Which explains why Juventus, with no American ownership, is out there today with official statements claiming they're still going to push for some sort of SL. These owners have been pushing this for years, predating American ownership of these teams. Did the American owners help facilitate it this time? Yes. But that doesn't make them to blame for destroying the sport or somehow prove this wasn't going to happen without them.
Authentic passion for the game. Gotta love it. And by “love it” I mean roll your eyes at that level of cult-like obsession.
You are not a true and passionate fan until you assault your team players. That is what many call being a true fan and not "plastic fans".
And didn't he also drop the dime on the old saying for NCAA coaches that are in the know but many fans did not, the "It's not who cheats in recruiting and paying of players over the years, it's who gets caught." I agree, the fly in their ointment is having to earn the place at the elite table, while being an already elite. I cite MLB here as it is the one pro sport over on this side of the pond that mirrors Europe's tradition of not having a salary cap. On paper the bigger, or wealthier teams across the sporting realm do dominant. And yet we all still watch for the very reason that the Yankees do not always win the title. Also there is when a Leicester City turns up money and wins the Prem with a wage bill not even close to Man City or a Chelsea. The good side of sports does show up still in modern association football in that the elites with all their money still do not win the title with ease. When there is a salary cap, as we know it over here, and our league's Headquarters use a knock out elimination tournament that decides the eventual champion, upsets over the super wealthy clubs can be given more life in Europe if they consider playoffs. Thing is with adding playoffs, to an already stacked schedule with both club and country commitments, it does add even more games. More game nights, more revenue streams and yet more to ask of the players after an already arduous season.
Well, all that time the mls closed shop prophets claimed I was wrong and the sun would rise in the west and never go down again.
The idea for a European super league has been around since at least the late '90's. The only surprise is that it took this long for an attempt to actually form one.
Leicester's win is the only time in the last decade a non-'big 6' team finished in the top 4 of the EPL. Leicester, Everton and Newcastle finished 5th one time each in that decade. Everton and Southampton each finished 6th once. That's it. Otherwise the big 6 have held the top 6 positions 90% of the time this decade, and 97.5% of the time in the top 4 spots. So yes, the elites essentially win the title with ease, they just have to fight each other for it.
You obviously donot read the thread in the American forum, that for years now duscusses the mls style of organisation. In that thread they predicted a sl in mls format would be successfull, which I for years on end counter argued. So no. Not being a dick. Just presenting facts.
Of course it hasn't been successful...yet. Juventus has made it clear this morning that they will try again.
Correct, circa 1998 or 1999 as there was the first concept was to address the significant gap in the Scottish Premier League with Celtic and Rangers. Some in the SPL and others in more modest leagues across Europe like Holland and Belgium put out on the table for discussion of having the bigger, more elite clubs from several nations into a new league set up for those clubs to enjoy steeper competition that they find in their domestic league. And Tottenham? I ask as they have somehow convinced themselves that they are an elite club, willing to go renegade in this Super League and they have never won the Premier League. In fact, looking into it, the last time this elite club won the English First was before the Beatles had been formed. Who invited them to this League of Super party?!? HA! My point was more to the concept that we, sports junkies, still watch season after season in that even though we all know ahead of time there are the wealthier and more heralded teams, we all still go long on supporting the underdog. Which in most cases is you and I's local team.
My perspective on this is that a closed league is absolutely necessary for a soccer league to work in the US but the same is not true for Europe and it is certainly not the future. There are three big reasons why the US needs a closed league. First, the huge distances between populational centers. Second, little interest in regional leagues. Third, the huge competition from existing sports leagues. This situation means that the owners require more safety. We've had organized soccer leagues in the US since 1884. All professional leagues that have emerged have been closed. If a European style professional promotion/relegation league was possible in the US it would have emerged at least once in the last 150 years. As such, MLS is the best possible solution for the US. The structure has provided a solid financial footing to slowly build soccer in country with a population relatively fickle with it's sporting allegiances. The truth of the US is that for the most part clubs serve fan bases with only a small smattering of regional pride. In Europe, the same is not necessarily true. Europe and, for the most part, the rest of the world has much stronger regional and city identities than the US. The support net for a club is it's integration to the region's cultural identity. The region's cultural identity goes back centuries if not millennia. A Basque is very different from a Castilian or a Catalan even though they are neighbors to both. In total, Spain has 13 different strong regional identities and only two would have a club. As such, having a super league that only serves a few larger regions is an affront to the more complex European identity. Above all, it does not serve the interests of the sport, the industry or the players either. It only serves to give the bigger regions and clubs access to a larger share of TV revenue and more power over player transfers and salaries. Something which they already enjoy to a large extent.
