歐洲各大足球聯賽貧富差距根源大綱

When soccer’s top international tournament, theChampions League, begins its group stage on September 16, it will offer a chance for Europe’s top clubs to show off the results of their summer spending.
國際頂級足球賽事歐洲冠軍聯賽（Champions League）於9月16日展開小組賽。歐洲的頂級俱樂部將利用這次機會，展示他們夏季斥資引援的成果。

And quite a summer of spending it was: Teams in England’s Premier League spent EUR1.05 billion (about $1.4 billion) buying players, up from EUR752 million last year. In Spain’s La Liga, the teams paid EUR479 million. And in Italy and Germany, they spent EUR328 million and EUR315 million respectively.
這真是個一擲千金的夏天：英超球隊總共花費了10.5億歐元（約合14億美元）購買球員，而去年這一數字爲7.52億歐元。西甲球隊購買球員的總開支爲4.79億歐元。意大利和德國職業球隊則分別花費了3.28億歐元和3.15億歐元。

Of course, European soccer operates like any international talent business, with top performers gravitating to the most generous employers.
當然，歐洲足球的人才機制與其他行業的國際人才聘用模式沒什麼不同，表現最好的員工都傾向於爲最慷慨的僱主工作。

“Transfer spending is analogous to the international balance of trade, where wealthy leagues usually import more talent than lower revenue domestic leagues,” says John Vrooman, a Vanderbilt University sports economist.
美國範德比爾特大學（Vanderbilt University）體育經濟學家約翰o弗魯曼表示：“轉會花銷類似於國際貿易差額。比起收入較低的國內足球聯賽，富有的聯賽通常會引入更多人才。”

So it is no surprise that Premier League clubs spent the most, considering that its revenues hit EUR2.9 billion in the 2012-2013 season, compared to EUR2.0 billion and EUR1.9 billion for the German and Spanish leagues, according to Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance.
根據德勤會計師事務所（Deloitte）發佈的足球財政年度報告（Annual Review of Football Finance），在2012-2013賽季，英超聯賽收入29億歐元，而德國和西班牙聯賽分別收入20億歐元和19億歐元，考慮到這點，英超聯賽的俱樂部花錢最爲慷慨也就不足爲奇了。不過今年夏天的斥資引援也體現了歐洲足球聯賽在組織上的很大差異。將英超聯賽和西甲聯賽進行對比，這種差異體現得尤其明顯。

But this summer’s spending also puts on display the vast differences in how European soccer leagues are organized. This is especially true when one compares England’s Premier League with Spain’s La Liga.
自英超聯賽於1992年成立以來，電視轉播收入的分配就十分公平。目前，所有國際轉播收入由各隊平分，國內電視轉播的一半收入也採用這種分配方式。另一半國內電視轉播收入則根據球隊表現和在電視轉播中出現的頻率進行分配。

Since its founding in 1992, the Premier League has distributed television revenue fairly evenly. Currently, all international distribution revenues are spread evenly among the teams, as is half of the domestic TV income. The rest of the domestic income is paid out depending on performance and television appearances.
這種分配相對平均的做法，使得英超聯賽各隊的電視轉播收入相差無幾。在今年5月結束的賽季中，賺錢最多的利物浦隊（Liverpool）在電視轉播上收入1.22億歐元，僅是墊底的卡迪夫城隊（Cardiff City）的1.57倍（收入7,770萬歐元）。這種公平的分配體系讓規模較小的英超球隊也有財力購買球員，這使得聯賽在人才引進方面的整體花費水漲船高。This relatively egalitarian distribution means that the difference in TV revenues among Premier League teams is low. During the season that ended in May, the top earner, Liverpool, received EUR122 million in TV revenues, 1.57 times what last place Cardiff City got (EUR77.7 million).
國際體育經濟學家協會（International Association of Sports Economists）主席兼西班牙奧維耶多大學（University of Oviedo）經濟學教授普拉西多o羅德里格斯表示：“因爲各隊都有着不錯的收入，因此英超聯賽墊底的球隊也能角逐轉會市場。”

