Why buying fake products is cheating the club you love

[rooster59]

Why buying fake products is cheating the club you love

By The Nation

 

Mr. Jose Maria Gotor, La Liga Delegate for Thailand; Mr. Philipp Dupui, Head of Economic and Trade Section, EU Delegation to Thailand; and Mr. Tiago Guerreiro Project Leade.

 

Many sports fans think that buying a counterfeit jersey of their favourite team or watching games through illegal streaming sites is a harmless practice. After all, most of the time, nobody will ever know.

 

But, if fans want to truly support their heroes, there are ample reasons why they should stick with genuine products and official streams.

 

Speaking at World Intellectual Property (IP) Day 2019 in Bangkok, the La Liga Delegate for Thailand, Jose Maria Gotor, spelled out why buying genuine products benefits not only the teams ­­but the fans themselves.

 

Gotor noted that the revenue from TV companies and official merchandise suppliers is critical to pay for clubs’ recruitment programmes, training facilities, support staff and other services that keep them competitive.

 

Philipp Dupuis, Head of Economics and Trade Section, EU Delegation to Thailand said IP (intellectual property) rights were crucial for the sports sector, which has to rely on the protection of its IP assets - these are linked to the name, and sports associations, TV rights, merchandise and the internet.

 

Why do the clubs need IP protection? It’s an economic asset. It’s a name they build. They need the revenue from sales of merchandise to finance recruitment, training facilities, sports staff and new initiatives.

 

Without these assets and the revenue that comes with them, without fans buying the legal merchandise and without fans watching games via legal streaming channels, the fans are harming, not serving, their club. If they support their club, buying licensed merchandise and watching licensed TV, they contribute, and basically the show, the game goes on. This is at the heart of what we’re looking at.

 

Moreover, the TV rights for top-level sports are typically licensed to broadcasters who then offer the highest-quality streams to fans worldwide.

 

Everyone loses when fans opt to dodge legal streams, Gotor added.

 

“When La Liga fans watch pirated matches online, they are essentially endangering the Spanish football teams that they love,” he said.

 

“There are plenty of legitimate ways to catch a live La Liga match in Southeast Asia, especially on the BeIN Sports app or through your local cable TV provider.”

 

La Liga is the premier division for men’s football in Spain and its highest-profile teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona FC have massive fan bases in Asia.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30368715

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-05

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[baansgr]

Maybe if they charged fair prices fans wouldn't resort to buying fakes or streaming. Pure greed for many years by these clubs that are nothing more than thieves and see their fans as cash cows.

[Denim]

Oh yes. Selfish fans saving a few bob. Of course if selfish players and club staff were to accept more reasonable salaries they wouldn't have to rip off their fans. Problem sorted.

[XenZen]

but it's not cheating my wallet.  not cheating my money.  i care more about my money then they do.  everyone only cares about money, and this helps mine.  

 

they get 10000000000 billion euros and i save 3 euros.  i'm ok, i'll sleep

[sanemax]

Right , spend 100 GBP on a new football shirt , that costs 5 GBP to make because they are made in Vietnamese sweatshops by people earning 10 GBP per day , so that they can pay 100 million GBP for a striker , who earns 200 000 GBP per week and couldnt score in a Pattaya brothel and just wanders around the pitch begrudgingly because he cannot play for Real Madrid . 

   Or spend 10 GBP on a kit that was made in the same factory  in Vietnam , but just left via the back door  

[sungod]

I complained to Chelsea that we could not buy children's shirts here, or anything else come to that. They told me I could order online and have it sent. I replied the last time I did that added approx another 30% to the cost of an already expensive shirt with customs duties. They apologized and said customs had nothing to do with them. I apologized and said it was Chelsea who was creating the counterfeit problem for themselves by not making the products available in Thailand at a decent price and that's why we have to buy counterfeit or support a club like Liverpool who have a shop in Pattaya. 

 

All in all a strange business model in wanting to expand the interest in your club.......

[sanemax]

8 minutes ago, sungod said:

I complained to Chelsea that we could not buy children's shirts here, or anything else come to that. They told me I could order online and have it sent. I replied the last time I did that added approx another 30% to the cost of an already expensive shirt with customs duties. They apologized and said customs had nothing to do with them. I apologized and said it was Chelsea who was creating the counterfeit problem for themselves by not making the products available in Thailand at a decent price and that's why we have to buy counterfeit or support a club like Liverpool who have a shop in Pattaya. 

 

All in all a strange business model in wanting to expand the interest in your club.......

You can buy original Chelsea kits in the Nike shop in Thailand 

[champers]

Football clubs cheating supporters out of money is an ongoing and deliberate process. £3 and more for a pie that is half the price outside the ground.

