In his book How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization,
author Franklin Foer briefly touches on how the clubs Juventus and AC Milan in
Italy’s Serie A explain the new oligarchies forming in such a globalized
economy. However, despite discussing
power and its ability to manipulate the playing field in favor of the powerful,
Foer directs his focus on the powerful individuals capable of media manipulation
rather than the powerful states capable of status manipulation. As globalization increases at an increasing
rate, logic dictates that resources should be more evenly dispersed among
states as comparative advantage and free trade flourish. Similarly, economically, militarily, and
culturally valuable technology should become more readily available to
developing states in need of it as information is exchanged more quickly,
accurately, and freely. However, in
terms of which countries possess the most wealth and influence and which
countries do not, very little has changed despite the communication
breakthrough of the internet.
Interestingly enough, soccer (football) in Great Britain does a
brilliant job illustrating the roadblocks facing developing countries
attempting to ascend into the higher order of international actors even with
the aid of globalization.
The English Premier League, or EPL, was
established in 1992 in the United Kingdom.
It is comprised of 20 teams, has the highest revenue of any football
league in the world, and operates within the English football league system
(Barclays Premier League 2014). The
English football league system operates by promoting teams to higher leagues
based on success and relegating teams to lower leagues in the presence of
failure (Patrick 2014). Under this
system, it would seem as though any team could ascend into the highest levels
of English football or descend into the bottom-most trenches, however this has
not been the case. Even though 3 clubs
are promoted to the Premier League every year, only 2, Swansea and Stoke, have
remained in the league following their promotion. Swansea has only played 3 seasons while Stoke
has only played 6 (Rundle 2014). 9 of
the current 20 EPL clubs have never been relegated to a lower league (Manfred
2014). Only Manchester United, Arsenal,
Chelsea, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers have ever won the EPL title with
Manchester United having won an unprecedented 13 (Barclays Premier League 2014).
From the 1999-2000 season until the
2009-10 season, the “Big Four” English football clubs of Manchester United,
Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea occupied 38 of the 44 available top 4 finishing
spots that qualify an EPL team for UEFA Champions League competition (Barclays
Premier League 2014).
There is obvious stagnation at the top of
the English football pyramid, but why?
The answer is the same reason why countries have such a difficult time
ascending in international status despite globalization. The top English football clubs, like the top
countries of the world, maintain a disproportionate amount of the resources in
terms of money, influence, and visibility in comparison to the lesser football
clubs. 50% of the £1.782
billion in wages spent by EPL clubs in 2012-13 was spent by the Big Four plus
Manchester City, who was recently purchased by the extremely affluent Abu Dhabi
United Group for Development and Investment (Sedghi 2014). The story is no different when discussing the
countries of the world. The top 19
countries out of 190 cataloged by the World Bank were responsible for 74% of
global GDP in terms of purchasing power parity (World Bank 2013). The disproportionate resource allocation in
the EPL and in the world itself allow for the teams and countries at the top to
operate massive economies of scale and manipulate comparative advantage in
their favor. As long as the wealth gap
between states persists, it will remain impossible for an outside state to rise
to elite status regardless of the positive effects resulting from
globalization.
Barclays
Premier League. "History." Barclays Premier League. Premier
League, 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/about/history.html>.
Manfred,
Tony. "17 Things You Never Knew About The English Premier League." Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 13 May 2012. Web. 1 Dec.
2014. <http://www.businessinsider.com/premier-league-trivia-2012-5>.
Patrick,
Seb. "10 Things You Should Know About the English Premier League." BBC
America. BBC Worldwide Americas Inc., 15 Aug. 2014. Web.
1 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/08/10-things-know-english-premier-league/>.
Rundle,
Richard. "Football Club History Database - Stoke City." Football
Club History Database. Public Domain, 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.fchd.info/STOKEC.HTM>.
Rundle,
Richard. "Football Club History Database – Swansea City." Football
Club History Database. Public Domain, 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://www.fchd.info/SWANSEAC.HTM>.
Sedghi,
Ami, and Tom Wills. "Premier League Finances: Turnover, Wages, Debt and
Performance." The Guardian 1 May 2014. Guardian News and Media Limited or
Its Affiliated Companies. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/may/01/premier-league-club-accounts-debt-wages>.
World
Bank. "GDP Ranking, PPP Based." The World Bank. The World Bank
Group, 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-PPP-based-table>.