When Wentworth’s golfers heard this week that they would have to pay a fee of 100,000 or lose their membership of the ancient English club, many were shocked. They should not have been. The demand from Wentworth’s new Chinese owners expresses a contemporary truth, in sport as well as beyond: everything glorious is being taken over by the 1 per cent.

最近温特沃斯(Wentworth)高尔夫俱乐部的球友们听到一个消息，他们必须支付10万英镑的会费，否则将失去这家传统英国俱乐部的会员资格，许多人对此震惊不已。他们不应该震惊。温特沃斯的中国新东家的要求说明了当代一条真理（不仅限于体育界）：一切光鲜的事物终将落到那“1%”精英手里。

Money began pouring into European sport only in the 1990s, when commercial television magnates Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi discovered the lure of live action. Football, previously considered violent, grubby and working-class, benefited most. Stadiums were spruced up. Ticket prices rose, and in many provincial towns, the lounge of the local football club on match day replaced the Rotary Club as the gathering-place of the town’s businesspeople. In 2000, these new fans became known as the “prawn sandwich brigade”, after Manchester United’s then captain, Roy Keane, complained that the club’s home crowds were too busy scoffing said sandwiches to follow the game.

20世纪90年代，商业电视巨头鲁珀特默多克(Rupert Murdoch)与西尔维奥贝卢斯科尼(Silvio Berlusconi)发现了体育比赛直播的魅力，从那时起大量资金才开始涌入欧洲体育事业。以前被认为暴力、肮脏和工人阶级的运动——足球，成了最大受益者。足球场馆整修得焕然一新，球票价格上涨。在许多城市，每到比赛日那天，当地足球俱乐部的休息室取代了扶轮社(Rotary Club)，成了当地商人的聚集地。2000年，曼联(Manchester United)当时的队长罗伊蘒楗(Roy Keane)抱怨主场观众只顾着狼吞虎咽虾肉三明治，无暇关注比赛进展，于是这群富有的新球迷被称为“虾肉三明治队”。

Today it is more of a caviar-blini brigade: after the gentrification of the 1990s, we are now seeing the plutocratisation of sport. This is not because sport has become big business. While Real Madrid last month declared annual revenues of 660.6m, the highest of any club in any sport in history , in terms of revenues it is only a mid-ranking business.

如今他们更适合被称作“鱼子酱薄饼队”，经过20世纪90年代的中产阶级化，我们正在目睹体育运动的富豪化。这并不是因为体育运动本身成了大生意。上月皇马(Real Madrid)宣布年营业收入达到6.606亿欧元，创下任何运动任何俱乐部的史上最高纪录，但单纯从营业收入角度而言，这仅相当于中等规模的企业。

While sport may not be big business, it is now a venue where big business meets. The 1 per cent displays an international class solidarity that Marx could only have dreamt of. Its members like to gather in convivial spots in big cities, mingling play, food and networking. Where better than a sports stadium?

虽然体育运动本身业务规模不大，但它现在是大生意汇集的场所。1%的精英们在此展现出马克思(Marx)只能梦想的国际性的阶级团结。其成员们喜欢聚集在大城市的繁华地带，这些场所结合了娱乐、餐饮以及社交活动等多种功能。还有什么地方比体育场馆更好呢？

If you want to meet the French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, for instance, head for one of the VIP salons at Paris Saint-Germain’s stadium. To meet dozens of global business leaders in one place, either go to the World Economic Forum meeting in the ski resort of Davos, or to an Olympics or a football World Cup. Even leaders who do not like sport will be there to schmooze.

举个例子，假如你想遇见法国总统候选人尼古拉萨科奇(Nicolas Sarkozy)，你可以去巴黎圣日耳曼(Saint-Germain)主场的VIP接待室。假如你想在同一个地方遇见几十个全球商界领袖，要么去滑雪胜地达沃斯参加世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)会议，要么去奥运会或足球世界杯赛场。就连对体育运动没兴趣的领袖们也会去那儿闲聊拉关系。

France now has a strategy of bidding for every big international sports event, partly because it wants a slice of the business that gets done at the stadium. Sports chatter helps smooth the awkwardness of elite networking, and of elite interactions with ordinary Joes, to the point where even David Cameron has to pretend to be a football fan, although in the last election campaign he publicly forgot whether he supports Aston Villa or West Ham.

法国现在正争取承办各大国际体育赛事，部分缘于它希望分得在体育场馆做成的生意。对于精英阶层而言，无论是彼此交流时，还是与普通民众沟通时，都可以借助体育话题打破尴尬，以至于就连戴维愠蕓伦(David Cameron)都得假装成足球迷，尽管上次大选的竞选期间，他当众忘记了自己支持的是阿斯顿维拉(Aston Villa)还是西汉姆联(West Ham)。

In China the elite gather at golf courses, where government officials with “golf tans” ostentatiously display their wealth. Many new Chinese rich live on golf resorts. In fact, most Chinese golf courses are built chiefly in order to sell luxury homes, writes Dan Washburn in his book The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream. He quotes from a billboard for golf villas: “Leading the dance of business philosophy, one villa can conquer the world.” Wentworth’s future could be pretty tacky.

在中国，精英们在高尔夫球场上会聚，晒出“高尔夫黑”的政府官员们在球场上炫耀自己的财富。中国的许多新晋富豪就住在高尔夫度假胜地。丹茠什伯恩(Dan Washburn)在他的著作《被禁止的运动：高尔夫与中国梦》(The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream)中写道，事实上，大多数中国高尔夫球场的建设目的主要是为了销售豪华住宅。他引述了一块高尔夫别墅广告牌上的话：引领经营理念之舞，一栋别墅可以征服世界。未来温特沃斯恐怕会变得相当俗气。

The plutocratisation of sport is causing irritations. Before this week’s Arsenal-Bayern Munich game, Bayern fans protested against the ticket prices. Arsenal’s tickets (the cheapest season ticket is 1,014) are probably the most expensive in global football, partly because the club is close to the City of London.