[Essex Reject]

Is this actually for real? Fans are cheating the clubs??? Hahhahahahaha.

[3 minus 2]

1 hour ago, champers said:

Football clubs cheating supporters out of money is an ongoing and deliberate process. £3 and more for a pie that is half the price outside the ground.

Between 3 and  5 £ for a little  bottle of water at wembley.. TRULY shocking ..

[CGW]

If they are not making enough money they need to "trim the fat" & stop paying outrageous salaries! 

[connda]

It's pretty easy to understand why it happens.  The sports clubs are simply awash in money.  When club owners are billionaires and players are making millions (and millions) in Euros and Sterling (or Dollars), the average Joe and The Street eventually looks at the utter greed and avarice at the top of their sports club, looks at their own hard life of scraping by from paycheck to paycheck, has a moment of cognitive dissonance - and then go for the cheapest option to purchase fan-wear while still supporting their team.  The average person will listen to someone in the upper 1% of the population financially talk about 'the evils of piracy' and how fans buying knock-offs are stealing food from the mouths of the players and owners children's mouths' - and it comes off as totally disingenuous.  
This would not be such a problem if the owners and players only made, say, 10 times what a normal middle class citizen makes, but these people make some ungodly multiple of what an average persons earns and they do so by gouging fans for exorbitant prices for tickets, food, drink, team sportswear, and souvenirs.  

If the really want their fans to buy official items - then make them affordable!  Stop the financial predation of fans by obscenely wealthy clubs and the fans will support the club financially.

[IssanMichael]

I played football in a lowly league for a few years and a few bob. I love how clubs talk of cheating when it comes to shirts etc. How about these premadonnas cheating on the pitch week after week, shirt pulling wrap around arms, shoving at corners, looking for imaginary blood, following an imaginary elbow, rolling around like a  wounded animal, when having a leg brushed by an opponent's sock, give me a break. That's why i only watch when England play.

[khunken]

As far as streaming goes it's the various country FAs & UEFA that sell the rights as a monopoly in each foreign country market. With a monopoly, the rights buyers can pay inflated prices for those rights and pass them on to football fans in their country. That monopolistic system is why the clubs get multi-millions from the TV rights which leads to super-high inflation with player valuation & salaries.

And all that's compounded by fans here in Thailand having to fork out separate fees for the top EU leagues (via True), Champions & Europa league (Goal) and BBC/BT for the FA cup.

Personally I prefer to find my own way of viewing that doesn't involve contributing to $200m for Neymar or GBP300+ a week for Alexie Sanchez.

[Traubert]

I think the most nauseating thing about what he's saying here is that these clubs already rolling in untold wealth want more, and indeed feel that they deserve more, from the poorest parts of society.

 

I owe my Dad a huge favour for taking me to a lower league club in my youth. I have followed that club all my life. No show ponies in our league.

[hobz]

It's illogical to reason that it's a loss of revenue for the clubs. If people can't afford the official stuff they will simply not buy at all.

[wgdanson]

4 hours ago, khunken said:

As far as streaming goes it's the various country FAs & UEFA that sell the rights as a monopoly in each foreign country market. With a monopoly, the rights buyers can pay inflated prices for those rights and pass them on to football fans in their country. That monopolistic system is why the clubs get multi-millions from the TV rights which leads to super-high inflation with player valuation & salaries.

And all that's compounded by fans here in Thailand having to fork out separate fees for the top EU leagues (via True), Champions & Europa league (Goal) and BBC/BT for the FA cup.

Personally I prefer to find my own way of viewing that doesn't involve contributing to $200m for Neymar or GBP300+ a week for Alexie Sanchez.

Bein Sport, BBht 199 a month, discontinue in the closed season. Great.

[utalkin2me]

Four words. Cry me a river. 

 

They have a good argument of course. There are pragmatics in the world is the problem. So, the owner of the LA Lakers wont get a commission from me because I bought a Chinese made jersey. Really? Boohoo. 

 

Sports streaming is the same thing. These are the people that do whatever the hell they want, kinda like the government. If they want to show you a coke commercial even though you paid $85 for the right to watch the event, you will see a coke commercial. This is the stuff Hollywood is going to finally have to stop, and start listening to consumers. And the reason the people have even a shred of power is free streams. It is the only way we have any power. As free streams become more popular, studios are going to be forced into alternative solutions (ie their profit margins wont be quite as obscene). You want to watch walking dead? Well, watch a stream and it is commercial free. Not too easy to go back to the paid version, is it now? 

