The blowback against the proposed European Super League of football teams might at first blush be surprising. Capitalism, after all, has permeated the world’s most popular sport for decades. Jerseys are emblazoned with corporate logos such as Jeep, Pirelli, Rakuten, and Standard Chartered. Millionaires on the pitch play for billionaire owners perched in their sky boxes.
Something about the Super League, though, has struck a nerve. In the United Kingdom, a snap YouGov poll of 1,730 people who follow football (soccer to Americans) found that 68% “strongly oppose” creation of the new league. (True, Super League Chairman Florentino Perez said Monday that the proto-league’s own polling found it was supported by majorities ranging from 57% in Germany to 76% in Spain, but that seems implausible. He didn’t release the wording of the question in his survey.)
Revulsion is a common reaction. A common complaint is that the 15 founding members of the league would be permanently protected from relegation—i.e., demotion to a lower league. A tweet of Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville—who won eight Premier League titles as a defender with Manchester United—saying, “I’m disgusted, absolutely disgusted” has gotten more than 7.4 million views and 77,000 likes.
Why the rage? One place to look for answers, far from the cavernous football stadiums of Manchester or Madrid, is in a 2012 book by Harvard government professor Michael Sandel, “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.”
“We live at a time when almost everything can be bought and sold,” Sandel writes. “The reach of markets, and market-oriented thinking, into aspects of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms is one of the most significant developments of our time.”
Fanship is most definitely what Sandel would call a nonmarket norm. FC Barcelona’s motto, in Catalan, is “Mes que un club”–“More than a club.” Liverpool fans lustily sing, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Fans shell out big money on tickets and merchandise and spend endless hours watching matches on television because they love their clubs like family.
But as with family, love can curdle into anger when someone feels betrayed. The clubs that are attempting to launch the Super League risk triggering that sense of betrayal. The consequences could be lasting.