体育运动的富豪化正引发愤怒情绪。最近阿森纳(Arsenal)与拜仁慕尼黑(Bayern Munich)比赛之前，拜仁球迷抗议球票太贵。阿森纳最便宜的套票为1014英镑，可能在全世界足球俱乐部里是最贵的，部分原因是这家俱乐部靠近伦敦金融城。

This is an awkward issue, since one thing that football still sells is nostalgia for a working-class past. The game cannot become unabashedly 1 per cent, like the luxury travel sector, because that would clash with its “brand values”. And so, after the Arsenal game, Bayern’s manager Pep Guardiola, himself of course a multimillionaire, promised: “We will take care of Arsenal fans in Munich with a good price.” A similar desire to appear in touch with football’s roots may have motivated ex-players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs to let homeless squatters stay in their planned luxury hotel in Manchester over the winter.

这是个尴尬的问题，因为足球的卖点之一仍是对工人阶段传统的怀念。这项运动无法像豪华旅游业那样，无所顾忌地只为“1%”服务，因为那会与足球的“品牌价值”发生抵触。因此，在与阿森纳的这场比赛后，拜仁教练佩普瓜迪奥拉(Pep Guardiola)——他本人当然是一名富豪——承诺：“我们会照顾阿森纳在慕尼黑的球迷，向他们提供优惠价格。”或许同样是为了表现出“不忘本”，退役球员加里蔠维尔(Gary Neville)和瑞恩吉格斯(Ryan Giggs)让无家可归的流浪汉在他们筹建的曼彻斯特豪华酒店里过冬。

It was a kind gesture. However, it cannot disguise the new 1 per cent reality. That two ex-footballers are converting the former Manchester Stock Exchange into a luxury hotel would have been unthinkable just 25 years ago. Meanwhile, Mr Guardiola’s club boasts possibly the wealthiest supervisory board of any institution in Germany, featuring the chief executives of Deutsche Telekom, Adidas and Audi plus the recently departed chief executive of Volkswagen, scandal-tainted Martin Winterkorn, who also claims to support Volkswagen’s own football club, VfL Wolfsburg.

这是一个善良的姿态，但它无法掩盖“1%”的新现实。两名退役球员将原曼彻斯特证交所改建为一家豪华酒店，这件事本身在25年前是无法想象的。与此同时，瓜迪奥拉所在的俱乐部的监事会可能是德国所有机构里最豪气的，成员包括德国电信(Deutsche Telekom)、阿迪达斯(Adidas)和奥迪(Audi)的首席执行官，以及最近才辞职的、丑闻缠身的大众(Volkswagen)原首席执行官文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)，据称他还是大众旗下的沃尔夫斯堡足球俱乐部(VfL Wolfsburg)的支持者。

The 1 per cent and traditional fans are in direct conflict here. That is because top-level sport is a limited good. Only 60,000 people can watch Arsenal-Bayern, and even fewer can become a member of Wentworth. As we are seeing at Wentworth, the most intimate access now goes to the highest bidders. Rich people are prepared to pay a lot to play sport at top venues, and to meet famous athletes and coaches — or at least to hear them give “business speeches”, usually on the theme of there being “no ‘I’ in team”. The former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is the most sought-after figure in this budding industry, even if there is little evidence as yet that he can convey his managerial genius to anyone else. Harvard Business School, where he now teaches, is effectively offering students the perk of meeting him — something that few United fans can afford.

1%的富豪与传统球迷在此发生了直接冲突。这是因为顶级运动是一种“有限利益”(limited good)。能现场观看阿森纳对垒拜仁的观众只有6万人，能成为温特沃斯会员的人就更少了。正如我们在温特沃斯所见，最小众的俱乐部如今面向出价最高的买主。富人们准备砸重金在顶级场馆从事运动，顺便见见著名运动员和教练，或至少能听到他们的“商业演讲”——其主题通常是“球队里没有‘我’这个字”之类。在这一新兴产业，前曼联教练亚历克斯弗格森爵士(Sir Alex Ferguson)是最抢手的人物，即便迄今还没有证据显示他可以将自己的管理天才传授给任何人。弗格森爵士现在执教的哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)，实际上是为学员们提供一项特权——见到他本人，没几个曼联球迷负担得起这种待遇。

Football, in short, is returning to its 19th-century origins as an upper-class game. But there is one thing in sport that money cannot buy. “Men capable of governing empires,” wrote the British author PG Wodehouse about golf, “fail to control a small white ball, which presents no difficulties whatever to others with one ounce more brain than a cuckoo clock.” The best athletes will still come from the poorer classes, because to become very good at a sport, you need to spend your childhood playing it almost nonstop without distractions, like homework, holidays or violin lessons. All the 1 per cent can do is watch.

简言之，足球正在回到19世纪的起源，再次成为上流社会的游戏。但关于体育运动，有一件事是金钱无法买到的。英国作家沃德豪斯(PG Wodehouse)曾这样描述高尔夫：“有能力治理帝国的男人们，却无法控制一个白色的小球。而事实证明在这件事上，就算一个脑容量跟布谷鸟自鸣钟差不多的人都不难办到。”最优秀的运动员还是会来自贫困阶层，因为要想非常擅长一项运动，你得从童年起就几乎不间断地从事这项运动，不能受到其他事物干扰，包括家庭作业、节假日或是小提琴课。1%的富豪们唯一能做的就是当观众。