Is the corporate growth in football good or bad and why?

Question

Is the corporate growth in football good or bad and why?

Answer 1

its good

Answer 2

It depends on the corporation involved.

With the influx of money into the game due to it's growing popularity, it was inevitable that investors outside of football would start looking at Clubs as an investment, and this is where the problem can sometimes lie.

Over the years, our football Clubs have developed their own character and sense of identity (way of doing things) that is individual to each Club. We, as fans, understand that - and it's probably a big factor in deciding the club we will support - we relate to the ethics and style of that Club.

The problem with alot of outside corporates taking over our Clubs is that they fail to understand the history and ethics - they don't understand the way we do things - and just apply purely business motivated solutions in their decision making processes.

It's this that is bad for football as a whole - a Clubs character can be destroyed by having the wrong investor in charge. We, as fans, know this - that's why we have had so many fans opposing the takeover of their Clubs by investors that have no connection whatsoever to their team.

If the investors have a connection to our Club and the game, then it is not a bad thing. If, however, these investors only have an interst in profit margins and don't care how they maximise these, then we are looking at our Clubs all becoming identical characterless entities in a corporate world.

I, for one, would rather my Club play in the Conference League than sell out it's character and identity to someone that just wants to make money on the back of our hard-earned position, ethics and history.