The Premier League is a staggeringly successful product. Broadcasts attract a global average of more than 600 million viewers a match, almost double the combined audience for the next two biggest European soccer leagues, Spain and Germany.
That’s also close to 10 times the number who watched this year’s Super Bowl outside the U.S. — the showpiece event of America’s most popular sport. With that level of dominance and the revenue that goes with it, squabbles over money are inevitable.
Hence Manchester City Football Club’s challenge to the Premier League’s rules governing financial transactions between clubs and related parties, which concluded earlier this month with a 175-page ruling from a tribunal panel of three retired judges. Who won? Answering that isn’t as straightforward as judging the outcome of a soccer match, where the score tells the story.
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