All my Boxing Day experiences have to do with the outdoors. When I was a young adult in my home area of Brighton, my brother Daniel and I, along with some friends, had a routine.
In the morning I would visit Hove Dog Course to enjoy the annual Christmas gathering.
I then returned to my parents’ house for chicken soup and cold turkey before touring the old Goldstone Ground to watch Brighton & Hove Albion, who then normally played in the old Second Division.
Later in married life, when I spent holidays with my wife’s family in Cardiff, the routine was different. We would make the short trip to nearby Caerphilly to watch the hunt begin, all in bright red coats, ruddy faces, beautifully slender horses and a pack of dogs. Then we would go for a walk in the hills.
Sports on the day after Christmas are now dominated by Premier League games in the same way that the National Football League (NFL) occupies the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
The Americanization of Premier League football continues apace with eleven American-owned clubs and Everton now fully controlled by Houston-based The Friedkin Group. We have already seen at Chelsea, under the leadership of Todd Boehly, how American ownership brings a new perspective to management.
Game changer: Chelsea under Todd Boehly shows American ownership in action
The free and easy transfer system in Europe means that short-termism prevails in most clubs.
Coaches come and go, and player contracts have been short and required constant renewal.
Fenway Sports Group is learning this to its cost in Liverpool this season. Success on the pitch is offset by aging assets such as defender Virgil van Dijk.
Longevity is a treasure in America, and it is expensive. The owner of the New York Mets baseball franchise, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, has just spent $756 million (£600 million) to lure Juan Soto – the current Lionel Messi of the big leagues – across town from the Yankees on a 15-year contract. .
The last big deal of its kind in baseball was when Todd Boehly, the same person, lured Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Dodgers for $700m (£560m) over ten years. It seems to be paying off. The Dodgers handily won the World Series in 2024.
Boehly and his teammates were widely criticized when they arrived at Chelsea FC. The decision to sign expensive players such as Ecuadorian midfielder Moisés Caicedo for £100 million and bright young star Cole Palmer on contracts of seven years or more was considered strange.
However, it brought two benefits. The cost of the asset, the player, could be amortized over several years, avoiding the Premier League’s fair play rules. He also brought winning stability to the playing staff.
The race for the money: Private equity giant CVC runs Formula 1 and is changing racing
All sports have something to learn from the American approach.
The masters of the financialisation of sport are in the London offices of private equity barons CVC.
Techniques pioneered in Formula 1 are being adapted to a variety of sports around the world.
These include sports such as women’s tennis, volleyball, Six Nations rugby and many more. Opportunities to monetize sports using social media platforms, television streaming, and commercial and franchise rights have multiplied.
Greyhound racing may have been sidelined by animal rights activists, but there is no shortage of other sporting businesses ready for a financial revamp.
