I don't know what do you mean by "the financial world" but the reason why EPL attracts so many foreign investors is due to : 1 The biggest TV deal 2 The popularity of EPL around the world (EPL way before other European leagues was the first to sell tv rights over the globe) 3 The highly developed merchandising side (jerseys/products/tickets etc) The numbers of "world cup players" in EPL is the consequence of EPL's wealth.
Krayzie: I know Chivu and Mexes are highly regarded, but there are just way too many good players in the world to call them some of the best. When I hear "some of the best" talking about players at a big club... You need to literally be one of the top handful at your position. They aren't to me. A player that good jumps out at you, a player that good you could watch for just... 5 or 10 games and you know that they're just that damn good. A player that good you can watch against other players of top quality and they don't get smacked around. A player of world class goes up against another player of such class (Ronaldo for example) and might give a little but also takes a little, might lose the war overall but wins his share of battles... As opposed to getting blistered for 90 full minutes, completely outclassed in every regard as was Chivu. They're good players, great even, but they aren't at the very top and to me, there are 100 players in Europe at every position that are good but not at the very top. Also, I don't see what any of the points on the economics are... Obviously it is the #1 league financially, thus the investment, thus the #1 league, thus the investment... pretty simple. All of the finance issues are circular.
Chivu ----------> World Class. He has a phenomenal left foot. Not too many left wingbacks would take free kicks when Totti is on the same team. Chivu is also a gladiator with a lot of heart. Just look at the broken nose he got in CL quarterfinals, and he walked off the field like it was nothing, with blood gushing out of his face.
Having a great left foot and being tough doesn't make you one of the best in all of Europe, it just makes you good. He's a good player, but a world class, tops in Europe player is not going to get completely demolished for a full 90 minutes. And hey, maybe Ronaldo is just that damn good(I'm beginning to think that he is) that he can make a world class defender look like a U-17 for a full game... But hell, old ass Giggs was switching it up breaking down the right on them a handful of times too. They weren't able to keep a 10 man United off the scoreboard, they got demolished by an 11-man United featuring several reserve level players (Alan Smith, Fletcher)... I just have a hard time accepting that kind of performance as a best of the best type thing. Mexes, Chivu, and DeRossi make up a large part of the defensive segment of the team and I've argued that they're all somewhat overhyped, overated. As a comparison, an American sports argument... ARod hitting 6 HRs in 7 games is meaningless until he starts hitting better than .063 in an LCS... When you're in a high pressure series against good opposition and you get smacked in the face - not just a team, but Chivu personally... you just need to go back to the drawing board and forget about that "one of the best in Europe" nonsense.
You didn't miss much, poor match... A team that shouldn't have even been in the Champion League is going to Final. If Sheva had just stayed with them, he'd be winning more medals this seasons.
BTW, I kept switching back from MLS to Serie A match on Sunday and in a meaningless match, the Italian game looked very lively and the MLS match with Dallas looked dead with very mediocre skills and had an empty stadium......
I was watching the champions league game yesterday, and then a commercial came on at half-time for MLS primetime thursday. They showed someone doing a crossover dribble, it looked like someone slowed down the camera speed considerably, but then I realized i was just watching Cristiano Ronaldo so when they showed the MLS player, it just appeared to be in slow mo. Oh well, it's the only nationally televised league we have.
Oh I totally agree.What the initial point of thread (which was started b4 the MLS season)was that the MLS was more exciting than the Serie A and I don't think so. They are presently far from it. I wish the MLS would someday get to the level of the Euro leagues but it is not at least not now. I remember the NASL being much more exciting from 1976-1984. The influx of foreigners may have something to do with it. I also believe however, packed houses and having stars throughout the league certainly helps improve the quality of play. I am glad the league is buiolding their own stadia but I think they need more than just Shaka Hislop & Becks to make the league exciting.
If you like Serie A and you think it is so good why even watch and waste your time with MLS. Go make a pizza pie.
There is a difference... Italian stadiums are empty because people fear for their life. MLS stadiums are empty because... well just because the U.S. hasn't caught on yet.
Not all that many Italian stadium are really empty. You have at least 20k-30k fans sitting in larger stadiums which may look half full but the MLS would never have that many fans. When you consider the initial point of this thread was that there was no difference between the MLS & the Serie A , that is simply not true. Games shown on FSC are usually relegation dweller teams who have terrible players with no skill or who either already have been relegated or that no one really cares about. I've flipped back & forth from Serie A to the MLS the last few weeks and I see many empty new smaller MLS SSS in the midst of their season whereas I see many filled Serie A stadia and their season has already been decided. In fact, I've found MLS games to be very boring as opposed to the Serie A matches which were very exciting. The difference level is like night and day. I'm a fan of both the Serie A & the MLS & I seriously want the American league to do well. As a matter of fact I would hope that the two league would get to the same levels one day, but at the present time, it is not! When you play the quality of soccer played in the MLS you are bound to have empty stadiums.
I see a year later, with the reinstatement of Juventus in the Serie A, Milan winning the Champions League and World Club Cup and after the coming and conquering of Beckham in the MLS, nothing ever came if this subject.