Foreign Investment
In Ireland if you wanted to take over a L.O.I. team, you wouldn’t even have to pay a fee to take control. You would pretty much just have to guarantee the club that you could pay the wages of the squad for the season. Straight away you can see that there is not really many barriers to entry which would be a big selling point for potential investors. There is also relatively little competition. The league of Ireland has had more different winners than any other league in Europe in the last 50 years. This is due to the poor economic conditions suffered by most clubs. It is not uncommon for champions of the league to be relegated in the next 5 years after winning it. Clubs are always faced with uncertainty regarding their financial futures mainly due to a lack of sponsorship and attendance.
So, let’s say you’re a wealthy oligarch or sheik looking to invest in a football club. The most glamorous choice is an English club, but is it a good investment? The numbers would suggest you would have to spend close to a billion pound to just thread water with no guarantee of being successful. Why not invest in an Irish team? If you had €5 million you would undoubtedly build the best team in Ireland. You could buy all the best players here as well as getting the best coaches available for a fraction of what it costs across the Irish Sea. If for your initial €5 million investment you could get an Irish team in to the Champions League group stage, you’re looking at making €25 million back in just 1 year! If you lost your Champions League playoff and fail to reach the Champions League group stage your reward is the Europa league which will still at least make you back your initial €5 million investment.
Now taken into consideration that this is not as easy as it sounds due to poor attendance, lack of investment (from the FAI amongst others), it is very feasible. Dundalk have showed that Irish teams are finally able to mix it with the best of our European counterparts on the pitch. In years gone by whilst watching Irish teams play in Europe we were getting outplayed by teams from countries such as Lithuania and Latvia, not European powerhouses exactly. What has changed? In my honest opinion Dundalk have played a better brand of football in Europe and domestically then the Irish senior team has done in recent times. Our style under Trappatoni (Martin O Neill hasn’t drastically changed it either) seemed to echo the style that was on display every week in our domestic grounds. It was kick and rush long ball style football that was awful to watch. Gradually this has been changing.
We now have more and better qualified coaches available than ever before and nearly every club in Ireland has access to Astroturf facilities which helps with the style change that I feel we are currently undertaking in Ireland. Whatever the rest of the results that Dundalk achieve this season their biggest one has been changing the perception of how Irish clubs play in Europe. The ease at which they build from the back against top class opposition is a testament to the players and coaching staff at the club. This is so difficult to do, just look at Man City’s shortcomings at playing out from the back this season. They’ve regularly looked shaky, conceded goals and had players sent off due to employing this tactic. Dundalk look so seasoned in how they do it. Now I’m not suggesting for one minute that Dundalk are better than City but they deserve an enormous amount of credit for the way in which they have played this season so far.
Last season Irish fans made up for 15% of overall attendance in Premier League games in England spending close to 1£ billion in the process. All this is sad to see but it shows that our league has loads of potential. We already have a big football fan base. Just look at the numbers that were in France for the Euros. Imagine if we could convert a percentage of fans that travel to England each week to watch our league instead. However, here’s the catch for foreign investors looking to come in to the L.O.I to make money, you don’t even need the fans! If you can create a successful team and get them to the Champions League, well then you will rake in at least €30 million every season from TV rights and sponsorship. This is before any extra revenue can be made from the few hundred fans that do come through the gates.
Author: Mark Walsh
4th Year BBS (Hons) in Recreation and Sport Management