Why I'm Long Division 5 European Football Teams

Bernard Arnault's Paris F.C. Means Community Is Luxury

In the past 5 or so years there has been a stunning trend of Americans buying into little known European soccer teams. The most famous of course is Wrexham.

Rob McElhenney of Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame teamed up with Ryan Reynolds to revitalize a Welsh soccer team that was once in the Premier League but had fallen on hard times and dropped 6 divisions — so far they were no longer in the official professional leagues (Europe has a promotion and relegation structure foreign to the U.S.).

Over three seasons the series documented Wrexham’s attempts at promotion back into the upper divisions but also stories in the local community — a group of fans that has a rock band, a disabled super fan, the people who work at the club, etc.

Wrexham isn’t alone. Charlton FC was acquired by Americans a few years ago, Bournemouth was acquired by an ownership group that included the actor Michael B Jordan, and Birmingham has an ownership group that includes Tom Brady.

I believe the obsession with buying lower division European soccer teams reflects something deeper than a renewed enthusiasm in sport.

In a more secular world, we’ve lost our churches, synagogues and mosques as central gathering spots, and with them the weekly rituals and sense of camaraderie that comes with them.

But sport provides this — it gives you the iconography, an identity, to stamp on your chest, a group of fellow travelers, something to root for, rituals in the form of games once a week, and a place of worship (the stadium), and even occasionally, a god (Messi, Jordan) to worship.

And when you think about the increasing interest in sports, our idea that people want communities they can actively contribute to instead of passively participate in doesn’t seem so ridiculous.

Sports fans buy jerseys, they buy tickets to support, they participate in fantasy leagues, they debate, they analyze. They are invested, and it’s a core part of their identity.

Is Community the Ultimate Luxury?

My budding “sports = church” theory culminated with Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH and one of the top 5 richest men in the world, purchasing Paris FC, the lower division rival to Paris St German (owned by the Qataris) a few months ago.

If you believe the rise of sport has little to nothing to do with sport but about community, what Arnault is really purchasing is a modern church. And Churches are GOOD businesses — the Catholic Church is supposed to be worth between 75B and 250B.

If you want to go even deeper he’s purchasing the ability to create identity. What are luxury fashion brands if not a way to show your identity, and the soccer clubs are already figuring out that there are ways to monetize this identity that go way past sport.

My team, Arsenal, launched a fashion collab with Aries a couple months ago, their first.

And Arnault’s Paris rivals, Paris Saint-Germain, have been doing this for a while now.

Arnault’s purchase of Paris FC is the acknowledgement that the sense of identity and belonging, being part of something, is actually the ULTIMATE luxury.

And a great business as well.

If you’ve enjoyed this article and want to find another, admittedly non-athletic, way of being part of something cool . . .

And follow along on Instagram for more regular updates.

David, Kyle & Joelle