Page 126 - Sport Culture and the Media

MONEY, MYTH AND THE BIG MATCH || 107

players and investors continue to require clubs to wield the cheque book
even when the coffers are empty.
And it seems that all those who should know better – from banks to
investors to the finance directors of the clubs themselves – appear happy
for this suspension of credibility to continue...
As a result, most League clubs are in hock to two competing interests –
their bank and Sky TV. As one football finance expert puts it: ‘The sport
has sold its soul to television’.
(Wild 2002: 15)

Such analyses suggest that the full price of the sport’s Mephistophelian com-
pact with television is now being exacted. The dependency of clubs on tele-
vision, with ‘Only Murdoch’s millions stand[ing] between many clubs and
financial ruin’ (Wild 2002: 15), is marked for the smaller clubs by both the
trauma of the loss of ITV Digital funds and an almost pathetic gratitude for
receiving very occasional appearance fees. For example, an FA Cup replay
between non-league Dagenham and Redbridge and Second Division Plymouth
Argyle was broadcast ‘live’ by BSkyB in early 2003. This game was reflective of
the ‘romance’ of a competition that pits full-time professionals against part-
time players, and was therefore of some televisual interest. Although Plymouth
had failed to beat their junior opponents in the first match, the additional
income from BSkyB made this poor performance profitable, with the club’s
Chairman stating:
‘If you’d asked before the game would I take a draw and get £265,000 in
TV money for a replay, I would have said “yes”’.
‘For a club like ourselves the FA Cup is all about maximizing your
revenue’.
(Errington 2003: 40)

The game was duly broadcast ‘live’ and Plymouth Argyle lost, with their
manager describing the unaccustomed experience of appearing on national
television (also broadcast, in fact, in other countries; see Afterword) and being
humiliated: ‘“The whole of the nation has seen us having a poor performance
and that hurts as much as anything else”’ (Errington 2003: 43). The ‘sport may
have sold its soul to television’, but the pain of loss on the field of play is still
felt as keenly as on the balance sheet.
The evidence is clearly that the trade in sporting souls is a cross-border one.
The 2002 football season was said to be ‘getting off to a shaky start with the
grim state of the television business resulting in growing doubts about the
future of lucrative broadcasting deals and concerns over the finances of several
major clubs’ (McCathie 2002: 20). The commencement of the Italian season