MESSI VS. RONALDO

Two Wall Street Journal sportswriters chronicle a soccer rivalry that hinges on money as much as on-the-pitch performance.

Facing off in the Spanish soccer league for years, Lionel Messi (b. 1987), a native of Argentina, and Cristiano Ronaldo (b. 1985), from the Portuguese island of Madeira, were a study in contrasts: the former small and, as often noted here, lacking in much of a personality, the other voluble and larger than life. Yet both have always displayed nearly superhuman skills, and both emerged as superstars, sometimes to the unhappiness of teammates—in the case of Ronaldo, for example, never passing the ball to them because, he said, “I’d only see the ball.” Both were signed young to rising clubs from Barcelona and Madrid that would soon become the richest in the world—at least, write Robinson and Clegg, until Emirati investors pumped Manchester City and other British teams full of money. Part of the cash flow came from rival sportswear manufacturers Adidas and Nike, part from TV, part from gate revenues. With a huge publicity machine behind them, the rival players “accessed a level of recognition normally reserved for US presidents and popes.” Messi has more social media followers than LeBron James, Ronaldo more than Kim Kardashian. So popular as both athletes and “lifestyle brands” were the two that their clubs had to pay exorbitant amounts to keep them. Fans may argue over which player is better, but for the amount they paid Messi, the authors note, “Barça [Barcelona] could have bought six F-35 fighter jets from the US Air Force,” and Ronaldo commanded similarly huge numbers of euros. Messi and Ronaldo have gone on to other teams, but, the authors conclude, thanks to overreach, the clubs they once played for were left “out of ideas, running out of money, and increasingly desperate.”

An absorbing cautionary tale for soccer fans and students of sports finance alike.