The Globe and Mail - 18.02.2020

B10 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020

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SPORTS

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[PHOTO OF THE DAY]

| REPORTONBUSINESS

M

anchester City and the
Houston Astros are both
cheaters, but very differ-
ent sorts and with very different
results.
City’s cheating is of the finan-
cial sort. In an effort to prevent
super-rich teams from running
over the competition, UEFA – the
overseer of all European soccer
leagues – instituted a regime it
calls Financial Fair Play. It’s like

socialism for billionaires.

In essence, a team may only

spend what it earns. It can’t go

back to Father (e.g. a Russian oli-

garch, a Saudi sheikh) looking for

more cash every time it wants to

buy a new toy in midfield.

City is the richest team of any

sort in the world, as well as the

one that cares least about profit

margins.

Its solution to this problem

was to make its Emirati owner-

ship the team’s primary sponsor,

then vastly inflate the amount of

money paid for things such as lo-

go rights. This naughty business

was revealed in a series of docu-

ment leaks.

Soccer teams are constantly up

to this sort of thing because it’s

seen as a victimless crime. No

one’s forcing the players to sign

anywhere. If other teams want to

find themselves a foreign sugar

daddy, they’re welcome to get

one. And aren’t we all just one,

big, happy, stupidly wealthy soc-

cer family? That seems to be the

rationale.

But having been shown hard

evidence, UEFA did something re-

markable in this instance – it put

the hammer down on City. The

key punishment is that City is

banned from the Champions

League for two years.

This isn’t a small thing. One of

the biggest teams in the world has

just been gut shot by its bosses as

an example to others.

This is how you keep order.

Then there’s the Major League

Baseball way. You find out some-

one hasn’t just bent the account-

ing rules, but has subverted the

results of competition. And your

response is to do nothing. A

dressing down and off you go

with a warning. Please never do

that again.

This is how things go badly

wrong.

Over the weekend, the two

scandals went in opposite direc-

tions.

Houston’s is mushrooming.

Players on other teams are in

open revolt. Boston Red Sox

pitcher Chris Sale warned that

baseball “polices itself.”

“I think you’re going to see

some stuff happen this year,” Sale

said. “I don’t know if it’s right,

wrong or indifferent. Guys are

certainly welcome to handle

things however they want.’’

Well, gosh, what could he

mean by that?

All I know is that if I played for

the Houston Astros, I would

come to the plate in one of those

padded suits guys from the bomb

squad wear the next time I faced

Chris Sale.

The guys working on baseball’s

factory floor are sending a mess-

age to the bosses: no justice, no

peace.

CHEATING, B13

MLBcouldlearnfromhowUEFAhandlesacheatingfiasco

CATHAL
KELLY

OPINION

TORONTO