The current organization that increases anti.J League #1
I want to post sooner or later, but I cheer for certain J-League teams.
While I love soccer, I’m one of the people who feels there are problems with how the J-League is currently run.
The current J.League chairman is a former J.League player.
It feels like this has resulted management that emphasizes the players’ perspective, neglecting companies and local governments that provide financial and other support. In fact, I’ve been hearing negative comments about the J.League frequently from people around me.
On the other hand, the B League is growing in popularity and has appointed a true business executive as its chairman. Starting in 2026, they will implement significant reforms, abolishing a system similar to the J League’s. These reforms prioritize the management capabilities of club teams, minimizing or eliminating burdens on local governments and sponsors.
I’d like to consider some of the most representative negative comments about the J.League that have been heard recently.
First, there are two articles that I really want you to read.
(1) The article titled “The Blueprint for a ‘Profitable J.League’ Drawn by Influential Chairman Nonomura: The Key is Creating ‘200 Billion Yen Clubs’” published by Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE[会社四季報ONLINE].
This is purely my personal opinion, but since this article contains absolutely no description of management strategies or business models for achieving the goals, I felt it was like a child’s essay titled “My Future Dream.”
(2) The article titled “The Value of ‘J’: The Road to Redefinition: Mitsuru Murai, Former J. League Chairman, Reflecting on 30 Years of the J. League (4)” published in the NIKKEI.
It starts with a shocking opening, stating, “You are the ‘Tax League’ (Zei League). How much tax money are you using? When he visited local areas, he was criticized, and former J.League Chairman Mitsuru Murai bowed his head. “Once we get involved with the J. League, we can’t get out. It’s like a fraudulent business scheme,”was the unfunny joke he was told. This opening line perfectly captures the essence of the J. League. It also feels like the J. League dismissed this comment as a “unfunny joke” and ignored it.
I’ve picked up the points that many people have pointed out as problematic.
Regarding Dedicated Soccer Stadiums
What must be understood is that the stadiums the J.League is begging for are not dedicated soccer stadiums, but J.League exclusive stadiums.
『If club temas aim to become 20 billion yen club team, I felt they must have a stadium worthy of 20 billion yen club team. I want to convey this to many club officials and supporters.』(Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
Why did he want to tell supporters ? I feel like I can see this underlying intention.
Of course, since this is professional sports, I don’t deny the need for dedicated stadiums.
However, if a club team as a private company wants to have J.League exclusive stadium with no public nature, then I think the club team and J.League should construct J.League exclusive stadium.
If they beg local governments to construct a dedicated soccer stadium using tax money, public nature must be guaranteed. Therefore, when citizens cannot use the soccer field during certain periods, the club team should pay usage fees for that period. Also, the club team should bear the grass maintenance costs.
The J.League exclusive stadium problem is essentially begging local governments for huge amounts of tax money to fund the profits of club teams that are private companies.
Fundamentally, J.League club licenses should be issued to the club teams themselves. Why does the J.League report to local governments that it cannot issue licenses due to stadium problems ?
In other words, this stadium problem is about local governments pouring large amounts of tax money into specific private companies.
I believe this is a case that could be sued for private diversion of tax money.
An actual lawsuit case is the “Lawsuit Against the Dedicated Soccer Stadium in Tochigi City’s Iwafune General Sports Park.” (Reference: Lawsuit Against the Dedicated Soccer Stadium in Tochigi City’s Iwafune General Sports Park)
There are also issues with local governments.
If they are going to construct a J-League exclusive stadium, they should provide equivalent financial assistance to other private companies. For example, for constructing their own buildings and covering their maintenance costs.
What’s truly dirty is that if they have such plenty of financial leeway to spend hundreds of billions of yen for private companies, they didn’t immediately propose abolishing the provisional tax rate on diesel fuel.
If owning a stadium makes a 20 billion yen club team, then the J.League should simply invest in the club team.
The club team should be able to recoup the costs after growing into a 20 billion yen club team.
On Audience Attendance
『Increased audience numbers lead to growing ticket revenue, as well as increases in merchandise and food/beverage sales.』(Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
This is a Koizumi-style sentence construction. The fact that ticket revenue isn’t increasing even as audience numbers grow is a problem of managerial talent.
