You've forgotten the rest of North American. The total population is 579 million. The combined population of the 3 countries that could make up a North American soccer league is 493 million. The combined population of the countries that reach the latter stages of the UCL is 490 million (England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland, Scotland, Portugal, Russia and Belgium - only kidding about Scotland!). I'm not suggesting a North American Super League would be bigger than a European one, I'm just pointing out a flaw in your methodology.
I started it by suggesting a combined MLS - Liga MX league could be a justification for pro-rel. If Mexico had 8-10 places it would mean that some well supported Mexican teams would miss out. If the US and Canada had 8-10 places, some big teams would miss out. Some sort of pro-rel system would ensure that everyone had a chance of playing in the "top-flight". Of course what the big clubs in Mexico really want is the single-entity. Do Mexicans have a word for "cartel"?
I was reminded today that 10 years ago the winners and runners-up in League Two were Notts County, who are struggling to settle in the National League (level 5), and Bournemouth, who are at this moment third in the Premier League.
I thought we were discussing a North American league. I think one could argue that the USA, Canada, and Mexico together would have a potentially more lucrative TV audience--I'm not sure that broadcast rights in the East of Europe are worth more than a fraction of those in the West, but I could be very wrong. But again--potentially. I'm pretty sure the original post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, at any rate. We're a long ways away from any hypothetical North American soccer competition challenging the UCL in popularity, ratings, etc. I'm not sure we could even come close.
Urr not in the foreseeable future. We're talking 30-40 years at the earliest and that assumes that everything goes perfectly. And I don't see a way FIFA allows it because as others have said it opens the door to a European Super League. Which has been inevitable since 1998 . The reality is people talk about the "big clubs" as one blanket group but the clubs themselves have different agendas. PSG and Juve would love a Super League but the English sides are cooler on it. Which makes sense you'd need to GUARANTEE what a 1/3 more than they are making now for it to be worth taking the risk of blowing up the current structure which is serving them so well. Would a Euro League be able to do that? The talks about redoing the format of the champions league have actually been postponed, may even be canceled.
The CL, as is given by the numbers is just a fraction of what the revenues are in Europe for all the leagues together. The CL actually isnot the right gauge for mls/mex/can convergenge as a continent spanning league. The total of the Euro leagues are and then the only sport coming "close" is the nfl.
For those dreaming of the blowing up of Pro/Rel in Europe starting with a closed shop CL it's time to pull down the blinders and face the reality of the European landscape. Agnelli's dream of the closed CL shop in which clubs not by merit, but just because they were there with the biggest wallets when the door closed, faced a calamitious defeat and the UEFA hastily retracted their former supportive position of this cvntious plan to establish the rich in their positions and locking challengers out https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/09/16/toegang-tot-de-champions-league-maar-hoe-lang-nog-a3973545 Gegarandeerde plek Zo’n concept hoopte Agnelli ook in Genève te presenteren. In plaats daarvan oogt hij getergd. Op vragen van journalisten antwoordt hij geïrriteerd. De Italiaan heeft een gevoelige politieke dreun geïncasseerd. Zijn plan voor een radicaal andere opzet van de Champions League moet terug naar de tekentafel, bij gebrek aan steun van clubs, bonden en competities. In de door Agnelli beoogde hervormingen, per ingang van 2024, zou de Champions League een grotendeels besloten competitie worden, met een promotie-degradatie-regeling. Met vier poules van acht teams, die elk veertien groepswedstrijden spelen. De eerste zes in de poule verzekeren zich van een nieuw Champions League-seizoen, de laatste twee degraderen. 24 van de 32 clubs hebben zo een gegarandeerde plek het seizoen erop, ongeacht hun prestaties in de nationale competitie. Vier van de laatste acht plekken worden opgevuld met de halvefinalisten uit de Europa League, die van 48 naar 32 deelnemers zou worden teruggebracht. Slechts vier clubs kunnen zich in dit systeem via het kampioenschap in eigen land voor de Champions League kwalificeren, wat de oorspronkelijke route naar het toernooi was. Ter verduidelijking: Europa telt jaarlijks 55 nationale kampioenen. Guaranteed place Agnelli also hoped to present such a concept in Geneva. He looks annoyed instead. He answers irritably to questions from journalists. The Italian has taken a sensitive political blow. His plan for a radically different set-up of the Champions League must go back to the drawing board, in the absence of support from clubs, associations and competitions. In the reforms envisaged by Agnelli, as of 2024, the Champions League would become a largely private competition with a promotional relegation scheme. With four groups of eight teams, each playing fourteen group matches. The first six in the group ensure a new Champions League season, the last two relegate. 