by Dario Bo

Created on: August 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 09, 2009

Panem et circenses: a simple but disarming answer that Decimus Iunius Ivenalis, a Latin satiric poet, gave a couple of millennia ago to the question above. Panem et circenses, therefore, should be the leitmotiv of this article. To enquire the depth of the answer the function of sport must be defined.

Sport covers various fields of human society. It has an educational goal pursued by the concept of physical skill as a virtue. It has an ethic background based on the principles of fair play, the valorization of the opponent and the concept of fair victory. These two functions are relevant for the personal development of sportsmen: a development that drives in an unicum the humanistic virtue of a strong man, morally and physically; a standard that is set in rock by the old saying mens sana in corpore sano.

Yet, sport has another relevant dimension: the public one. The Roman Empire was the first one that comprehended the public value of sport. The public meaning of sport consisted in allowing the commons to amuse themselves and, by reflection, give their consent to the emperor. A way, therefore, to forget about the daily troubles and enjoy life watching the games. The public function of sport evolved throughout the centuries and survived. Even in our times sport is a matter of national pride and often it has the role of a pressure valve for the frustration that modern times can generate.

Football is no stranger to the above statements. The personal development function isn't of interest for this article but the public function is of great relevance. Football is a matter of national pride, a casus belli for hooligan clashes, even, sadly, a reason of death. But most of all modern times added another public value to football: the business value. Business is the polar star of modern sport and most of all football. Great sums of money are spent to create competitive sides and great income from excellent football achievements is ensured. Merchandise of the best world teams is sold all over the planet. Football stars are testimonials to all kind of advertisement campaigns. If we accept modern times we must accept the modernization of football which would equal accepting the business logic operating in the scope of the public function of football. Therefore, if business logic is accepted there would be only one way to answer correctly to the topic question: 80 million euros for a player would be justified if the transfer will bring even more money to Real Madrid CF. The answer must be businesslike: only a greater income gained by Real Madrid CF can justify the 80 million euros spent for Cristiano Ronaldo. I'm pretty confident that Real will certainly recover the 80 million euros in six months after the transfer.

We must cease to see football in a romantic, old fashioned way. Football is business and therefore any kind of lucrative investment is more than ethical, it is necessary. If one tries to retort that football isn't business but a noble game that must be cherished he would stumble on an insurmountable obstacle: the very difference between the personal and public dimension of football. Nobility has nothing to do with the public function of football or at least has nothing to do with it directly. The public dimension of football in modern times is business.

Finally, panem et circenses in modern times means food and business. That's why Iuvenalis statement is up-to-date now as it was two millennia ago. Human kind can not evade that idiomatic expression: we are slaves of our own vices greed and avidity.

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