The project of a joint Russian and Ukrainian football championship only at first glance looks wild, uncalculated and fantastic. In fact, it meets the main criteria of the economy and policy of megaprojects, which in recent years has prevailed over the economy itself.

Let us recall that the idea of such a championship actually grew out of a disciplinary punishment (deduction of three points and a fine) to which St. Petersburg Zenit was subjected in the fall in the Russian championship for the unruly behavior of fans in a match with Moscow Dynamo. The chairman of the board of Gazprom (the owner of Zenit) Alexey Miller was offended and said that Zenit could leave the tournament and play, for example, in the CIS championship, which could be quickly created. And now the ANO United Football Championship has announced that the tournament budget will be from $1 billion to $1 billion euros, and the top nine teams from Russia and Ukraine will play in the top division, which will receive $22 million for participating in the championship alone, as well as prize money for wins and draws (for winning the championship - $92 million).

True, where this billion conventional units will come from is unknown; statements about the inevitable increase in attention to the tournament and, accordingly, the cost of television broadcasts are unfounded; sponsors are not named. Not all teams of the Russian Premier League agree to participate; only one club was represented from Ukraine at the ANO meeting. The Russian Football Union and the Football Federation of Ukraine, as well as FIFA, are against the merger.

And yet, in just 2.5 months, Miller's resentment has grown to a certain organization, a tournament project, and, most importantly, a budget project. This means that the tournament promises to be profitable for at least someone. How?

It is known that state-owned companies and state corporations play a major role in financing domestic sports.

They support clubs, sponsor entire championships, including the unified ones: the Continental Hockey League, the VTB United Basketball League. These are large and unprofitable investments. The same will happen in the unified football championship: no one can be imagined as the source of the notorious billion except Russian state companies.

Preparations for major tournaments – the Sochi Olympics and the World Cup – show that project estimates are continually rising in price. Specific projects, such as the Zenit stadium in St. Petersburg, are also becoming more expensive and stretching out in time.

This is typical for any projects. The APEC summit in Vladivostok, Skolkovo , the Nord and South Stream gas pipelines – the list goes on. A distinctive feature of the economy of these projects is poorly controlled financing from the budget or state companies. It is advantageous for the participants to spend the money as long as possible, the process is more important than the result, “the movement is everything, the goal is nothing” (Vladimir Putin’s favorite quote).

Such projects have a significant political component. After all, the allocation of money from the state budget or a state corporation must be somehow justified to the main administrator. But from a political point of view, the main thing here is not the result, but the beginning of the process - the presentation of the project. The presentation allows you to demonstrate concern for high-performance sports, modernization of the economy, overcoming the global financial crisis (underline as appropriate).

Miller acts entirely in accordance with these rules. So his project is calculated and realistic.

From the editors: Why the United Championship of Russia and Ukraine is real