Paris Saint-Germain Project: Will It Revive Ligue 1 or Ruin It

The Paris Saint-Germain story over the last year has been a well documented one. Wealthy investors injecting cash into a club with the goal of European success. We have seen this story unfold across the European leagues for the last decade.

As PSG continues to put together their talent-laden squad, the question still remains about the effect this will have on Ligue 1. The PSG project presents some positives and negatives for the French league. The question is will the outcome over the years raise the league to new heights, or ruin it all together.

The first positive the heavy investment at PSG is bringing is exposure. Most fans only cared about Ligue 1 when their team was looking to sign a player from France. Outside of France, there is very little coverage of Ligue 1.

PSG has gotten more exposure for Ligue 1 in the last year than the French league had in the decade prior. Take a look at the Bleacher Report archives and one can see the effect PSG has had on the Ligue 1 coverage.

With exposure comes attention from fans. Whether the attention is good or bad does not matter. People will watch to see PSG succeed, or they will watch to root against them. It is the classic New York Yankees syndrome. The key for Ligue 1 is that more people will watch.

Another positive is the money PSG has helped bring in with the Al Jazeera television contract. Without the Qatari investment in PSG, chances are Al Jazeera would have had a lot less interest in covering Ligue 1.

The television contract has the opportunity to become more valuable as PSG grows in stature. Any extra revenue from television rights is sorely needed across Ligue1 to try to keep their best talent in France as well as attract new talent.

Getting star players to come to Ligue 1 is a change from the last 10 years. France has been used to seeing their best players leave for the top leagues while only bringing in above average talent at best.

The PSG investment has brought already brought in several top players. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Javier Pastore, and Ezequiel Lavezzi are all top level talents. With PSG bringing these type of players into Ligue 1, it may show other stars that Ligue 1 is a league worth playing in. More top level players will continue to increase the interest in the league, potentially generating greater revenue and status.

While those are some of the positives, there are potentially several negatives from the PSG project.

The financial backing at Chelsea and Manchester City came in a league where there were already high revenue generating teams. With the overall revenue generation of the Premier League, and teams like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal already there, the investments brought two other clubs into contender status for the EPL title.

In France, PSG is the only team with this type of financial backing, so the playing field is tipped in their favor. Until Monaco make it back to Ligue 1, there will be no other team that can come close to the spending power of the Paris club. This could result in a one team league in which everyone outside of PSG is fighting for second on down.

A lack of competition for the title could drive the interest away from Ligue 1. Fans can be easily turned off when the same storyline continues over and over again. While the initial interest in the PSG project will be high, the lasting effect could be a net loss in fans.

Another negative is the possibility that some clubs will overextend themselves financially to try keeping up with PSG. If that happens across a large section of Ligue 1 teams, there could be a financial doomsday scenario where several clubs face some type of sanctions due to their financial affairs.

Along the same lines of that scenario is if PSG spends themselves into trouble with the Financial Fairplay rules. If they end up in violation of these rules, the punishment could affect Ligue 1 by possibly removing their number one draw from the high profile Champions League for a period of time.

With the recent change in the French head of government, there has been some changes brewing involving the tax code. With France (like many other countries) in a economic downturn, the government could impose the higher tax rates they have been discussing on the rich.

With many footballers making over the proposed limit, the effects could see an exodus of players from Ligue 1. This may come to pass without PSG, but the timing may also be sped up due to the spending of PSG. With footballer's salaries already called out during the Presidential campaign, this is a dark cloud following Ligue 1.

In the mid seventies, the New York Cosmos built their super team that aided in the demise of the NASL. The PSG project could lead Ligue 1 down a similar path. I am not saying it will lead to Ligue 1 being dissolved, but it could take it from a league of moderate status to a league of very little status.

Here is hoping the positives win out.