The Evolution of Stadiums 🏟
Plus Atletico's weird problem with Griezmann and How much did your club's squad actually cost? 📊
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
Modern stadiums are masterpieces of design and technology. Not only do they look spectacular sitting on the skyline, but they also offer fans an incredible experience. From Tottenham’s specially designed beer delivery system to Barcelona’s virtual reality-led design which ensures that every fan has the perfect view.
As soon as we noticed this trend toward the modern ‘mega stadiums’ we instantly thought:
‘Wow, that must be expensive.’
Long story short…it is.
But while researching the economics, we noticed something far more interesting: the evolution of stadiums.
Over the last century or so, stadiums have become one of the places that people go to feel connected to their local community. They are the centre of that community and an unstoppable force of local pride.
This phenomenon has placed stadiums in competition with a higher power…the church.
Both are now considered places for people to go and express faith, and the church appears to be losing out.
We are not saying that the rise of sport is specifically causing a downfall of religion. That is a separate phenomenon with multiple causes. But we noticed this odd interplay between religion and sports that runs throughout history. From the colosseum of ancient Rome to the French priest that tried to excommunicate the early pioneers of football.
To learn more about the incredible evolution of stadiums, watch our latest YouTube video.
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🤝 This has to be the craziest story from the recent transfer window:
On deadline day, Marseille striker Bamba Dieng had agreed to a €10 million deal to join Leeds United and was waiting in a private jet terminal to fly in for his medical.
Then at the last minute, Bamba received news that Ligue 1 side Nice had matched Leed’s bid and decided to turn down Leeds and headed to the south of France.
All was going well until… Dieng failed his medical exam and Nice called off the transfer. The Senegal international was forced to return to Marseille with his tail between his legs having missed out on not one but two deadline day transfers.
As of right now, Dieng remains with Marseille and has been dropped from their Champions League squad. He does still have a chance of completing a move to Nice thanks to a rule in French football that allows clubs to sign one player outside of the transfer window if they come from another French club.
💸 Talking of failed transfers, Atletico Madrid are doing everything in their power to NOT sign Antoine Griezmann.
The France international is on loan from Barcelona and apparently, there is a clause in his contract that if he plays more than 50% of the club’s minutes across the loan spell, Atleti will need to buy him from Barca for €40m.
While the clause is not confirmed, it is suspicious that Griezmann has come on after the 60th minute in every game he has appeared in this season, averaging about 28 minutes a game.
He has also been involved in 40% of the club’s La-Liga goals, which proves his absence from the starting line-up is not down to poor performance.
Barcelona are reportedly upset with Atletico’s tactics and are asking lawyers how they can best proceed.
⚽️ How much did your club pay for its squad, and did they make the right choice?
A new list by the CIES Football Observatory reveals which clubs have spent the most money to build their current squads. We then compared this data to the market values of those squads. Here are the top five:
Left = Cost of buying players.
Right = Current market value.
🏴 Man City - €1.06b vs. €1.04b 📉
🏴 Man United - €1b vs €750m 📉
🏴 Chelsea - €881m vs €798m 📉
🇫🇷 PSG - €847m vs €912m 📈
🏴 Liverpool = €777m vs €883m 📈
Other notable names not in the top five are Real Madrid and Barcelona who both have squads that are more valuable than their purchase price. The standout performer is Bayern Munich, which paid just €500m for its players while holding a market value of €850m.
Perhaps players with English sides are losing value through bad performance or the clubs are paying over the odds for players.
🎾 Serena Williams may have retired from tennis but she didn’t leave without setting one final record. The 23-time Grand Slam winner set a new ESPN viewing record in her final match - a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic - which averaged 4.6 million viewers.
That’s up 18% from ESPN’s previous record of 3.9 million for the 2012 US Open men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
📹 To finish off this week, here is the perfect video to remind us to never give up on our dreams…enjoy.
Just a quick reminder guys, the 2012 Us Open final was between Djokovic and Murray.
Hey Athletic interest, where can I find the source material that you base videos on?