Just look at the books of the clubs involved, no doubt this has nothing to do with competition and everything do to with bailing out over leveraged clubs. It's vile. And I agree with @Crawleybus not only will United fans not show up, they will probably riot outside the stadium. This revolt is only getting started if this goes on. 80% of English EPL fans are opposed to this. Just wait, you think the outcry is bad now, just wait.
This is just a ridiculously stupid post, what has the fact that I'm a Chelsea fan got to do with anything? REAL fans - the English match going ones do NOT want a European Super League, certainly not a closed shop, and that's NONE of the REAL fans! Without their support this thing ain't happening.
I think they have planned for these reactions and don't care. The financing sounds like it's already in place.
the real fans have wanted countless things in the last 20 or so years and have got steamrolled every time. chelsea isnt a local club, its a global brand with more fans outside of london than inside. you gave your club away a long time ago
It may have already been mentioned but three other teams are in the running - TalkSports are reporting that Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have been invited and have 30 days to accept whilst PSG have just 14 days to decide ( before their CL semifinal game )
kind of amazing if you are psg joining knowing you are getting offered different terms right out of the gate than the german clubs
More likely the fans will get used to it. Some will leave for good, sure, but new fans are being born every day who won't remember the old way. For every local fan who stops buying tickets, someone else will line up in their place along with millions of people in India, China, etc. I'm sure some of the games will be played in emerging markets and the US. They've run the numbers and hold all the cards. By cutting out the UEFA middleman and getting direct broadcasting/sponsor rights, they will make all the money back and more. The PL needs these clubs more than they need the PL.
Of course they would implement a playoff and they would probably try to make it best of 5-7-9-33, etc because all that shit is about more and better yachts. The NFL is a shit model with a boring ass regular season, idiotic draft system that rewards failure and unwatchable 4 hour long games that consist of 60% commercials, it completely sucks. The only reason it persists is that the game itself is an awesome spectacle, but the league and organization is only able to run it in the stupidest possible way because there is zero actual competition, because the rest of the world doesn't give a shit. The NBA and their playoffs are even more ridiculous, half the ********ing league qualifies for the playoffs, what's the ********ing point of a regular season? I stopped watching MLB in '02 so I don't know if they have altered anything significantly, but an interminable regular season of 162 4 hour long games games in the modern world is completely insane, I have no idea how anyone with a job, family or other hobbies could actually pay attention to that. The soccer model is... (was?) the far better model and this Super League is super stupid.
It won't happen. Top players from all over the world would be banned from the WC by FIFA. Unless all those FIFA palms are greased.
Which is what will happen. I'm sure they've looked into all of this. No one will watch a world cup with the top players missing.
I guess I am the only one who likes the idea of big clubs having fewer and more meaningful games each season? Their rollout of this was terrible, unless all they really intended to do was shake things up, but they really do need to tier the champions league, much the same way Europe does pretty much every other sporting competition on the continent.
Money talks. The first side to realize they will be on the short end of things will blink and some sort of compromise will occur.
Yes, they will. Think about your non-soccer fan friends who only watch the World Cup. At the start of a tournament, how many players can they name? 2, 3? Most of the games don't involve the players they know, but they watch for the paegentry and the nationalism anyway. Same deal with the Olympics. Those are the fans that make up the vast majority of the World Cup viewing audience. Top players missing out won't change a thing for them.
If the FIFA palms are greased, and the lower tier clubs are screwed, then the absurd (but currently fashionable) reference to “late stage capitalism” may seem less absurd. But the objections raised by people like Gary Neville are perfectly clear and reasonable, and relate to the need for the money generated by the big boys to filter down to the little boys in order to preserve a system, and a sense of hope, that 95% of the fans and players value. I agree that this is such a bad idea that it makes a grossly corrupt organization like FIFA look heroic. I hope they do ban players from the World Cup, and teams from other competitions, in order to stop this. A “winner take all” society as a society that falls apart.
How much is the player blame in this? Do they go because of their locked in contracts? were they informed of this and they agreed? I thought any blame or issues if any go with club owners...I would expect players would be given an option (or money) to freely choose one path or the other.
I wouldn’t assume that the top players will go along with this. They can refuse. That may happen. May decide it all.
You guys really think US Soccer is going to roll the red carpet out in 2026 for a bunch of replacement players? Someone will blink.
You think? Believe me the REAL fans are still THE important ones. English football has been popular outside of the UK for decades before it became popular in the US. Liverpool had a worldwide fanbase in the 1970's. STILL the REAL ones - the local ones are the only ones that really count.
That's a nice romantic notion but the game went global a long time ago. Much of the revenue comes from outside of England. Things change, not always for the better, but they change. Also this sounds borderline xenophobic/brexity.