In the United States, some people, for one reason or another, are not huge soccer fans. Former Rep. Jack Kemp, an NFL quarterback and 1996 Republican vice presidential candidate, once labeled soccer a “European socialist sport” as opposed to football, which he considered “democratic.”
Although many Americans may agree with his take, there is no doubt that European soccer is more of a capitalist endeavor than any of the top-level American professional sports.
In top-tier European soccer leagues like the Premier League (United Kingdom) and La Liga (Spain), soccer is the ultimate meritocracy. The teams with the worst records in the standings are actually relegated to lower leagues after every season and the top teams from the league below are promoted to take those spots.
Compare this to the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB where the worst teams in the league are not only allowed to stay, but are rewarded with revenue-sharing and top picks in the following year’s draft to help them improve. Since they are getting money and top picks anyways, there’s not as much incentive for them to do anything to try to make themselves better teams. They don’t even have to try to spend money to pay proven veterans to play for them.
For example, the Tampa Bay Rays ($69.6 million) can spend more than $130 million less than the Boston Red Sox ($206.25 million), play in the same division, and not contend for a title year after year. Simply existing in the league and never contending is suffice – like the Cleveland Browns, who have only had a winning record once in the past 15 NFL seasons.
Plus, those top American pro sports leagues attempt to have a “competitive balance” by implementing salary caps; they determine that, even if owners can afford it, teams are not allowed to spend more than a certain amount. This is true in the NFL, NBA and NHL; in MLB, teams also have to pay a penalty if their team payroll is above a certain amount. No such limit exists in the top European leagues. In fact, Lionel Messi earns more than $50 million per season as a member of FC Barcelona (La Liga), a team with a payroll of nearly $600 million per season.
Not to mention American pro sports leagues thrive off the corporate welfare known as taxpayer-funded stadiums. Instead of billionaires privately funding stadiums themselves, they ask local municipalities to do it instead. In 2016, the Brookings Institution found that the federal government had subsidized 36 professional stadiums or arenas in the biggest four sports leagues, costing more than $3.2 billion since 2000. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, London taxpayers were furious at the prospect of helping cover West Ham United’s $3 million annual stadium operation costs.
Plus, soccer teams rely on a much larger pool of worldwide talent. Like the World Cup has demonstrated, there are talented soccer players from all over the globe. However, the same cannot be said for some pro sports leagues in America. Most notably, more than 97 percent of NFL players are U.S.-born, while 69 percent of Premier League players are born outside of the United Kingdom.
And the concern about tie games in soccer? Guess what? The NFL also has tie games.
Even if it is a sport with popularity in countries to the left of the U.S. ideologically, it’s hard to call it “socialist.” That term seems like a better fit for the major North American pro sports leagues.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelancer writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
