Manchester City and the English Premier League have massive followings in Asia, supporting merchandise sales that could be as high as US$1 billion or more.
What are the chances of this taking a beating over the coming months? The potential ramifications of the Manchester City financial cheating scandal within English and European football are enough to give you a headache: trying to draw a mental perimeter around the ripple effects is like containing an oil spill with fishing nets. Pundits from the sports, legal and journalism professions have spent the entire week since the announcement by the EPL Independent Commission speculating breathlessly about what the punishment might be if the charges stand up after appeal.
It has consumed the conversations of average football fans. Everyone has an opinion but what is exceptional about this situation is that the sheer enormity of it has no precedent, and every potential punishment has knock-on economic effects on everyone else in the football industry. It will actually go beyond the industry, since now the politicians are getting involved on both sides. Lawsuits will fly, and conspiracy theories will flourish. In a word or two, this is an absolute mess.
Rest assured that the effects of this fiasco will be felt throughout EPL-crazy Asia. But it promises to be more nuanced than in Europe. Sure, it will affect the brands, it will affect the sponsorships, and to some extent it will affect merchandise sales and retail employment. But will it be seismic? Probably not.
For starters, all of the top Premier League clubs have immense fan bases in Asia, and the EPL generally has a huge television audience week-in, week-out.
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