another important aspect of football clubs in London and Istanbul is the physical stadium. These structures have a direct influence in the way that the cities are read as a historical and architectural text. The significance that they hold and emotional value that people place on them make these structures almost as important as other famous attractions such as the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Houses of Parliament, or the Tower of London. They heavily influence the city’s culture because of their location and physical size. They continue to play an influence because like all other structures they have a lifespan and eventually must either be renovated or completely rebuilt from scratch. Of the six teams Premier League clubs that are based in London five of them are looking for another home, redeveloping their current stadium, or moving to another stadium, with Arsenal being the only club that is not currently seeking to make changes.14 Chelsea and QPR are the teams currently looking at options of where to relocate, while West Ham has already secured a new home at the Olympic Stadium. West Ham will only be moving less than six miles from its current location, but it will be moving closer to the city centre and this could affect the dynamic between the club and the city. While West Ham and the other two clubs that are looking to relocate will remain within the city of London, this will create a physical and economic void in the communities of where the clubs used to be located. Unlike sports stadiums in the US, virtually no public parking can be found near football stadiums in Istanbul and London. This is because of the fact that both cities have reliable public transport systems and a decent percentage of the population does not own a vehicle. Also it is important to remember that space in these cities is a great commodity, and so this creates a 14
Hodgson, Andy. "London's Moving Story Is Sure to See Plenty More Chapters Written."The Evening Standard. The Evening Standard, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.
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situation in which stadiums are encircled by residential areas and local businesses. Without the presence of large parking lots, surrounding neighborhoods are in close proximity of the stadiums and thus there is a close relationship between the two.
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Community Relations There is a unique relationship that goes on between these football clubs and the surrounding communities. Since there are multiple football clubs in each city they are much more tied to the neighborhoods that border the stadiums than the city itself. While there is an economic relationship that exists between the two, each club has incorporated its own outreach component that focuses on improving the existing relationship between the club and the surrounding community through initiatives that promote healthy living through sport and educational development. Football clubs in London have for some time now been devoting a portion of their club’s economic resources to community outreach, but the concept is relatively new among Turkish teams. In fact Fenerbahçe is the first football club in Turkey to have any type of program like 15
http://chelseabrasil.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Stamford-Bridge.jpg
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this. The new project aims to create physical and educational development for children ages 418 years old. While the ultimate goal of these types of programs is to increase the fan base, they still maintain the primary objective of making a positive impact in the surrounding communities. Some clubs further extend their positive involvement by creating other programs, as is the case with Arsenal F.C. When planning construction of the Emirates Stadium, the site where the team currently plays, the club decided to demolish the old stadium and create what are now the Highbury apartments. The project included over seventy apartments that are shared equity/affordable housing, and also included apartments that have been designed for disabled and wheelchair occupancy. 16
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Conclusion While football clubs continue to change so too does the identity of their city, and visa versa. They are intimately related. Attending a football match in London has now become
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"Highbury Square." Arsenal FC News. Arsenal FC, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. Ibid.
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more of a luxury then a simple form of entertainment with the stadiums beginning to be filled more with people of “an upper-class superiority”.18 However there are many aspects of football that have not changed, both good and bad. Corruption and violence still plague the beautiful sport, and winning is still any club’s ultimate goal. For the fans winning means another star will be added to the team’s jersey next season, but for club management winning translates into money. Failing to qualify for an international tournament such as the UEFA Champions League can mean losing the chance to turn a bad earnings year into a good earnings year, as was the case with Tottenham, which experienced a 15 million drop in profits last year after failing to qualify for this year’s Champions League. 19 These clubs have had a significant influence on the growth of these two global cities and they will continue to hold an influence for as long as they remain a part of the identity of London and Istanbul.
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Gardner, Paul. "Do Luxury Stadiums Squeeze out the Real Fans?" SoccerAmerica. N.p., 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. 19 Gourley, Aaron. "Lack of Champions League Football Leaves Tottenham's Profits Down." FC Business. N.p., 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.
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Acknowledgments I would like to thank everyone who helped me make my research and this report possible. Special thanks to Ipek Martinez, Associate Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Rice University and Director of the Global Urban Lab program, who helped organize our trip to Istanbul and our meeting with Fenerbahรงe club staff, and Dr. Michael Emerson who worked with me throughout the entire research process and gave me academic advice whenever needed. Also thank you to Professor Korel Goymen of the Istanbul Policy Center, Tezcan Sayli of the Fenerbahรงe Sports Club, the academics office at CAPA London for awarding me a small grant to put towards my research project, and everyone else who helped contribute to this research report
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Bibliography Captains of Industry: Football Money League. Rep. Deloitte, Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. 2. European Football Brands 2011. Rep. Brand Finance, 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2013. "Fenerbahรงe Worldwide โ ข History." Fenerbahce Worldwide RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013. Gardner, Paul. "Do Luxury Stadiums Squeeze out the Real Fans?" SoccerAmerica. N.p., 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. Gourley, Aaron. "Cost of Watching Football Rises by 11.7%." FC Business. N.p., 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. Gourley, Aaron. "Lack of Champions League Football Leaves Tottenham's Profits Down." FC Business. N.p., 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. "Highbury Square." Arsenal FC News. Arsenal FC, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. Hodgson, Andy. "London's Moving Story Is Sure to See Plenty More Chapters Written."The Evening Standard. The Evening Standard, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. Ozanian, Mike. "Manchester United Becomes First Team Valued At $3 Billion." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 27 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
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