Yeah, everybody is talking about the big money the esl would bring in, but let's face it. The big money wasnot there for them to go all by themselves. It was an American pipedream, which folded before it even was executed. The parasite esl will struggle in Europe as it will have to compete with the regular league clubs and how much humbug those esl dude are selling, fans in the domestic leagues are primarily interested in their own clubs and when it comes to cross border matches, their primary interest will be with their clubs in the CL/EL/Conf.L and not with matches between clubs they have no affiliation with. The simple truth is that prime time for the matches is European prime time and the esl will have to compete with the still existing UEFA silverware competitions. The prime targets for an esl are the Asian and USA markets, but these are simply in timezones that will make it difficult to serve them without alienating the clubs domestic fans. The whole concept is molded on the closed American system, ignoring the huge beneficial advantage the US market has that's one country, not a quilt of 50 countries with different cultures and preferences.
Meh, if Citeh win their suit against the EPL, that league is closer to becoming a 1 team league than not. Between their oil money, and their political influence, Citeh will simply bully the rest of the EPL, just as P$G have in France. And for all the splashy headlines about the EPL's financial might, I doubt Juve/Barça/Real, or any of the other giants give a shyte about the mediocrity outside the top 4 in England.
That market is a mirage, as that's what the first plan intended, to leave the domestic leagues and get loaded on that socalled big world wide money market. That thing died before it even got out of the womb and yet still people are referencing to this fantasy that was DOA.
You hate the idea, I get it. Clubs like yours and Ajax should be embracing it. It is the only way clubs like that will e ver be players in Euro again. The Dutch league brings in squat compared to the top 5 leagues and now we have one of those leagues about to fall off the cliff with its revenue. If this keeps up only the Prem will be making money and it will bury everyone else. Something has to change. Therefore something will.
I still don't get how this superleague nonsense will strengthen our financial situation towards english clubs. Will english clubs leave Premier League? No. So they will still earn huge money and also superleague money. Meanwhile clubs like Juve will earn more with superleague presumably, but their competitive strength towards english clubs won't be better. Unless english clubs leave their domestic league, it is all nonsense.
They don't need the English clubs and the English clubs don't need the Super League. But a Super League could compete with the Premier League better than the individual leagues could.
If the Super League does not get the 3-4 top English teams, it can't succeed. To get those teams you have to guarantee them at least €100M/year which is what they get from the EPL television contract right now. Even so, would the EPL teams bolt and give up all the rivalries with the rest of the English teams? No French team other than PSG has the resources and the German teams have the weird public ownership requirement (which could be voided if they leave). Spain have really only three possible entrants. The ESL would have to be free standing with Saturday/Sunday matches in order to reach a world-wide audience. to do this, they have to leave their FAs and also UEFA. If they do this, they are free of all spending constraints under the never-enforced financial fair play rules. A team such as Juve would have to seek out a monied benefactor in order to compete with ManCity and other clubs that will get huge infusions of cash. Of course this would highly inflate player salaries making the margin of profitability complicated. Players might like this and also a 38 game schedule with maybe some post-season tournament. I continue to believe that the numbers do not add up as the projected television revenues are speculative and costs, unless there is a hard salary cap, will likely explode. I also don't think there are 20 teams who have the interest and resources to participate.
I think a Super League can succeed without the English clubs and I think it would be better off without the English clubs.
How is this possible? If you leave out EPL teams, there will be some minnows in the Super League. Can you name 20 clubs that could comprise a Super League that would make for compelling TV? I don't even watch La Liga games any more as they are routinely boring. Most interesting league aside from the Dutch League (anyone can step up and win a match) is the German League were matches are always interesting. Other than Juve & Atalanta, I don't care for Italy and for the last couple of years it was just to watch Allegri fail.
I could see a Super League existing without the English or German clubs. Madrid, Barca, Atletico, Inter, Milan, Juve and PSG is a pretty strong core. Napoli, Roma, Lazio, Turin, Genoa, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, Sociedad, Benfica, Monaco, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Porto, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord are potentially and historically just as big as Newcastle, Aston Villa, Everton, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Leicester.
The list of potential clubs for the Super League has too many teams with marginal financial positions. Most would require a pretty large infusion of capital to be competitive. Just look how Madrid and Barca steamroll the other Spanish teams on a frequent basis. It's doubtful that the three Dutch clubs would participate, and they have their own financial concerns and are largely selling clubs. Asking teams to leave their FA/UEFA for an uncertain future is not a recipe for success. If youi look at the Juve finances, they could not compete at this point in time without a massive investment (largely a result of the cost of building the new stadium). If you don't have German and English clubs, why would anyone in those countries want to watch matches? Best person to follow on financial matters is The Swiss Ramble who maintains a Substack presence, having moved away from Twitter several years ago. Here is his report on Juventus: Juventus Finances 2022/23 - The Swiss Ramble (substack.com)
Which is exactly why they would want to participate in a Super League. The main reason Ajax is a selling club is that they're in a small market, slightly bigger than Maryland. The guaranteed TV revenue and sponsorship opportunities from the ESL would give the a chance to become the mega-club they strive to be. Ajax has a huge brand value but they can't exploit it as part of Eredivisie.
