The revenue of the Premier League has increased dramatically, from 1.7 billion pounds in the original three years to 3 billion pounds in three years. This will also bring a huge increase to the income of the 20 Premier League teams.
An authoritative third-party organization previously conducted a simulation and predicted that the total investment in the Premier League during this summer's transfer market may equal the combined total of La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga.
Why not include Ligue 1?
Because there are two wealthy teams, Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
Wenger was also very resentful about this, mainly because he believed that the transfer value of players was constantly rising, even reaching irrational levels. The annual salaries of players were also high, and the operating pressure on clubs was increasing.
"Is this situation sustainable?" Wenger asked, voicing a question shared by almost everyone with rational thinking at this moment.
Crazy situations like the current one in the Premier League have happened before.
For example, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Bundesliga was once dominant. Teams like Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Mönchengladbach shocked the entire European football world.
Not to mention Kaiserslautern, who created the miracle of winning the championship as a newly promoted team.
But by 2001, this situation could no longer be sustained.
After the Kirch Group, the broadcaster of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, went bankrupt, the financial situation of the entire Bundesliga collapsed.
Dortmund was nearly bankrupt, and even the powerhouse Bayern Munich was struggling.
It was the first time everyone truly witnessed a bubble bursting with their own eyes.
What about the Premier League?
Is the current Premier League another bubble?
"My opinion is the opposite of yours. I don't think the Premier League has reached the bubble stage yet." Gao Shen's view contrasted with Wenger's.
Everyone was surprised, but Gao Shen always had something to say. He was very young, and many of his views differed from those of Wenger, Ferguson, and the others. After all, they were older and unable to accept many new things.
For example, the Internet.
Not every older person was as trendy as Sacchi.
"The Bundesliga bubble was indeed painful, but since then, the Bundesliga introduced new policies, and major European leagues have also taken the issue seriously. The Premier League also attaches great importance to the financial situation of its clubs.
Right now, the Premier League is in a period of opportunity that other leagues find hard to catch up with."
Gao Shen paused, organized his words, then asked, "Do you know how much the overseas copyright of the Premier League sold for this season?"
"Seven hundred million pounds," Wenger immediately answered.
"That's right. And for the other leagues, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A combined, how much is it?"
"Overseas copyright?"
Gao Shen nodded.
Many people present shook their heads silently. Overseas copyrights were sold in fragmented deals, not in a unified manner, so it was difficult for outsiders to obtain authoritative data.
But Gao Shen had it.
He got it from Su Qing, who had a habit of researching data in this area.
"Four hundred million pounds."
"Only 400 million?"
Everyone present was shocked.
Not because it was too much, but because it was far too little.
"Don't be surprised. This is actually already an increase. The overseas copyrights of Ligue 1 are basically unsellable," Gao Shen explained with a smile.
"From the current perspective, the overseas copyright of the Premier League is almost catching up with its domestic copyright. La Liga is still far behind. However, La Liga has figured out the game in recent years. With Barcelona and Real Madrid creating momentum and promoting it worldwide, I'm very optimistic about the future prospects of La Liga's overseas market."
This meant that in the future, the Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 might as well stop competing in overseas markets.
"We always say this is an era of globalization, and the Premier League is the best example. We think local copyrights are valuable, but in reality, it's not the local copyright that is valuable, but the Premier League's copyright itself.
More importantly, the Premier League has maximized the value of its copyright through a bidding mechanism. Their overseas partners are all top companies, such as ESPN and NBC in the United States, and Disney in South America."
The Disney mentioned here is not the Hollywood film company, but Disney Media, which owns its own pay-TV channel.
"The advantages of the Premier League are undeniable. Just look at how many Premier League teams go overseas every summer for training, friendlies, and commercial development. Add to that the strong sponsorship, and the Premier League's global influence is even greater than that of the Champions League."
The influence Gao Shen referred to was not the prestige of winning a title, but the influence of the entire competition.
This was a fact.
Although the Champions League is a multinational competition with huge influence, the Premier League's overall league influence is even greater.
This could be seen from the number of spectators.
Worldwide, the number of people watching the Premier League exceeded 5 billion, which was an astonishing figure.
"English is a universal language, and the Premier League has leveraged this advantage to expand into the global market."
Gao Shen's words truly surprised Wenger, Ferguson, and the others.