The Premier League’s equal payout system allows smaller English teams to buy players, which increases the league’s overall spending on talent.
當然，最大英超球隊的收入和花銷都遠遠多於那些小球隊。在2014年的轉會市場上，被弗魯曼稱爲“體育愛好者”或“糖果老爹”（即那些更在意球隊輸贏，而不是盈利狀況的富人）所持有或控制的四傢俱樂部在購買球員上的花費，就佔到了整個英超聯賽該項花費的一大半。這些俱樂部分別是利物浦（1.458億歐元）、切爾西（Chelsea，1.113億歐元）、阿森納（Arsenal，9,270萬歐元）、以及在德勤足球隊財富排行榜（Football Money League）上位列第四的曼徹斯特聯隊（Manchester United）。

After a bad season that saw it miss out on the upcoming Champions League, Manchester United spent EUR182.5 million on transfers to improve its team.
經歷了一個失敗的賽季並錯失歐冠資格後，曼聯在轉會市場花費了1.825億歐元來提高實力。

“If a team feels it can make progress to qualify for Champions league, it makes an extra effort in transfer fees and salary,” says Rob Simmons, a professor of economics at the Lancaster University Management School who estimates Manchester United will lose at least EUR25 million by missing the competition this year.
蘭卡斯特大學管理學院（Lancaster University Management School）經濟學教授羅伯o西蒙斯表示：“如果一支球隊覺得自己有望獲得角逐歐冠聯賽的資格，它就會在轉會費和薪水上投入更多資金。”他估計，由於錯失今年的歐冠聯賽，曼聯的經濟損失將至少達到2,500萬歐元。

Still, the egalitarian TV rights distribution has made the Premier League stronger overall.
儘管如此，電視轉播收入的平等分配，讓英超聯賽的整體水平有所提高。

“The financial advantage of the top English clubs is not as great as the financial advantage of the league as a whole,” says Stefan Szymanski, a sports management professor at the University of Michigan.
密歇根大學（University of Michigan）體育管理學教授斯蒂芬o斯曼斯基表示：“頂級英格蘭俱樂部的財務優勢不如整個英超聯賽的財務優勢大。”

Compare that to Spain’s La Liga, a concentrated market dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, the two clubs with the highest revenues in the world, according to Deloitte.
現在可以將它與西甲聯賽做一個對比。西甲聯賽是一個集中化市場，由皇家馬德里（Real Madrid）和巴塞羅那（Barcelona）兩支隊伍主導。德勤的數據顯示，這兩家是全球收入最高的俱樂部。

Spanish teams negotiate TV rights separately, so the biggest chunk of the television revenues go to these top two teams, which each brought in over EUR180 million last year. According to Deloitte, the TV revenue ratio between the biggest and smallest earners in Spain is 7:1.
西甲球隊分頭洽談電視轉播權，所以這兩支頂尖球隊獲得了最大一塊電視轉播收入，它們在去年的收入均超過1.8億歐元。根據德勤的數據，電視轉播收入第一名和最後一名的收入比達到了7:1。

That’s far higher than in Italy (4.4:1) or Germany (2.5:1), not to mention England. In a market dominated by so few businesses, most teams can’t spend significant sums for players. During the summer player buying market, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid (a distant third in revenues) accounted for 81% of the EUR479 million Spanish teams spent.
這要比意大利（4.4:1）和德國（2.5:1）高得多，更不用說英格蘭了。在一個由如此少的俱樂部統治的市場，大多數球隊都拿不出很多錢來追逐球員。在夏天的球員交易市場，巴塞羅那、皇家馬德里和馬德里競技（Atlético de Madrid，收入遠遠地排在第三）購買球員的花費，佔據西甲球隊購買球員耗費總額（4.79億歐元）的81%。

There is reason to believe that the Premier League will hold on to its economic dominance its role as the biggest talent shopper. Because of a new EUR6.5 billion broadcast deal, Premier League teams took home EUR1.95 billion in TV fees in the season that ended in May, up 60% from EUR1.2 billion last year.
因此我們有理由相信，英超聯賽會繼續保持球星最大買家的經濟統治地位。在新簽署的65億歐元轉播合同下，英超聯賽在今年5月結束的賽季中收入了19.5億歐元的轉播費，比上賽季的12億歐元提高了60%。

With this boom in broadcast rights, Deloitte estimates that Premier League teams brought in about EUR4 billion in revenues in the 2013-2014 season, or more than the Spanish and Italian leagues combined.
鑑於電視轉播費用的增勢迅猛，德勤預計英超聯賽在2013-2014賽季的收入將達到40億歐元，超出西班牙和意大利聯賽的收入之和。