The one selling point constantly mentioned, but never shown to exist, is the bigger market and the guaranteed TV revenues and sponsorships. The last two were mentioned in the first plans of the esl with billions of commitments, but in the end didnot exist. I again mention it was why that plan for complete break away failed to become more than a few humbug articles in newspapers. Financial experts in the last few months have categorized the A22 plans as unachievable. The most easy thing to do, the BeNed league, of which the Belgian clubs are very much in favour of, is in total rejection by the Dutch clubs. This is a merger of markets that are culturally very close, but still it meets big opposition.
Other than Bayern, every club in Germany has to sell players to balance the books. same is true in France other than PSG. Look at how much trouble Barca got in this year when they had to do a lot of "special accounting" and sell off future media rights to get enough income to meet existing payroll. EPL clubs get so much money in television revenue, yet clubs outside the top 6 have to be very careful they don't find themselves relegated (Leeds are the poster boy for this).
I don't buy into this. Since we're [mostly] inside Anglophone countries, much/most of our news about the game in Europe is filtered through the biases of British football media. Most British football media falls under two categories: 1. Pure, unadulterated bullshyte [As in "Barcelona is rumOURed to place a bid on..."] 2. British media overhyping and fapping Three Lions, The EPL, and anything else that is British. [As in "Jack Grealish is good at football." Or "England are the favOURites to win The Euros."] As a result, we get fed piles of bullshyte, and piles of hype that never ever work out for them. All. The. Time. Now, is the EPL making more money than other leagues right now? Sure. But, they also have to SPEND more money, because their transfer fees and wages are inflated, relative to the rest of UEFA. Or, at least the other big leagues in Europe. And so much of their supposed financial "advantages" are squandered. [IOW, who REALLY wants to live in Newcastle? The food/weather/manager all suck out loud, so Newcastle have to pay MORE for a player who would be happier playing in Rome or Madrid, or Sevilla, or Torino.] Thus, we all get to laugh and point at Billion Pound Bottle Jobs, like Chelski and ManURE, all while laughing and pointing at the EPL's inability to compete on the pitch in Europe. TL/DR: Yes, Fulham makes a lot of money, but I fvkcing doubt Barcelona/Real/Dortmund/Juve give a flying fvkc, even if every Brit and Brit media type wants you to believe that Fulham matter. This is true, but then this is ALWAYS true. Something will ALWAYS change.
UCL: Won by Real Madrid Europa: Won by Atalanta Conference League: Won by Olympiakos Maybe the EPL needs to compete with the individual leagues better? Or worry more about trying to keep the EPL from devolving into a 1 team league.
Agreed. On the pitch many of the EPL teams did not perform this year. And frankly, I think most Prem games may be exciting but not good football. More like a game of ping pong around the field. BUT.....you can't ignore the constant gap in finances between the EPL and every other league. In time that will lead to a huge separation and a dominance in Europe, except for a few super clubs whom we all know. Right now Serie A may be the best balanced league top to bottom in Europe and it has improved quite a lot over the last 3-4 years competitively. This was shown in how well Italian teams did overall in the 3 Euro comps this year nd the fact so many will be playing in Europe next season. But Serie A is falling way behind on media rights deals so it is going to be very difficult to keep this up without some sort of equalization between the leagues financially.
Agreed. Brits and Brit media types fall all over themselves to declare the EPL as good, but then the results haven't matched their overhype. Meh, I'm not concerned. Consider [using Capology and Transfermarkt as sources]: The solidly midtable team [10th in the table] in the EPL is [snicker] Crystal Palace. The solidly midtable team [10th in the table] in Serie A is Napoli. Crystal Palace's net transfer spend was 67.8MM Euros. Napoli's net transfer spend was 24.3MM Euros. Crystal Palace's wage bill was 85MM Euros. Napoli's wage bill was 84MM Euros. Setting aside our fandoms, we could both easily agree that Napoli would absolutely CURB STOMP Crystal Palace on 11 gamedays out of 10. Just crush and humiliate Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace is decidedly mediocre, despite them having spent more in transfers and in wages. As a reflection of the health of the on-pitch product, I'd be more concerned about the EPL, than I would about other leagues, and are the English getting value for price in their football? That said, YES, the possible hegemony of Manchester City, backed by their Oil money and their political connections, ARE in fact an existential threat to competition across European football, and the EPL. But the rest of the EPL? I'm not at all concerned. As an outsider looking in [as in I don't follow Serie A as closely as you], I do think that Italy are a bit behind in terms of keeping up financially, somewhat. But for that league, build a few stadia, grab an American Billionaire or two, and invite in an Oil emir or two, and you guys will be RIGHT THERE, financially speaking. On the pitch? Don't trifle with British Bullshyte. Their football is expensive, but not all that impressive, TBH.
UEFA and FIFA still using monopolistic threats to get their way. Now they are threatening the Italian government and all Italian teams, leagues and even the hosting of the Euros to enforce they monopoly: https://football-italia.net/uefa-fifa-threaten-excluding-italian-teams/
good, the government needs to stay out of sport. The Italian government has already ruined the sport in Italy enough as it is.