24 of the 32 clubs have a guaranteed place the following season, regardless of their performance in the national competition. Four of the last eight places are filled with the semi-finalists from the Europa League, which would be reduced from 48 to 32 participants. Only four clubs can qualify for the Champions League through the championship in their own country, which was the original route to the tournament. To clarify: Europe has 55 national champions every year. This cvnt plan to replace competition by certainty for investors and established rich clubs goes right at the heart of sport as a battle ground with no restrictions and it was dealt an uppercut. Het idee, zo redeneren Agnelli en zijn medestanders: meer Champions League-wedstrijden, meer inkomsten en door het besloten karakter meer zekerheden voor deelnemende clubs. In wezen was dat ook de kern van de Super League, de afgesplitste elitecompetitie die de topclubs al jaren als pressiemiddel hanteren om hun zinnen bij de UEFA door te drukken. The idea, Agnelli and his associates reason: more Champions League matches, more income and, due to the closed nature, more security for participating clubs. In essence, that was also the core of the Super League, the split-off elite competition that the top clubs have been using for years as a means of pressure to push their way through UEFA. This filthy plan is what a cartel structure is aiming at. Eliminate competition in order to make secure the revenues of the complicits, which in fact means stealing money from the rest of the clubs and leagues. Vooralsnog is dat niet gelukt. De hervormingsplannen hebben de voorbije maanden tot een revolte geleid. De economische en sportieve positie van de Europese topclubs wordt in deze opzet verder versterkt, is het verwijt van tegenstanders. De UEFA, die beslist of het plan doorgaat en er aanvankelijk achter stond, annuleerde een vergadering die een dag na de ECA-meeting stond gepland. Zonder draagvlak was verder praten zinloos. For the time being this has not been successful. The reform plans have led to a revolt in recent months. The economic and sporting position of the top European clubs is further strengthened in this structure, is the accusation of opponents. UEFA, which decides whether the plan goes ahead and initially supported it, canceled a meeting scheduled one day after the ECA meeting. Without support, further talking was useless. Edit: On top of that the blind posters of the closed shop system trying to export it to Europe also ignore this very important fact: In May 2018, Uefa and the EU signed a new Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement stated that the Council of Europe and Uefa recognise that the European sports model “is based on sporting and financial solidarity mechanisms” citing “the principle of promotion and relegation” and “open competitions with a balance between clubs and national teams” which suggests that the EU would oppose the proposed relegation exemption. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/...elsea-liverpool-manchester-united-city-226579
Same applies in CONCACAF, they have the last say regardless of all the PR and plans both MLS & Liga MX come up with Montagliani just got reelected and he's a massive supporter of enforcing Article 73... he's against cross-border leagues...same guy who threatened to pull the Canadian clubs from MLS
So the non level playing field of the epl lets low flying Norwich city play terrible football that in the mls is prevented by that artificial, closed shop induced pampering of high quality football. Shame on you Norwich to bother us with to mls sub par play: Dit kan alleen in het hoofd van een kind. Norwich City is een stripboekelftal dat in Premier League beland is. pic.twitter.com/ZOaSoV8Opp— Süleyman Öztürk (@SuleyOzturk) September 16, 2019 Gee, the Yanks must be happy never to see such dreadfull football.
nope. Just look at the vid in the link and then recall the assertions that the fans of the non top six have nothing to look out for because of the domination that is non existent in the mls.
But that has nothing to do with the link, which shows highly paid players, playing association football well. I compared the first team salaries between Atlanta and Norwich and found that Atlanta's median salary is $300k (Alec Kann @ #21), while Norwich's is $755,040 (the 21 salaries listed on Transfermarkt). Graphically the top 21 salaries look like this. Atlanta - red and black Norwich - yellow and blue All that means is that Norwich have higher paid players, so I would expect them to perform well. Norwich's ambition this season is to avoid relegation. One off performances mean 3 points and happy fans who will have fond memories in a few years time when they're back in League One.
One of the reasons pro/rel is so great. Ten years ago Fleetwood were in the Conference North and Sunderland in the Premier League. Now Fleetwood are fourth in League One and Sunderland fifth.
Maybe it's a little tougher performing well against teams that are better than what MLS has to offer?
Norwich salaries are above Ajax/PSV salaries. Not sure if people think Norwich plays better football as a result.
But you do realize that the Ajax/PSV happen to have amazing development programs and usually have first dibs on top young players in the Netherlands. Norwich? Not so much so they have to buy and do so at a premium since it's the EPL.
Young talents donot get a shit chance at the top epl clubs, so Norwich should be able to give them a chance. Just a reminder of the difference in attitude between the epl and the Eredivisie and it's effects on the national teams. 17 yo Ihattaren is on his way to become a superstar in the van Persie class and plays with the PSV first team and is wanted by Koeman for the Orange squad (has to make a choice between Morocco and the Orange squad). Donyell Malen (now 20) didnot get a chance at Arsenal, so he was lured back by PSV and after a grooming in Young PSV in our second tier was ready to move up to the first team this season and now is also part of the Orange team. Norwich doesnot have to spend so much on players, just do it the top Dutch clubs way, which is also a fault in the mls. Edit: the funny side of the Malen story is that PSV payed 600K€€ to get Malen back into the Netherlands and now the English football pundits are telling that Arsenal should buy him for 60 million. They have to take a ticket in line as a whopping 43 clubs have asked PSV to keep them informed about their plans with him.
So two years in the PSV academy and he's ready for the Orange team and worth 100 times to what Arsenal made of him since they got him at 16 from Ajax.