MLS VS Super League: Is there a contradiction between winning and profit?

Football has some thought-provoking problems, such as: a profitable club may not win, but it can only help you win in the future; The winning club may not be profitable, but it may make you rich in the future.

Then, how can the club make a profit by improving its organizational structure and scientific management?

Should the manager of the club try to win first or win money first? The author's personal experience in American sports industry is that a commercial profit-making organization should have a clear purpose-making money as the first priority. Only through good income can we maintain the operation of the club on and off the court. Winning or not is a matter for the competitive sector, and the commercial sector should not intervene.

At present, the domestic sports market, represented by Super League and CBA, is immature in both competitive and commercial aspects, the operation of clubs is not commercialized, and the commercial operation and organizational structure of teams are not mature enough.

Major League Soccer (MLS) has just been established for 20 years, but professional sports in the United States are highly developed. In such a professional environment, MLS has matured rapidly in all aspects.

Below, this paper compares the organizational structure and business income of Hangzhou Greentown in Super League and Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS, so that readers can understand the differences.

Comparison of club structure between China and foreign countries

The management structure of Zhejiang Greentown;

Los Angeles Galaxy Management Structure:

Comparing the management structures of the two clubs, we can see that the commercial operation and football operation of the two clubs are clearly distinguished, and each has its own duties:

Galaxy Football is headed by the head coach and general manager, with several functional departments related to competition and training. In terms of business operation, Galaxy's department setup is no different from that of modern companies, from the position of team mascot to the position of vice president of commercial sponsorship, covering commercial sponsorship, ball tickets, boxes, licensed goods and other sources of income.

Due to the general situation that the commercial operation is immature, there are few clubs in official website that operate well in the Super League, let alone the organizational structure and the list of commercial operators.

This can be seen from Greentown official website. Hangzhou Greentown Club implements the general manager responsibility system, and the functional departments related to sports are equivalent to Galaxy, and the number of personnel is similar. The industrial and commercial department can only speculate through its contact information, but it is certainly not as complete as Galaxy.

Comparison of club income between China and foreign countries

Domestic sports business data is relatively scarce. From a few words found in sporadic search, we found that:

In the 20 14- 15 season, Hangzhou Greentown invested at least10.6 billion RMB, including 80 million for the first team and 80 million for the youth training system that Greentown has always attached importance to. In terms of business income, the ticket income does not exceed15 million, plus the dividend and other sponsorship income of Super League Company14 million, the total business income does not exceed one third of the investment.

Of course, the 8 billion big bill just signed by Super League and Sports Olympic Power, although the specific plan has not yet been announced, will undoubtedly greatly increase the income of Hangzhou Greentown in broadcasting rights.

In contrast, in 20 14, LA Galaxy's revenue was $44 million and its profit was $4 million. Among them, breast advertising sponsorship can earn 4.4 million US dollars a year; Because of the different league systems, American professional league teams can sign contracts with local broadcasters to increase their broadcasting income in addition to nationwide broadcasting contracts.

Seven or eight years ago, when Beckham first came to the Galaxy, the Los Angeles team was worth $654.38 billion. It costs more than $240 million to buy Galaxy now. At the same time, in the last two years, with the football craze brought by the 20 14 World Cup in Brazil, the attendance rate of American professional leagues has increased by 20%. Among them, the average attendance rate of Los Angeles Galaxy 20 1258 is 265,438, and the attendance rate is 82%.

In fact, as far as the competitive level is concerned, the major leagues in the United States may not be as good as the Super League, but their commercial operation level has long been far from the same.

When MLS was founded in 1993, it was a company system and was not regulated by the American Football Federation. After nearly 20 years of development, it has gradually become one of the more popular leagues after football, basketball, ice hockey, baseball and automobile sports.

Similar to the Super League, American professional leagues also adopted the star strategy, and successively introduced Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Henry (New York Red Bull), Cahill (New York Red Bull) and others. Active players include Drogba (Montreal Impact), Giovinco (Toronto FC), Pirlo (new york City), Villa (new york City), Lampard (new york City) and Gerrard.

This not only enhances the influence and popularity of the club, but also promotes the development of football in the United States.

On the other hand, in China, on the whole, most clubs are incomplete in organizational structure, only pay attention to the competitive level, lack reliable sources of income, and it is difficult to sustain long-term development only by the investment behind the team.

It is true that the poor management of the club is not necessarily due to the imperfect management organization. Other reasons for this situation may include small market scale, lack of operational autonomy in related business processes, or lack of recruitment channels and training platforms for sports talents.

But there is no doubt that a complete organizational structure will enable the club to seize more opportunities to realize cash, promote the excellent operation of the club in business, and thus promote the competitive level of all teams.

Although the marketization of the commercial operation of the Super League Club is still in the primary stage, with the entry of capital to accelerate the industrial development, it will inevitably drive other additional consumption.

In this environment, the club should make full preparations for a rainy day, improve its organizational structure, establish a modern enterprise system, seize the opportunity to realize cash, and build a complete "ecological circle" and profit model. In this way, winning will be a natural thing.