If all these Euro countries excluding England because there not in the Euro group experience a total economic and financial breakdown, it could effect many football teams across Europe who are already in debt. Meaning other leagues around the world maybe strengthened such as the Middle East, Asia, and MLS , we could see a NASL styled influx of European Players in the coming years ! Something that would grow the league to new heights !
Someone on BigSoccer made almost the exact same prediction 4 years ago. The result was just about zero at least as it concerned MLS.
Outside of Greek soccer and basketball, there is no actual evidence of Europe's economic problems effecting sports to the level where players would flee and clubs shut down.
It's about as likely as the chances the NBA was going to lose all of it's players to Europe during our own economic downturn. As bad as it might get Europe's strongest economies will not collapse at the rate needed to overturn the football behemoths of the world. Such a collapse of that magnitude won't happen in a matter of years but rather a generation. Just don't hold your breath.
If European economies collapsed to the point that their soccer players' salaries were reduced to current MLS levels, the effects on the American economy would be more or less equally catastrophic. That would basically be a total worldwide economic cataclism. Nobody would be playing anything resembling professional soccer anywhere.
At best, we might see a slight increase in European exits as more players already on the edge reevaluate.
I agree with the view that a European economic meltdown would affect the US heavily aswell, but soccer at a professional level would keep going just fine. There are countries that are incredibly poor, badly governed, and even war torn that still manage to provide professional soccer. Also, people should recognize that the meltdowns people talk about aren't nearly as horrific as they sound. People tend to think of anarchy, widespread civil strife, looting and what not. Something "devastating" like a European country losing half of its GDP needs to be looked at relatively. If Italy was ravaged and lost half of its GDP it would go from being the 12th biggest economy to the 20th biggest economy. In other words, still one of the richest and most advanced societies on earth. Not least because its already a developed nation. And that's a "cataclysmic" scenario for Italy. The type of doomsday scenario where Italians would look to flee the country is just not going to happen. The wealth of nations hasn't been static in history. They ebb and flow over time and people tend to acclimatize to new situations. MLS will keep growing with or without Europe's (purported) demise.
^Yeah that's the trouble with people, they keep thinking Europe's economic troubles are sending it toward 3rd world standards. There are already plenty of living example of lower income countries with high unemployment within Europe right now. The scaremongering some people get involved in is childish. Even the worst case scenario for Europe still results in a functioning society that is better off than most of the world.
Yeah. That was my point. There will not be a crash bad enough to drive soccer player wages in the top european countries below what MLS pays. Such a thing would probably require the failure of pretty much every social, economic and political institution in Europe. Maybe in a zombie apocalypse. Maybe.
If there's a catastrophic economic meltdown like the OP is asking about and you take Europe's history and inability to truly work together w/out bringing up nationalist/ethnic issues, its not hard to imagine that Europe is the last place you would want to be.
Problem is that the middle east/far east are more likely to be able to pay high wages to exiting players. Those weren't options in the NASL days.
This is what I was thinking. If this actually DID happen in Europe, alot of the big name players would go to China, i believe.
Well, from a dutch/my perspective, the worst case would be that the EU would stay intact and ''northern'' europe would continue pouring money in the south while the EU continues to fully progress into a superstate. (very very very different than the USA/federations system) But even if that happens, the soccer-top will stay in europe and england for a long time. The Bundesliga is the most healthy league in the world and will continue in that path no matter what. England is an international league which has nothing to do with England besides its location. But yeah, no matter what will happen, its not like we will have sudden anarchy as you might blindly assume. Soccer remains nr.1 sport, Western-Europe remains one of the best/rich places to live in the world and it will take quite a long time untill nations arise which will beat our combination of soccerlove and wealth.
interesting but lots of teams/clubs made it through hard times like wwii and they are still going good also look in the usa lots of leagues like nhl mlb and nfl all made it through the great depression and are all still hear point no matter what money problems we have sports will always be here
May be MLS can find some bargains in Scotland now: the Galsgow Rangers into liquidation, it will be restarted in the Third Division.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/footba...ver-liquidation-of-ibrox-club-86908-23895964/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18447530 Carlos Bocanegra holds a Mexican passport right? I wonder if there will be any interest for him in Mexico.
There is no official decision yet, but the new Rangers do need an 8-4 vote by current SPL teams in favor of them staying in SPL.
Right, and I could see them dropping to the First Division, but I doubt the SFL is going to send them all the way down to the Third Division. I'd love them to drop at least to the Second Division as I assume that Dumferline Athletic would stay in the SPL instead of being relegated and (more importantly) Queen of the South would stay in the First Division instead of being relegated.
I dunno.. SFL could really benefit from sending the Rangers all the way down to the bottom. By starting at the bottom, the Rangers would give each team a massive economic boost as they worked their way back to the top. Of course, it would suck for the teams that the Rangers replace in the upper division as they wouldn't get the bump, but there are ways around that.
That's a pretty interesting theory. The problem is that the Rangers will not receive the revenue that comes with playing with the SPL, and Europe, and having a huge team and tons of support. They would have pare the roster to nothing in order to afford to play in the lower divisions. The other teams (many of whom have 4,000-8,000 seat stadia) would probably sell out just for their fans could see their team play (and, maybe, beat) Rangers. The risk is two-fold. 1) They keep the "stars" on the team and hemorrage huge amounts of money and fall back into administration and/or liquidation. 2) They get rid of players, cut the wage bill and play in the lower division. They still would have massive bills with such a huge stadium and adminstrative staff. If they don't win promotion every year and make it back to the SPL in 3 years or so, they would be screwed. You can look at what has happened to Leeds for an example, who still have not made it back to the Premiership. However, the risk with Rangers is 10x as great, as Rangers are really one of only two "big" teams in Scotland (sorry, Hibs fans). Leeds went from top-5 finishes and the Champions League Semi-final in 1999-2001 era to relegation in 2004, to relegation to League 1 and they still have yet to return to the Premiership.