The use of a single-entity closed league model in South African soccer

Abstract

South African club football is in a state of sporting and financial instability and inequality. This state of disarray is to such an extent that the integrity of the football pyramid has been breached with clubs selling their statuses in the South African top flight, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), on the open market thus subverting the requirement of sporting merit as a determinant for promotion and relegation. This mini-dissertation seeks to explore the possibility of an alternative organisational model where rather than continuing with the pretense of a pyramid an entirely new model is implemented for top-flight clubs. This model would be a publicly owned and traded single-entity closed league model. A single-entity closed league as used by the Major League Soccer (MLS) league in the United States of America is a model where the respective clubs in the league are centrally owned by the league itself and investors invest in the league rather than investing in individual clubs. This model would necessitate forgoing the relegation and promotion system which is utilised in open leagues. A single-entity closed league allows for greater control on spending and the institution of cost-control measures such as salary caps, which can be paired with salary floors, as well as greater standardisation of infrastructure throughout the league and the strategic placement of teams in cities and metros to ensure greater commercial exploitation of the largest catchment areas. How the model complies with South African competition law will also be examined with the single economic entity doctrine being applied to the league as a means of addressing the potential allegation of the formation of this new league amounting to the formation of a cartel.