Quite how hard earned becomes clear from this week's detailed review of football finances by the Guardian newspaper. It has published the wage bills for each of the 20 clubs playing in the English Premier League last season. Based on the Guardian's figures, we calculate that the clubs paid an average of £1.55m ($2.5m) in wages for every league point they won.
The fact that Chelsea won only 0.37 points per £1m even as Swansea won 1.34 suggests a different kind of economics is at work. Perhaps clubs cannot tell how much each player contributes to their success. It's a team game after all. Perhaps some players are paid extra for the shirts they sell and the fans they attract. But a more likely explanation can be found in the economics of "positional" goods.
