The $50,000 test of the Olympic model

Every Monday I wonder how crazy my week is going to be. April 8-12 didn’t disappoint.

It all started with rumours that Fifa was about to consider changes to its ban on football leagues and clubs playing official season games outside of their home territories.

Hours later, legal documents showed that the world governing body had reached an agreement with US sports promoter Relevent to resolve their differences.

And then, on Tuesday afternoon, I heard rumblings that World Athletics was poised to make a decision with major consequences for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The very next morning, I woke up to an invitation in my inbox to join Lord Sebastian Coe on a Microsoft Teams meeting.

Thirty minutes before the call, World Athletics confirmed that it would be the first international sports federation to pay bonuses to gold medal winners at the Games. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since.

More follows. Do read on — Samuel Agini, sports business reporter.

The $50,000 test of the Olympic model

If Seb Coe had been born a little later, he could’ve been at least $100,000 richer.

At least, that’s what his two Olympic gold medals would’ve earned him in prize money under his own radical plans for Paris 2024.

The World Athletics president said that gold medallists in track and field will earn $50,000 each this summer, making the federation the first to award prize money at the Olympic Games.

Coe styled it as a “commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of any Olympic Games”.

Not many people in and around the Olympics told me it was wrong to pay athletes their fair due. But the decision has ruffled some feathers at the International Olympic Committee and many of the other international federations.

World Athletics is funding the $2.4mn prize pot with proceeds from the IOC, whose official stance is that it’s up to federations “to determine how to best serve their athletes and the global development of their sport”.

The issue is that not all federations are created equal. World Athletics is at the richer end of the spectrum. Its revenues amounted to almost $55mn in 2022, a year in which it didn’t benefit from an Olympic dividend. Many other federations get by on single-digit millions and are more reliant on the IOC.

Not only did World Athletics act unilaterally, critics say, it has created a situation where some gold medals will be worth more than others and reignited a debate about the IOC’s funding model.

In a world where elite athletes in top sports leagues and tours are making more money than ever, the IOC is a rare example of a sports organiser that doesn’t put up prize money that goes directly to athletes.

“If there’s prize money it should be the IOC giving equal prize money to each event rather than different federations paying,” said someone close to another Olympic federation.

Shaking up the IOC’s “solidarity” model risks opening Pandora’s box, according to former IOC marketing director Michael Payne.

“The money is there,” he said. “The question is how it’s distributed. If you’re now saying it should go to the athletes, do you take some of it from the federations and national Olympic committees?”

The IOC stresses that it redistributes 90 per cent of its income to national Olympic committees, international sports federations and hosts.

Others are second-guessing Coe’s next move. He’s widely thought to be a possible contender for the IOC presidency, although we’re all waiting to see how incumbent Thomas Bach will handle calls from some members to extend his mandate beyond the time limit.

As federations and the IOC reflect on World Athletics’ decision, they might consider that the matter of the next IOC president is a key unknown in the equation.

League matches in America? Not so fast

The end of a dispute going back six years has reignited the possibility that Europe’s big football leagues could one day play official matches in America, in what could be a transformative commercial goal for the sport.

Fifa said this week that it would consider “changes” to policies that prevent leagues and clubs playing league games outside of their home territories.

The statement followed an agreement to resolve a legal battle with Relevent Sports. The US promoter, which is owned by billionaire Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and led by chief executive Daniel Sillman, had challenged the world governing body over its ban.

North America has become more important to European football since Fifa stood in the way of Relevent’s attempts to host a La Liga clash between FC Barcelona and Girona in Miami in 2019. Meanwhile, Fifa is ramping up preparations for the 2026 World Cup, which is set to take place in Canada, Mexico and the US.

In turn, America has warmed to football. Lionel Messi wows crowds with his performances for Inter Miami while US investors have poured capital into European football teams.

More importantly, the Premier League and La Liga are making more money than ever in North America thanks to lucrative broadcasting deals.

Somehow, top English and Spanish clubs have signed multibillion dollar media rights deals without playing any games of serious consequence in the region.

Now the question is what could be achieved if the best English and Spanish clubs could play the occasional official match across the pond.

But don’t expect a quick answer. There’s a difference between Fifa changing its stance and the reality of convincing fans and politicians of the merits of going abroad.

La Liga is familiar with the debate. Players and the Spanish football federation raised concerns last time round. Meanwhile, Premier League chief Richard Masters last summer played down the prospect of playing competitive matches in the US.

In any case, the English top flight has learned about both sides of UK government power in the years since Relevent launched its case against Fifa.

The league welcomed the government’s objections to the breakaway European Super League. More recently, however, Masters has warned that UK plans to introduce an independent football regulator could undermine the competition’s global dominance.

Against that backdrop, it would take a brave league to tell fans that clubs can head off to America instead of holding matches in front of their home crowds.

For Relevent, these circumstances mean that winning over Fifa is just the first step to the ultimate dream.

Highlights

• Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter was charged with bank fraud by the US Department of Justice, which accused him of wiring more than $16mn from the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star’s bank account to pay off gambling debts.

• 777 Partners suffered another setback in its bid for Everton Football Club, casting further doubt over the takeover.

• OJ Simpson, the American football superstar and Hollywood actor whose acquittal in a 1995 murder trial sparked a rancorous debate about race and justice in the US, died of cancer aged 76. Read the FT’s obituary.

• Does diversity really yield better results? FT columnist considers the case of the Arsenal Women’s football team in this nuanced take.

• The rise of the $1mn fee is upending Florida’s golf clubs, as billionaires flock to Miami. But what does DJ Khaled have to do with it? The answer is here.

Transfer Market

• Ed Woodward has a new role. Bloomsbury Football Foundation has appointed the former Manchester United executive vice-chair to its board of trustees. Through football, the London-based charity tries to bring young people from different socio-economic backgrounds together.

Final Whistle

Gian Piero Gasperini had a great week.

The Atalanta manager didn’t just mastermind Liverpool FC’s first defeat at Anfield in 14 months. The Italian side won by three goals to nil, in a display that left Jürgen Klopp flummoxed.

It’s all the more impressive considering Atalanta’s €119mn operating revenues, and €84mn wage bill in 2022-23 (with thanks to Swiss Ramble/Kieron O’Connor for deciphering the Italian accounts).

Liverpool’s revenues amounted to £594mn, while wages added up to £373mn.

As well as outwitting an opponent with a clear financial advantage, Gasperini had another gift for the Atalanta fans who made the trip to Liverpool. Check it out.