Sounds familiar.....Alex,WTHReds fly the flag in Istanbul - and then it disappears Jun 7 2005 Liverpool Echo Reds fly the flag in Istanbul...
The bulk of the money that clubs make from participation in the UEFA Champions League comes from market pool money i.e. TV revenues and advertising. Looking at the statistics for the past 2 CL seasons (excluding this season as I wasn't able to find the official financial figures anywhere on the internet) the total market pool was CHF$311mm in 03-04 (when Porto won) and CHF$366mm in 02-03 when AC Milan won.
Although I can't make any conclusion just by looking at 2 seasons' statistics, what I can be sure of is that the majority of TV and advertising revenues is closely correlated to the number of English clubs participating - this also accounts for why English clubs always get a higher share of the market pool due to their "pulling" power.
In CL 03-04 when there were only 3 English clubs in the competition's group stages (Newcastle was kicked out before the group stages), the market pool was about 17% smaller than the CL 02-03 campaign when all 4 English clubs were in the CL Group stages.
Heading for the CL qualifiersPhony "Liverpool, while aware that the rules do not guarantee their place after they finished fifth in the Barclays Premiership, believe that European footballÕs governing body has complicated the issue. ÒSurely the only...
Crouch OfferLivepool fail in £5m bid for Crouch Jon Brodkin Wednesday June 8, 2005 The Guardian Southampton have...
So, even if Liverpool were entered as a 5th English club into next season's CL, and the market pool has to be split 5 ways, this wouldn't be financially worse off for all English clubs as long as the size of the market pool increases by more than $CHF25mm, which by looking at these two season's financial figures alone - inclusion of one more English club brought in an additional $CHF50mm - would presumably be more than enough to cover the shortfall of splitting the money 5 ways instead of 4.
My point is simply this: footballing reasons alone tell us that Liverpool should be included in next season's CL tournament - this point is clear enough because you have to beat the reigning champions either directly or indirectly to be able to claim the crown. But add to this the financial reasons for including a 5th English club - which by all trends seem to point towards more money being made by all clubs involved (and not less) even though the money is shared by one more English club, and there seems to be no valid reason why Liverpool shouldn't be involved at all.
What do you all think?
