Club Universidad De Chile – People as Products

It was a privilege to visit a professional football (read soccer) club and sit in on a presentation by the Managing Director (CEO). I am a self proclaimed “sports junkie” and getting an insight into the inner workings of the business was special and eye opening.

The sprawling campus  included over 8 immaculately manicured fields, training rooms, a school house, administrative offices, and a state-of-the-art media center used for daily press conferences. The club has 30 professional players and 400 players in the farm system ranging from 8 to 18 years of age. Most of these 400 players are from poor families and soccer is their hope out of poverty. These 400 players are selected based on tryouts of over 22,000 players. It’s a competitive business.

A staff of over 100 manage the club and the training academy. These children lose their childhood chasing a dream which will become a reality for less than 1 percent of them. That’s right — less than 2 players from this group may make the big time in this elite global sport.

The payoff for the club? Their ability to “sell” a player to European scouts for big money. The club recently “sold” a player to a European team for over 10 million euros. I couldn’t help but think that the club develops people as products to sell to the highest bidder. The club invests in their “products” for almost 10 years, with the hope of a payoff, if they are lucky. And we in America worry about monthly sales numbers.