It’s probably an unpopular opinion, but the key thing driving climate change is the insane pursuit of endless economic growth, which is baked into our economic system. In football, you can see it as the money creeps into the game more and more every year, not merely allowing clubs to spend more but basically obliging them to do so, to keep pace with the others that do in the pursuit of success and viability.
So, much like the ways in which people need to cut their cloth in their personal lives, it feels to me like introducing caps on spending, wages, sponsorship etc are the logical end point. That could curb the likes of private jets for player signings, the non-stop production line of branded (sponsored) tat, etc. Ultimately I think our economic system drives all of the commercial craziness in football, and the former needs to change for the latter to follow. However, in the current age, I just can’t see how that’ll happen.
It does, though, make me think of fan/community ownership and of how clubs might be possibly driven to more responsible stewardship by an ownership that also thinks long-term of their own lives and their families’ futures as much as their clubs’ immediate performance. Contrast that to a private owner who desperately needs a return on investment and/or a boast-worthy plaything. I guess, then, it needs whoever runs clubs to prefigure that sustainable mindset in the here and now, to hopefully build some momentum towards that line of thinking more generally.