O/T Money in sport

[Christies Child]

By way of a change from my all too often moan, I looked at the various amounts of money in differing sports and compared my other favourite sport of pro cycle racing to that of pro football.

With Chris Froome just about to celebrate his 3rd Tour de France win I was surprised to learn about the annual budget the all conquering Sky Team has in comparison to the single purchase of some Premiership footballers. The current Sky Team has a total budget of £23 million per year, whilst some fairly average Premiership players are sold / bought for money well in access of £23 million.

To me this suggests that there is too much money at the highest levels of football whilst those at our level and below suffer from a lack of financial clout depending all too often on the financial pockets of people like our very own Peter McG. Sky to its credit plough further monies in grass route cycling. Just a pity that the Premiership and its sponsors don't see fit to do likewise to clubs at our level.

As I watch the final acts of this years Tour unfolding thanks to the excellent coverage of ITV4 and Eurosport I can only hope that in seasons to come that the gulf between those that 'have' and those that 'haven't' will be significantly reduced. Unfortunately I doubt it. The Premiership will continue to dominate and grow financially whilst MFC and others will continue to struggle.....

[Keith]

I would have thought £23 million for a Tour de France team is huge! I've enjoyed watching the highlights programme but it isn't exactly a top viewing sport is it? I agree there's too much money spent in the Premiership but don't think you've constructed your argument very well!

[outsider]

Is the £23M not there season long budget not just Le Tour riders.? They have more than 9 riders.

[Christies Child]

Is the £23M not there season long budget not just La Tour riders.? They have more than 9 riders.

Season long budget. Sky reckon that it's excellent value for money.

Wonder if Man Utd fans will view the same for the reported purchase of £100+ for Pogba considering they let him go for zero 4 years ago...

[morecambegeek]

reported purchase of £100+ for Pogba

bargain....

[John L]

reported purchase of £100+ for Pogba

bargain....

To be fair, it does say plus!

[George Dawes]

A lot of money for Pogba, a central midfielder who doesnt score a lot of goals or assists.

Matic could do that job at United, was briiliant for Jose the other season when Chelsea were crowned Champions.

[mrpotatohead]

cycling is boring nobody pays to watch it, so 23 million is far more than it deserves, everyone likes footy and pays to watch it, simple, there will always be more money in footy than any other sport for that reason, simple.

[mrpotatohead]

simple.

[shrimpnsave]

simple.

Yep.....

[Keith]

Cal Crutchlow is the 8th highest paid Moto GP (the 'Formula One' of motorbikes) and the top paid Brit. He's on about £1.8 million a year. You could go Moto GP racing for a lot less than half of what Sky pay for cycling.

[Richard Head]

cycling is boring nobody pays to watch it, so 23 million is far more than it deserves, everyone likes footy and pays to watch it, simple, there will always be more money in footy than any other sport for that reason, simple.

Good one mate. Two major sporting events in France this summer, one was won by someone who has dedicated years of his life to his sport and is now reaping the benefits and he delivered some of his winners speach in French. In the other a 'team' of over hyped, over paid no marks who struggle to put a sentence together in their native language were an embarrassment to the country.

Who would you say deserves their money most?

[Christies Child]

Each to their own.....but Sky obviously think it's value for money as they've extend suppliers contracts until 2020 at the earliest.

An excellent commitment to Sky's 32 riders and over 60 support staff not forgetting the fleet of over 24 vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

As for being boring......12 million on the Tours roadside and 23 billion watching world wide the worlds greatest free show....but then again I am somewhat biast having raced in France and Belgium over 48 years ago.

But as I said each to their own....including Mr P and his Tiddlywinks

[RedRedWine]

As for being boring......12 million on the Tours roadside and 23 billion watching world wide

Theres only 7.4 billion people alive on the planet. Only two countries have a population over 1 billion.... China and India. Stop making things up!

[Christies Child]

Should have said that it was the figure over the 21 days of the Tour

[mrpotatohead]

I'd rather watch tiddlywinks than watch cycling anyway, in fact I would rather hoover my stairs.

[Keith]

Should have said that it was the figure over the 21 days of the Tour

Even then it is extremely dubious! Skoda said 1.4 billion views in 2013, so that's a hell of an increase in a couple of years!