The barrier is that the number of home games (two per month) is extremely low.
Under these limitations, I don’t think anything will change just by talking about dreams of becoming a 20 billion yen club team.
The Chairman needs to show the audience numbers and revenue structure required to achieve the goal, and explain the business model and strategy to realize it. By the way, assuming 20 home games, each game needs to generate 1 billion yen in revenue.
Currently, there are an extremely large number of club teams, 60 in total. This means multiple club teams exist within a single prefecture.
I believe the Chairman envisioned a “profitable J.League” while also anticipating the dispersion of fans.
1 billion yen per match is an enormous amount. For example, if ticket revenue accounts for 30%, that’s 300 million yen.
Even with 20,000 attendance, the average ticket price would be 15,000 yen.
Based on this, I would like to ask about the following points the Chairman envisions:
・What average attendance per match is he envisioning ?
What strategy will achieve that attendance ?
・What ticket revenue per match is he envisioning ?
Given that, what average ticket price is he envisioning ? (I don’t think current ticket prices are set to generate the projected revenue.)
・What revenue from merchandise and food/beverage per match is he envisioning ?
About the revenue
” It’s true club teams have a parent company (majority shareholder), and we are grateful for their support. However, we shouldn’t become overly dependent on them. I think we need many more managers and club staff who can generate revenue themselves and elevate the club to global standards.” (Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
“First, we must advance toward the goal of 20-billion-yen in sales. We will explore various challenges to achieve that.” (Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
“Players are challenging oversea leagues because thye want to succeed and earn money. I think the J.League needs to make efforts to get closer to those higher-level leagues, club teams, and markets.” (Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
As mentioned in the section on audience attendance, club teams host about 20 matches. Considering 20 billion yen in revenue, this requires an average revenue of 1 billion yen per match.
If club teams need to break away from their current dependence on sponsors, what kind of revenue structure are they visioning ?
Beyond sponsors, there’s the stadium problem. There’s also no mention of breaking away from relying on tax money.
Is the fundamental revenue structure really a model where costs are borne by tax money while profits are distributed solely among club team ?
The strategy to achieve 20 billion yen is not the responsibility of the club teams.
As the chairman of a professional sports organization, I believe he should explain how club teams can achieve self-sustaining revenue structures and business models, and the strategies to achieve them, to become professional sports accepted by the public.
And that explanation should be the message to local governments and citizens, including those against the J.League.
The interviewer for this Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE] article is introduced as a soccer journalist.
The interviewer final comment states “As a former J-League player and former club president himself, his great strength is that he can express both the player’s perspective and the management perspective.” (Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
Personally, I cannot understand at all where in this article’s content the management perspective is being expressed.
Does this interviewee believe that realizing lofty ideals and securing club team profit by relying on tax money are management perspectives ?
While not covered in this article, if he discussed a roadmap or business model for breaking away from relying on tax money for league operations and achieving 20 billion yen clubs, that should have been covered in the article. Without that, this article risks misleading many people and further increasing criticism.
Please make sure to include the evidence for the statement that “he can express views from both the player’s perspective and the management perspective”. (Source: Kaisha SHIKIHO ONLINE [会社四季報ONLINE])
Without this evidence, it’s no wonder this article could be labeled as nothing more than a soccer fan’s personal opinion column.
Kaisha SHIKIHO [Japan Company Handbook] ONLINE “Influential Chairman Nonomura’s blueprint for a ‘profitable J.League’: The key is the creation of a ’20 billion yen club“ (2024/08/30)
https://shikiho.toyokeizai.net/news/0/774109
The Nikkei “The Value of ‘J’: The Road to Redefinition: Mitsuru Murai, Former J. League Chairman, Reflecting on 30 Years of the J. League (4)” (2024/08/30)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQODH0837M0Y3A500C2000000/
Reference: Shimotsuki Shinbun Digital (2024/08/11)
https://www.shimotsuke.co.jp/articles/-/812438
Reference: City of TOCHIGI (2024/08/11)
https://www.city.tochigi.lg.jp/site/gikai/69619.html
Thanks.