 

"Whatever a man sews, he will also reap". And, studios have been bending the public over for decades. Some of you out there know, in dcd days you could buy a dvd in Asia, get back to USA and it wont play. You bend people over long enough. you are going to get bent over. And streams are the power the people will have for the coming decades to keep the studios in check. 

[OneEyedPie]

I love to be bent over.

[BritManToo]

Just bought ManU and Bayern Munich, $5 each in Phnom Penh.

[Classic Ray]

This is the same argument made about counterfeit software and handbags.

 

But its all supply and demand. If your product is too expensive for consumers, but you have created a demand, then alternative suppliers will pop up to satisfy that demand. 

 

Thats why genuine suppliers like Walmart, Target, Ikea, Lidl, Uniqlo, Daiso and Aldi are successful. They sell reasonable quality at reasonable prices so they don’t get undercut.

[Katipo]

I disagree with piracy and counterfeiting in principle, but teams such as those in the English Premier League are no longer football clubs, they are football brands. And like all other brands, they'll package what they sell in the most appealing package possible to get the public to give them as much of their hard each cash as possible.

[sungod]

On 5/5/2019 at 9:49 AM, sanemax said:

You can buy original Chelsea kits in the Nike shop in Thailand 

Yep, but I'm after kid sizes, also 1st and 2nd strips

[metempsychotic]

could.not.care.less.

[thaiguzzi]

On 5/5/2019 at 6:44 AM, baansgr said:

Maybe if they charged fair prices fans wouldn't resort to buying fakes or streaming. Pure greed for many years by these clubs that are nothing more than thieves and see their fans as cash cows.

 

On 5/5/2019 at 7:12 AM, Denim said:

Oh yes. Selfish fans saving a few bob. Of course if selfish players and club staff were to accept more reasonable salaries they wouldn't have to rip off their fans. Problem sorted.

Indeed.

It also begs the question why clubs need to bring out 2,3 or even 4 (FOUR!) new strips per season?

Like your 60 Quid shirt is oh so old fashioned and oh so last year when the new 60 Quid shirt comes out.

[3 minus 2]

Tbh.. my grudge with 'football' starts  way bac to the 60's the clubs and lge never gave a flying fuc about spectators the times i went and couldnt see or buy an overpriced  cup of tea at half time when i look back how i got away without getting seriousely injured i'll never know  they really treated fans  appalingly   culminating in hillsborough and STILL they aint owning up and taking the blame .. blaming the cops yeah it was the cops mismanaging it but it was the football powers to be allocated the smaller end to the club with the most fans .. 

And to a degree they still <deleted> the fans over do, selling over priced tickets and over prices merchandise AIMING it at youngsters the prem lge frankly have fist <deleted> english football alnost with its blessing .. i digress .. so when they start bleating about streamers taking revenue... wot goes around comes around .. perhaps if they had shown a little more concern in the past .. i'de at least listen now ..

With their REGULAR 100 million £ transfers and prem players on at least 40 g a week .. they can take a running jump

[nkg]

On 5/5/2019 at 12:35 AM, rooster59 said:

buying fake products is cheating the club you love

 

Only 10%-15% of shirt sale revenues go to the club. The remaining 85%-90% goes straight into the pocket of Nike or Adidas.

 

Kit sponsors pay vast sums of money annually to football clubs - Adidas give £75M/year to Man Utd, for example. In return, the kit sponsors keep most of the money from shirt sales. So if you spend £35 on a Man Utd shirt, Man Utd see less than £5 of that money.

 

Asking Thais to spend a week's wages on lining Nike's pockets is ridiculous.

[nkg]

On 5/5/2019 at 10:31 AM, khunken said:

As far as streaming goes it's the various country FAs & UEFA that sell the rights as a monopoly in each foreign country market. With a monopoly, the rights buyers can pay inflated prices for those rights and pass them on to football fans in their country. That monopolistic system is why the clubs get multi-millions from the TV rights which leads to super-high inflation with player valuation & salaries.

And all that's compounded by fans here in Thailand having to fork out separate fees for the top EU leagues (via True), Champions & Europa league (Goal) and BBC/BT for the FA cup.

Personally I prefer to find my own way of viewing that doesn't involve contributing to $200m for Neymar or GBP300+ a week for Alexie Sanchez.

 

I don't know, I reckon Sanchez is worth about £300/week.

[OneEyedPie]

Tbh.. my grudge with 'football' starts  way bac to the 60's the clubs and lge never gave a flying fuc about spectators the times i went and couldnt see or buy an overpriced  cup of tea at half time when i look back how i got away without getting seriousely injured i'll never know  they really treated fans  appalingly   culminating in hillsborough and STILL they aint owning up and taking the blame

Don’t forget Bradford.