When the "golden dollar soccer" bubble burst, the situation of the Chinese Super League became more and more serious. Teams are quitting, wages are in arrears, sponsorships are scarce... Confidence in the Chinese Super League has been on the decline. However, a recent bombshell came: China will acquire the rights to the Russian Premier League! In an interview, Russian Premier League Chairman Araev revealed, "We have been offered to buy the rights, but we have not yet accepted the offer."
Alayev said that the state of the Russian Premier League has improved significantly and revealed some new developments. "A number of friendly countries have offered their support, which is not inspiring, but compared to the indifference of a year ago, it is a bottoming out and there is hope that deals will be struck. These countries have many players playing in the Russian Premier League, as well as from wealthy countries in the East. While some are willing to invest $50,000-$100,000 per season, what is more important is positioning, highlights and platform."
In one of the interviews, Alayev mentioned Chinese fans' love for soccer. They love not only the Premier League. "I think Chinese players can also play in the Russian Premier League. There is an offer to buy the broadcasting rights, but we have not accepted it yet, because it should be a long-term cooperation. China is trying to convince us."
However, Araev also noted, "We told them that, first of all, we don't have enough money. Secondly, how it is distributed is also important for us. At the moment the Russian Premier League is only broadcast in the periphery, but now other countries are interested in us, and people have come to us in Italy looking for cooperation."
It is reported that the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has confirmed that the new Chinese Super League (CSL) season will start on March 1 next year. Although the outside world is still waiting for accurate information, such as access to the Chinese Super League, these are basically what the industry is familiar with, the suspense is no longer. Clubs are paying more attention to each other, which is the trend of the new season's investment and operation, as well as the team's personnel adjustment and comprehensive competitiveness of the foundation and guarantee. Specific investment figures have not yet been counted, but compared with 2023, the investment level of Chinese Super League clubs in 2024 will further shrink.
Looking back to a few years ago, the "Golden Dollar Era" of the Chinese Super League, those crazy investment cases are still fresh in our minds. Some industry insiders revealed that there was a case where 12 billion yuan was invested in a single season to secure the league title. In that trend, the investment of 500 million to 600 million yuan almost became the bottom line of the season relegation. However, after the frenzy, the brakes were sharply applied to league investment, and a significant percentage of clubs operated unsustainably or even quit outright. By the 2022 season, except for a few clubs such as Shanghai Port, Shandong Taishan and Wuhan Sanzhen, all other clubs can invest between 100 million and 600 million.
In the 2023 season, the investment of Chinese Super League clubs continued to "de-goldenize". The so-called high investment, the actual figure has dropped to about 400 million yuan. It is expected that by the 2024 season, an investment of about 300 million RMB will be expected to compete for the title. Accordingly, it is estimated that there are more than one or two clubs with season budgets below 100 million RMB. Under these circumstances, the total investment of the 16 Chinese Super League clubs in the 2024 season is expected to be under RMB 3 billion, and may even be under RMB 2.5 billion. In difficult times, the test is the management ability of clubs and teams.
While the Chinese Super League is still waiting for spring to arrive, news of China's interest in purchasing the rights to the Russian Premier League at least suggests that the market is moving in a positive direction. Although confidence in the domestic league has yet to be restored on domestic platforms, spring will eventually arrive. The only thing that Chinese soccer players can do is to continue to patiently "survive the winter and wait for the spring" with the FA's new policy.
