The Political Economy of Football V2

Manchester City have mounted another legal challenge against the Premier League’s associated party transaction (APT) rules. I am not a lawyer, but I have published on competition policy in the past and it is always been my view that the rules of football leagues, in particular the Premier League, may not be compatible with competition law.    At least they need to be tested in court to see whether a de facto cartel is operating. One thing is certain: expensive lawyers are making a lot of money out of both the Premier League and individual clubs, not least City.    The Premier League's legal bill last season was £48m, six times the budget and a lot of that was spent on City who have deep pockets. Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, informed the top-flight clubs on Thursday that the reigning champions have initiated a fresh arbitration challenge to the amendments that were voted through in November.   Masters’ letter to clubs, which w...

It's been one of the longest wrangles in contemporary football, but the efforts of Queens Park Rangers to avoid paying a £41m financial fair play (FFP) fine have reached a new stage after the club lost their latest legal challenge. However, the saga is by no means over. An arbitration panel of three QC's has dismissed the club's claim that the Football League's 2012 financial fair play rules were illegal under competition law and that the fine was disproportionate. QPR were relegated in 2015 after one season in the top flight. In 2012, the Football League's FFP rules restricted clubs to losses of £8m per year. New rules were implemented last season that allow losses of £39m over three seasons. The former rules were thought to be too draconian and the new rules harmonised them with those of the Premier League. The club announced losses of £9.8m for the 2013-14 season when they won promotion via the play offs. However, they wrote off £60m in loans as exceptional...