With football and basketball events followed religiously by millions of fans around the globe, modern ball games have become lucrative money making machines. In Lebanon, however, sectarian violence and political instability has kept the public away from stadiums and worsened an ongoing financial crisis faced by local sports leagues.
“The rise in political tensions in 2001, further exacerbated by the assassination of prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, have significantly affected the Lebanese football scene,” says Rahif Alameh, head of the Lebanese Football Association (LFA). The LFA seems to reflect the ongoing Lebanese political struggle, with main community leaders intervening in the appointment of members.
“Sectarianism also plagues Lebanese basketball, with teams associated with the various religious communities, but we have managed to keep it out of the federation, our members being elected and not appointed, as is the case in other federations,” says Pierre Kakhia, head of the Lebanese Basketball Association (LBA) and president of the World Sports Group.
As an example, the basketball team Hekmeh is usually associated with the Christian community, the Antranik team with Armenian Lebanese and Riyadhi with Sunnis. In football, Homenetmen (an acronym for Armenian General Athletic Union) as well as Homenmen (Armenian Athletic Association) are both identified as Christian Armenian teams, while Al Ansar is perceived as a Sunni team and the Safa football club as a Druze club. Al-Ahad and Al Mabarra have mainly Shiite players and supporters.
Until 2006 and the subsequent ban on spectators, clashes erupted regularly between supporters of rivaling March 8 and March 14 political factions, who chanted respectively ”God, Nasrallah and the Dahieh,” while others shouted at the top of their lungs “God, Hariri, and Tarik Jdeideh.”
Killing the game
“The spiraling violence and the ban on the public have exerted significant pressure on Lebanese clubs, already facing financial difficulties,” Kakhia says. “This has trickled down to the management of clubs and resulted in the loss of their financial stability. As an example, big clubs such as Sagesse and Kahraba are still actively looking for a benefactor.”
Clubs’ worsening financial woes are not much of a secret in the world of sports as players’ salaries spiral out of control.
“Wages are increasing all over the region. Foreign players who used to be paid on average about $35,000 are requesting today double if not triple the amount,” says Karim Diab, president of the al-Ansar club. Alameh concurs, saying that about 65 percent of football club budgets are usually dedicated to players, coaching salaries and expenses.
Diab says maintenance, medical costs and equipment account for about 30 percent of the rest of the budget. In basketball, the breakdown seems somewhat similar as Kakhia says that while player and coaching wages together account for 80 percent of clubs budgets, the remaining 20 percent is generally spent on stadium rental. The head of the LBA emphasizes that while Lebanon spent $1.2 million on its national basketball team over the past three years, Jordan spent $7 million over the same period and Iran spends $30 million annually. According to Diab, the budget of Al Ansar — considered one of the richest clubs in Lebanon — amounts to about $1.2 million.
One reason behind the pauperization of Lebanese sports leagues is that most clubs have failed to tap into the lucrative, sports-associated businesses.
TV rights paid to the Asian Football Federation have doubled every four years, from some $20 million between the years 1996 and 2000, to around $40 million between 2000 and 2004, to $80 million between 2004 and 2008. It is estimated that Asian football TV rights will almost double again between 2008 and 2012, to $140 million. In Lebanon, however, TV revenues for football teams have been “shrinking steadily,” complains Kakhia.
Comparison of contracts awarded to TV broadcasters
Empty seats and pockets
Most clubs thus find themselves in dire straits with the collapse of hefty broadcasting contracts and matches unattended.
“Broadcasting being the main money-spinner for clubs, the public needs to be allowed again into stadiums,” says Alameh. He also explains that the LFA’s $800,000 contract with the Al Jazeera sports channel, will not be renewed this year, leaving the federation with a $150,000 contract with Future TV, one that will be increased to $200,000 by next year. This amount will be divided among the various Lebanese clubs depending on their ranking.
Football and basketball clubs have not been able to rely on steady sources of revenue usually brought in by merchandising and ticket sales, as well as sponsorships, which should ideally account for up to 30 percent of a club’s income, according to Diab. Tickets to basketball games are usually distributed free of charge to club supporters. In football the situation is different.
“We used to generate $60,000 in ticket sales every year, this has definitely changed since the ban on the public,” says Diab. “In Egypt, sponsorship and TV rights fully cover the $35 million budget of the national Al Ahli club.”
Diab says TV rights for Al Ansar account for 1 percent of the team’s budget. He says sponsorships have become difficult to secure, adding that a few years ago the Coca Cola company had to sponsor three football teams representing the Sunnite, Shiite and Christian communities to avoid being perceived as taking sides in the sectarian struggle.
“To be financially successful, clubs ought to be branded and managed like real commercial companies, unfortunately this is not the case in Lebanon,” concludes Kakhia.