"But even if what you say is true, there is always a limit to everything. How long do you think the Premier League can continue to grow at such a high speed?" Wenger asked.
"There's no end in sight."
Gao Shen's reply shocked everyone again.
"Are you really that optimistic?" Wenger was genuinely surprised.
"It's not just me. All investors are optimistic. Judging from the data, there is indeed reason to be."
After a pause, Gao Shen continued, "Ernst & Young conducted a survey and concluded that there's still significant growth potential in the UK market for Premier League broadcasting rights. If current trends continue, the 2015 auction for the three-year rights will undoubtedly reach a new sky-high price.
This is true for both domestic and overseas markets. We will focus on Asia, South America, the Middle East, and Africa. So overseas copyrights will definitely continue to see strong growth in the coming years.
In addition, there's another point many people overlook, and that is the Internet.
From what I've learned, many internet giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and even Apple attach great importance to sports copyright, and the Premier League is something they cannot ignore."
"A dozen years ago, who cared about overseas copyrights? Back then, all Premier League teams explored overseas markets blindly, and overseas copyrights accounted for a negligible portion of copyright sales. But now, more than a decade later, overseas copyrights have grown rapidly, far surpassing domestic copyrights.
Perhaps, more than a decade from now, when we look back, we will still be surprised to find that these internet giants have become deeply involved in the battle for British copyrights, playing an increasingly important role."
The wealthier you are, the more powerful you become, and your ability to attract talent becomes even stronger.
Gao Shen clearly remembered that during the 2020 European Championship, there was a statistic showing that among the national team members, the largest number of players came from the Premier League, reaching 117. The Bundesliga had 89, Italy had 72, and La Liga had 39.
These were the statistics of the four major European leagues.
And what about the fifth?
The Championship had 34 players, five more than Ligue 1's 29, which ranked sixth.
Many people would be shocked when they saw this. Isn't this too outrageous? How did the Championship become so strong?
But that was the reality.
Previously, the English Football Association had proposed a youth training reform plan, aiming to invest up to 1.6 billion pounds into more than 90 youth academies across England over the next few years.
This was a true sign of wealth and power.
Just looking at this amount of money, who else in world football could match it?
…
Gao Shen's current identity was not only that of a head coach but also a club owner.
The data he provided was not easy to come by, but those present were all famous coaches who had been in football for many years. They knew that if what Gao Shen said was true, the competitiveness of the Premier League would only become stronger in the years to come.
By then, the entire European football landscape would struggle to compete with the Premier League.
Even the Champions League would be far inferior.
"Ah, I'm old!"
Ferguson let out a long sigh, full of regret.
Before retiring, he was so exhausted that he didn't even want to think about Manchester United's tactics. Gao Shen, however, was different. Not only was he an excellent coach, but he also became a club owner.
"You mentioned internet companies. Can Leeds United's contract with Amazon go through?"
"It's hard to say." Gao Shen shook his head. There were no outsiders present, so there was no need for him to hide anything.
"We have sent the entire new stadium plan to Amazon, and discussions are ongoing. They are very sincere, and so are we, so I hope we can reach an agreement."
Leeds United's demands were actually quite high. They hoped to sell the stadium naming rights for an annual sponsorship fee of 15 million pounds, but only for a maximum of five years. Amazon, on the other hand, wanted a 10-year deal at 15 million pounds per year.
It was clear that both sides were optimistic about the long term.
So Leeds United was considering a new plan: a 5+5 automatic renewal clause. As long as Leeds United met Amazon's requirements in the first five years, the contract would automatically renew. But the naming fee for the next five years would definitely increase, to at least 20 million pounds.
Fernando Lucas personally went to the United States this time, with his first task being to negotiate this cooperation with Amazon.
If the deal could be reached, it would greatly help Leeds United's new stadium project.
"With a new training base and plans to build a new stadium, I'm afraid Leeds United will have to be among the Premier League champions in the next few years," Ferguson said with a sigh.
Once Leeds United was given the chance, this team would definitely take off.
Because there was a great master standing behind it.
When that time came, the chaos in the Premier League would only grow, and the competition would become fiercer.
Of course, from a fan's perspective, the Premier League would only become more exciting and entertaining.
But Ferguson worried that Manchester United's era of dominance in the Premier League would come to an end.
This was not what he wanted to see.
(To be continued.)
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