Davies, Chris (2010) Should English and European football adopt a salary cap? In: Abstracts of the Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference. pp. 22-23. From: Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, 30 March – 1 April 2010, Bristol, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The English Premier League has, over last decade or so, established itself as the number one football league in the world while at the same time English clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have been highly successful in the European Champions League. However, despite such results, many of the English clubs remain in serious debt, champions Manchester United reportedly over ₤600 in debt while other Premier League clubs, most notably Portsmouth and West Ham, are in serious financial trouble that may well impact on their ability to remain in the Premier League. This raises the issue as to whether a salary cap should be implemented in order to ensure that clubs do not overspend on player salaries, a concept that was suggested by UEFA some years ago. Salary caps have been successfully utilised in many other sports, such as the National Football League (NFL) and the Australian Football League (AFL). This paper therefore examines the legal status of salary caps, the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of this labour market control and whether it is appropriate that the Premier League, and European football in general, adopt a salary cap. While there are certainly advantages in imposing such a restraint on wages, the world nature of football and the promotion and relegation system present in all European leagues means that football operates in a very different environment to that experienced in the domestic based American and Australian football. It is suggested, therefore, that while salary caps have proven to be highly successful in both the NFL and AFL it is unlikely that it would be as successful in the European football leagues.

Item ID:	15855
Item Type:	Conference Item (Abstract / Summary)
Keywords:	sports law, salary cap
Related URLs:	http://law.uwe.ac.uk/slsa/ http://law.uwe.ac.uk/slsa/forms/slsa-pro...
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2011 04:19
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