Doe als Amerika: bescherm de sport tegen de markt

We betalen steeds meer om naar voetbal te kijken, maar de wedstrijden\ud worden steeds minder spannend. Als we niets doen is in de Europese\ud voetbalcompetitie straks nog slechts plaats voor een klein aantal grote\ud clubs, net als in de Amerikaanse Superliga, waarschuwt Tsjalle van der Burg.\ud Als we dan toch de Amerikanen achterna gaan, laten we dan ook kijken wat\ud de Verenigde Staten doen om kleine clubs te steunen

How price controls can cut the number of COVID-19 bankruptcies

At the moment, governments are subsidising wage costs and lending businesses money to enable them to survive the pandemic. To spread the burden more fairly through society, Tsjalle van der Burg (University of Twente) proposes imposing price controls instead

A European Super League would violate EU competition law – as would UEFA’s proposed reforms of the Champions League

The last year has seen mounting speculation that some of Europe’s top football clubs are preparing to establish their own European Super League. Tsjalle van der Burg argues that given a European Super League would violate European competition law, the European Commission should step in and forbid it. This would empower European football’s governing body, UEFA, to reform football for the benefit of supporters

How UEFA can react to the Super League ruling

According to the European Superleague Company ruling of 21 December 2023, the UEFA rules for the approval of football competitions are inadequate. In search of better rules, this paper proposes three criteria for the approval of competitions: they should (1) improve welfare; (2) reflect the preferences of the consumers (football fans); and (3) be compatible with competition law. All Super Leagues proposed before 2022 would not have met criteria 1 and 3 in any case, as they would have reduced welfare and would have reduced the competition in consumer markets in a way incompatible with competition law. The same holds (or is likely to hold) for the reforms of the Champions League that UEFA has made since 1998 in reaction to threats of big clubs to start a Super League. However, if UEFA improves its own competitions in line with the criteria above, it should be able to outcompete the organizers of alternative competitions