Revenue Sharing in Welsh and Irish Leagues
I do not support 100% revenue sharing for the Scottish Soccer League, as I think the present system of having elite clubs with the concentrations of wealth enables top players to come to, and stay in Scotland.
Why fix a system that works?
But!
What about revenue sharing in the Welsh and Irish Leagues?
When I say the two Irish Leagues, I am referring to the League of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Football League.
The Welsh Premier (AKA League of Wales, or Cymru Premier), and the two Irish Leagues are punching below their weight at present.
So why not try copying the American system used for MLS, NBA, NFL and MLB?
In this a huge proportion of the individual club's revenue is shared between the elite sides, and smaller sides, so that the leagues become extremely competitive.
There is also a draft which allows the lower clubs the right to pick young players first.
Let me point out the draft system would not work. As you could hardly tell a young Welsh part time player living in North Wales, that he must be forced to move to South Wales, because a club picked him down south, and vice versa. Also the Scottish and English clubs might simply offer the young Welsh players better contracts.
But revenue sharing could work in the Welsh and Irish Leagues.
Perhaps the league would be extremely competitive, which could attract fans and TV figures.
But it is also true that they have revenue sharing in US sports, and they still have dynasties where teams dominate for decades. So it does not always work anyway.
As I have said in previous article, I think the smaller countries do better in European competitions when wealth is concentrated in some elite clubs. That works for Scotland with Celtic and Rangers, doing well in Europe.
But!
As the Irish Leagues and Welsh Leagues are not doing that well anyway, Would it be sensible to experiment with this new idea?
The team could all pool their resources into a central fund, and then the money would be equally split among the participating sides in the top division. This would lead to a very competitive league. It could have systems to ensure all teams are of the same level. Resulting in the most competitive leagues in Europe. A selling point for fans and TV audiences.
The Welsh League would no longer be dominated by TNS.
The Irish Leagues would be competitive.
It would take a good few years to enact, for clubs to adjust to new financial circumstances.
Disadvantages'
It could also discourage investment. As clubs would not be able to keep all their investment.
But perhaps investors, would invest in the league as a whole rather than individual clubs.
Clubs might not be motivated to increase revenue. As the money would be taken away anyway and given to other clubs.
It might be against the law in Wales, and Ireland due to different legal systems in Wales, and Ireland compared to the USA. Wales and Ireland have different legal systems to each other let alone the USA.
Some clubs might cheat and give under the table wages to their players to beat the limits on their spending resources.
So would revenue sharing be a good idea?
Revenue Sharing in Welsh and Irish Football Leagues.
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