Face saving. If you come up with this idiotic scheme after decades of planning and the brightest ones with experience of closed shops successes in the USA and with a big investmentbank, backing it, the conclusion must be that there's something wrong with the basics.
Sure they are. Let them play for free or at the minimum and have regular jobs like when the culture started or is that just something to be conveniently over looked? it's a multibillion dollar business and yes you're are right, I'll never get into a "culture" that physically attacks what is the most important part of culture they claim to love so much. Will this be a recruiting tool for the team when trying to get new players to join the team...are fans are more than just consumers?
It's true the owners have been pushing for years fur a SL but it seemed obvious that it was mostly a ploy to get more concessions out of UEFA CL. To actually pull the trigger until the embarrassing collapse of the whole venture... You can't say seriously downplay the American involvement in pulling the trigger when you had the likes of JP Morgan funding it and Amazon, Disney and Facebook wanting the media rights, let's be real here Speaking of JP Morgan JP Morgan gets rating downgrade after funding failed Super League. By @jjpjolly https://t.co/L16NWofOMZ— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) April 21, 2021
My favorite part in all of this is hw everyone is demanding that the owners of these clubs sell immediately. to who? they act like there are billionaires everywhere just kicking down the door to but ManU or Liverpool. There are very few people with the money, and more importantly, the will, to take on such a project. besides. Chances are a few years down the road these new owners will try the same thing again. it just makes sense financially. These people are rich for a reason.
Wow, we have truly found common ground. I'm all for that and I'll be willing to agree to get rid of these pesky American owners and the money they ruin these leagues with....also the television networks from America as a form of penance and only let them be involved with North American soccer leagues. Let them ruin MLS with more investment here instead.
I agree that some of these clubs have revenue that matches and outstrips even NFL teams, but I don't know that they have the same profits as the NFL. These teams wages are uncapped and they have to keep up in a transfer fee and wage bill arms race to keep their top spots. Many of these clubs, particularly the Spanish and Italian teams, are heavily in debt or rely on their wealthy owners to fund the spending and are not just "printing money" because they spend more than they make. Usually, in business, if you see your expenses are more then your revenue, you cut back on spending to match revenue. Seems like these teams don't want to have to cut spending and risk their place in the elite. These teams and owners do take the risks when signing players for millions. If they make mistakes in their signings or have bad injury runs they can miss out on the UCL money. But that is the gig they signed up for. If they don't like it, they can go buy treasury bonds and sit home and let someone else take the challenge on. I believe that the marketplace will set the value of the teams, and that if a team is run well it will succeed in the long term and if it is run poorly it will eventually fail. The ESL was a terrible attempt to guarantee these teams didn't have to sweat finishing in a UCL place so they could count on the UCL money (or ESL money) to which they think they are entitled. I also agree that the revamped Champions League starting in a few years gives these teams even more cushion and increases their likelihood of making it in. We'll see if this is enough for them or if they come back with a more thought out plan that has actual broadcast deals in place first.
Yay to generalize there... Fascinating how much push back there is here and on social media whenever the rest of the world takes the worst out of the US and associates all Americans with it or is this an example of "exceptionalism"?
Yup. That's why they had to water it down from a league on it's own to a parasite within the domestic leagues. This all has made the odds to succeed asecond time even slimmer, as this has triggered political responses. Any investor willing to take a plunch would be very stupid to underestimate the reaction of the politicians to it, of the soccerworld to it. Players signing for them face aten year ban from playing forany UEFA/FIFA club. So when you as a player sign for a sl club, and for whatever reason you're being cut loose, where you're gonna go to? So to lure top players you have to pay them more than the non sl clubs, and you have to give a risk reducing contract length of 10 years. The paybill will be sky rocketing beyond the already unsustainable Barcelona bill.
Social media is not the real world. Everything on social media associates the worst with groups because of individuals belonging to a group. Groupthink isn't good thing.
So.. We're just going to ignore the EuroLeague that has existed for 20 years, that both the primary drivers behind the ESL have been a part of for that entire time? I mean.. Just because it has 11 permanent clubs, 7 spots other teams can qualify for, and where the clubs continue to play in their national leagues, it doesn't mean they copied it for ESL.
I don't know about obnoxious, but the NBA seems to have the most idiotic fans... Ever seen NBA Twitter?