premier league to play matches abroad

I will support my team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please come to Columbus,Ohio the first Futbol only stadium in the US.

If it is Rover's time let it be in Columbus!!!!!

Many Friends will have a place to stay.....

 

Cities will win the rights to these games by bidding, which means venues bigger than Crew Stadium will be the winning bidders.

 

As much as I'd love to see an EPL game in Toronto, I can't say that I like this plan. For one thing it's a clear cash grab. I have no problem with the pre-season matches being played elsewhere, but this makes the EPL seem like a tourist attraction or a circus.

Also, in this part of the world the fact that these games take place so far away adds a certain feel to EPL games that would no longer be there if the games were to take place in your own backyard. I don't expect those of you in the UK to understand this, but perhaps the others in North America will get what I mean.

 

One thing too that this will mean is that some team is going to get to play ManU 3 times during the season while some other team is going to get to play Derby County 3 times (or whoever is at the bottom of the table). What is the reaction going to be when a team gets relegated because their 'extra' game was against a tougher opponent than the team that finished 17th?

 

This is what worries me the most. Apparently teams will be seeded and the extra game will be drawn out of a hat, imagine if you would have been safe after a regular season but you then get relegated because your extra game is away against Man U and your competitor's was home against a mid table team. It makes a mockery of the entire season.

Also when are these games going to be played? I seem to remember clubs complaining about fixture congestion recently.

If it goes ahead the Premier League will have finally sold its soul. They have shown nothing but disdain for the regular fans that have put the League where it is in the first place with their loyal support over the years, and cash. They're more interested in spreading the product around the globe (raking in the cash) so it remains the foremost league in the world (which the marketting people would have us believe it is, not sure La Liga or Serie A won't have someting to say about that). What they seem to forget is that we don't really care how it compares, we just want to enjoy our League. I suppose as long as they keep replacing us with the prawn sandwich brigade they won't give a toss, while the money keeps coming in. The trouble with the prawn sandwich brigade is that their hearts aren't in it and they'll lose interest sooner or later. Unlike us mugs who've watched our teams through thick and thin.

Got to say that Mr Williams will be getting a letter from me too. I really hope it doesn't happen because it'll gut me to hand my season ticket in. Maybe the only way to get them to listen is for attendances to drop drastically. They'll still get the TV revenue, but hopefully it'll still hurt them.

OK rant over. Good luck to all of you who will benefit, and I've nothing against anyone over there who will support the idea, it's a good thing for you, but for us it's a joke, for all sorts of reasons.

 

For anyone who's interested in the arguements against this proposal, or getting involved

http://www.fsf.org.uk/news/news0095no-to-game-39.html

 

First of all, the proposal is for the 39th game to be in January, not after the season. Second of all, nobody will have that 39th game at "home."

The idea is still nuts.

 

Yeah, I know, I didn't explain it very well. I realise it'll be mid season, but I was trying to compare to what the results would have been at the end of the regular season if the extra game hadn't taken place.

For the home and away arguement, I was referring to the fact that, for example, if Wigan's game is against Man U in Singapore then Wigan's representation will be around 2 ex pats in the middle of 60 000 screaming locals all wearing Man U shirts. It'll be an even more hostile atmosphere than at Old Trafford, which doesn't have that hostile an atmosphere anyway.

Compare that to, say, Birmingham playing West Ham in Doha. Not really going to be that much atmosphere beyond general interest to see a game.

I got myself that upset I was typing faster than I was thinking. A common problem with me

 

Here are the FFC Survey Results Re: The 39th Game

 

If Rovers do play a game in the US, i suggest it be either in Columbus or in DC because Friedel used to play with the Crew and Nelsen used to play for DCU