00:00Dan Plumley is Senior Lecturer in Sport Finance at Loughborough University in the UK.
00:06We can draw parallels here with perhaps the failed European Super League attempt a few years ago.
00:11It seems to have certainly kicked off in the media.
00:14I'm surprised probably it's taken this long to reach a kind of statement like this from FIFA.
00:20Everything we know about the game has suggested a move towards more commercialisation.
00:25This is of course a very controversial one, but it was always I guess likely to happen.
00:29At some point where there is money to be made from some of the prize assets of world football.
00:35You mentioned that failed European Super League a few years ago.
00:38There was a really strong reaction to that and that brought it down.
00:42Do you anticipate something similar here?
00:45I think it's possible we could see that.
00:47Obviously early stages so far, I think FIFA will hold firmer than perhaps the European Super League did.
00:53I think we're likely to see a more bullish approach from them moving forward in the coming days and months.
00:57But it's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that this could collapse, as you say, linked to the backlash
01:04that we've seen so far.
01:05FIFA says this will help increase funds for grassroot development.
01:09There's also reports that there would be a $20 million one-off incentive for the member associations who vote to
01:16go ahead with this.
01:17Now surely some of perhaps the smaller member associations who need that money will be inclined to vote positively.
01:25That is absolutely the case and FIFA will point to that if you look at the finances of it and
01:30the predictions that FIFA are talking about.
01:32If those predictions are hit, if this were to go through and those numbers are hit, as you say, the
01:36uplift for member associations that don't have access to that sums of money normally would be huge.
01:42And, you know, again, we're looking at this through a European lens and we're talking about UEFA and some of
01:46the bigger member associations.
01:48But to some of those smaller ones, that amount of money is huge.
01:51And if FIFA can almost guarantee that revenue for them cycle on cycle and there is an uplift, you can
01:56absolutely see why some of those member associations would vote for it.
02:00And that's going to be why the interesting subplots here as we move through.
02:04This is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding FIFA.
02:08How damaging is all this to its brand and does it care?
02:13Well, I think the timing of this is interesting in that regard, as you say, because, of course, we're just
02:17off the back of a men's World Cup.
02:19But again, the biggest we've seen in terms of your FIFA's revenue cycle, they're going to report record revenues for
02:25the cycle.
02:26But we've seen controversy follow that event from start to finish.
02:29And some of that has been political.
02:31Of course, the situation with the USA men's player and the red card, some of it's linked to the Super
02:36Bowl style halftime shows.
02:38And the hydration breaks.
02:39But all of those things, the hydration breaks particularly, have brought with them added commercial value and benefit for sponsors
02:46and broadcasters.
02:47And that's where we go back to the money.
02:49And I think these things are often, as always, tied up in that monetary argument that there is always good
02:55and bad PR that comes with these things.
02:57And FIFA have certainly been on the wrong side of some of that with some of the things that have
03:01happened with this World Cup.
03:03But ultimately, the money is what we're talking about here.
03:06And you can see, again, when those kind of numbers are on the table, it is understandable in the kind
03:11of cold business sense of why some of these things happen.
03:15And football has certainly become more commercialised in the last 20, 30 years.
03:19So, you know, we've seen that move forward at a phenomenal pace.
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