Will the global recession affect players wages ?

[daverichards]

With peoples disposable incomes shrinking, will clubs be forced to tighten their belts ?

As football has aligned itself as an entertainment industry, i am quite sure the first thing most people start to cut from their budget is their spending on entertainment and holidays.

i would expect to see a drop in sky and setanta subscriptions, sales of merchandise, and ticket sales .

Will this finally call a halt to the obscene wages that players earn for kicking a bag of wind around a bit of grass a few times a week ? Or will the selfish players and agents continue the gravy train till every club is on its knees before dropping their ridiculous wage demands

[JoeinOz]

i would expect to see a drop in sky and setanta subscriptions, sales of merchandise, and ticket sales .

I don't. People will cut back elsewhere IMHO.

[daverichards]

How so Joe ? whilst to the hard core fan these are essential, to the occasional fan these things are not essential, and has been seen in the past, the hardcore fans cannot support a club by themselves

[beardofzeus]

Oh no...with the recession in full swing, how will Fat Lampard afford pies? I say we have a whip round before the Hull game.

[JoeinOz]

I don't think it'll effect players wages.

[mickmills]

I think it depends on when the next Sky package needs to be agreed.

This will be a reduced fee you'd imagine if people drop the Sky subscription. Unless the converse works and people don't go to the match but watch on Sky at home instead and subcriptions remain high or the BBC see an angle to get more viewers.

For top earners like Fat Frank and the like I don't think it will dip hugely as teams like Barcelona are funded differently and will be after a few players. I think it's the sundry Premiership players who might feel the pinch a bit.

[Titan Uranus]

Good question.

I think it will, but we probably will not see the effects until next season.

Once the recession really bites most people will be affected in some way and generally Sky Sports/Setanta subscriptions and even attending football matches (at the price they are now) are first on the "can do without" list.

[Hiram]

There's a good article about the next TV deal here. It questions whether there will be another big TV deal as sites like justin TV prolferate, are difficult to continually 'police' and ask will people just watch the matches for free over the internet...

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/26/premierleague-bskyb

If the TV money goes you can be sure players wages will decrease.

[Widget123]

i'm not too sure that consumers will be cutting back on subscriptions because of the financial situation its more likely that people are cutting back on "going out", and instead are watching the games at home with a four pack costing a fiver and that'd having a big impact on the takings of the people sky and setanta really fleece the pubs and clubs.

Add into that equation the rise of streaming media on the internet and you've got a real situation where the price of the package they've sold to sky and setanta is reduced by the greed of the premier league selling the same package across international borders.

I think these points are more likely to grind the gravy train, than the consumer at home cancelling their subs.

[truckerged]

not a chance footballers lost all sense of reality as soon as bosman did his party peice. i bet most footballers couldnt tell you how much a loaf of bread costs.
what will happen is more and more clubs going tits up especially in the lower leagues. i wouldnt be suprised to see our near neighbours suffering a points reduction b4 the season ends. not just vale thou many clubs in the old fourth division are struggling to attract crowds of over three thousand yet are still paying players over a grand a week!! reality check guys methinks

[Titan Uranus]

i'm not too sure that consumers will be cutting back on subscriptions because of the financial situation its more likely that people are cutting back on "going out", and instead are watching the games at home with a four pack costing a fiver and that'd having a big impact on the takings of the people sky and setanta really fleece the pubs and clubs

Fair point, though I don't really agree.

i think people are doing that at the moment probably but when it really hurts the Sports channels etc will go. I know for a fact that Virgin Media are having the sports packages canceled in droves at the moment, even with the attraction of daft offers etc.

[Widget123]

^ interesting to hear that. I do know that virgin media are struggling against a wave of piracy of their boxes at the moment as they keep advertising on V1 about how they're clamping down on it so maybe that has something to do with it?

personally i've more or less stopped watching games at the pub and started watching them at home with a nice bottle of peroni instead.

With the streaming media thats available now i can understand why people decide to ditch a £12 a month addon such as a sports package to watch the low res versions online in the same way that people who download music have ditched buying albums. It fills their need for the content whilst allowing them to spend the money on something else.

I do think it'll hit wages in the medium term but only when negociations are made about the next pay package for the license to broadcast premier league football and not before.

[Titan Uranus]

I do think it'll hit wages in the medium term but only when negociations are made about the next pay package for the license to broadcast premier league football and not before.

exactly

In my opinion i reckon there will be a big, big change in the whole set-up and finances of football (and the Prem in particular) when the next deals are set-up.

I reckon SCFC have caught one of the last carriages on the Premiership gravy train.