The Football (Not American)/Futbol/Soccer Thread: No More International Breaks!
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It's changing a "traditional" mindset of relegation with being able to have small market clubs and "Americanizing" it into something that resembles the current NBA so to speak. So in other words, it's like Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Warriors, Spurs, Clippers, Heat, and Rockets were all in different leagues and they decided to leave their domestic league (or create a new tournament) and join each other so they wouldn't have to play against the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Hornets, etc.
The owners are not necessarily trying to "punish" the small market clubs per se, but are trying to "maximise" the profits of...let's say the Lakers vs any of the other super-teams in the NBA every week. These matches would get massive ratings and with more ratings you get more income/profits/whatever. It's getting a lot of terrible publicity because it's trying to go against the grain of tradition by using that same tradition of what qualifies as a "big/superteam". I am not sure if they're trying to leave their domestic competition, but from my understanding they're trying to make a new competition that limits the possibility of any other team being able to join in and why fans (like myself are against it). It's funny though because UEFA (which is the IIHF of Europe) is making rumours of banning players of these said teams that agreed to make the ESL because their own pockets will be the ones getting hurt (as the UEFA currently control the Europe-wide competitions).
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- Jan 18, 2016
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It’s basically a bunch of billionaires upset that they aren’t making enough making enough money creating they’re own league with the richest clubs in the world to make more money without the risk of being outperformed by teams with lesser means that spend their money far better.
El_Loco_Avs
Registered User
Yeah they might get booted from *this* years Champions League. Which is just hilarious.
If FIFA and UEFA follow up with banning players from the Euros and World Cup... yikes!
My Dutch team will be f***ing gutted! Let alone Spain and England lol
My only takeaway is f*** em. I hope they all go under and that UEFA ruins them. And I'm a fan of one of those teams since I was 3 years old.
Richard88
John 3:16
- Jun 29, 2019
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It's a ridiculous idea, but in the ridiculous it's also simultaneously rather amusing to see UEFA getting it handed to them and crying about it when they've shown time and time again to be just as corrupt and money-hungry as these "Super League" owners they're accusing of those same things. In the end though this is nothing more than another example of bread and circuses being used to foster a rebellious spirit among fans/the masses to foment mass societal change (see World Economic Forum's #GreatReset). Ordo ab chao...
Which I guess would be fair enough if not for the fact that they're destroying more than a decade of history and culture for the involved clubs. Had they just started new franchises and invested money to attract players, fair enough. But this is taking away the clubs from their sommunities who have followed them for generations. Rotten as hell.
John Mandalorian
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It sounds like there were three Premier League teams (Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool) that were going to join this league and the former two are now reportedly bailing, leaving Liverpool. I kinda/sorta root for Liverpool if for no other reason I just like Klopp--he's always a good interview.
In any event this is kinda wild from my perspective--I have no personal stakes in this debacle at all but it's intriguing to see the furor it's caused.
But more importantly the new trailer for season two of Ted Lasso just dropped and I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo psyched.
In any event this is kinda wild from my perspective--I have no personal stakes in this debacle at all but it's intriguing to see the furor it's caused.
But more importantly the new trailer for season two of Ted Lasso just dropped and I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo psyched.
It has been a wild couple of days, jobs are getting axed and high-end people are resigning from all of this (Woodward from Man United and Agnelli from Juventus; two of each country's biggest club). More rumours that certain people are also getting fired/resigning including the main president in all of this Perez from Real Madrid. Not sure if anything is going to happen in Arsenal since the main playa was Stan the Man himself. Also sounds like Atletico from Spain are also getting the papers together to abandoned ship from ESL.
The problem isn't necessarily the idea, but that all these owners went behind everyone's back and pretty much agreed with it without much consent. This happens a lot in North American sports like we witnessed with the lockout year strictly for salary cap purposes. However, in Europe and other places the fans really run deep with the club since the club was "made" by fans themselves. Arsenal for example was created in 1886 by workers of a munitions factory in Woolwich, London. Even though Kroenke owns the most shares of Arsenal, there are thousands of individuals who also own shares of the club that was passed down over time since 1886. This isn't unique in Europe though, majority of teams had similar creation as well compared to the Seattle Kraken (as one example) who started it from the hands of like five businessmen. That's why fans have had so much backlash the last couple of days and why CEO/COOs are coming away jobless.
Klopp is amazing, it sucks he's coaching dirtbags in Merseyside. If you like him, this is hilarious...
- Feb 24, 2012
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I'm clearly not a soccer guy and I totally get why there is huge backlash against this (traditions mean a lot in the sport)... but isn't this basically what the EuroLeague did for basketball? There is still relegation, but building a continental league for the best competition Europe wide.
The KHL has tried this a few times (will always fail because Russia is behind it), but European hockey should absolutely come up with a Europe wide league. Top Swiss, German, Swedish, Finnish, Slovak, and Czech teams in a league with relegation an advancement for other teams (maybe even invite the Latvians).
There are 6 English teams, but I don't blame you for not knowing about Arsenal or Tottenham.
Pretty much, but I take it that hockey and basketball isn't as big nor popular as football is in Europe. Clubs of those sports don't necessarily have the tradition that is raised by a club like Arsenal, Man United, or Barcelona CF. One club that gets pretty much cast off into the doldrums is MK Dons in football because they were founded in 2004 by a local wealthy business-owner. This club was relocated and went against the grains of the said "tradition".
Football doesn't necessarily need the ESL because UEFA (who're bad-guys themselves) already established cross-Euro competitions like the Champion's League and Europa. Hockey in Europe has also started a similar competition, which doesn't include any of the KHL clubs since they want to make their Superleague dream an actuality. The first step into that was when a Russian business owner bought Jokerit in Finland. I think it could work in hockey, but not with the KHL in charge. A lot of European nations do not trust this pro-Putin version of Russia and you probably know that owners of KHL clubs are either wealthy people who have ties with Putin or are oil companies that have direct ties with him lol.
This ESL is more akin to American sports tradition because it guarantees the wealthiest clubs access to more wealth without any potential danger to relegation. For example, Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in Europe and are currently 10th in the EPL. They are not making the Champion's League due to their position (which is the top 4 in the standings). That loss of CL competition leaves the club losing out on 30 million pounds for qualifying in the competition (and more money the further you go along). Why have a chance of losing that 30 million when you can play against other superteams of other leagues and generate even more money streams than that? There were reports that Barcelona and Real Madrid would be getting 50 million Euros a year to participant in the ESL and that's without any telly deals or fan revenue.
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- Feb 24, 2012
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Yeah it makes sense why it would fail with soccer. Though I really get the idea... create the ultimate top tier league that is separate and dominate in the sport across a larger market. Money flows in and you end up with what the NFL is here as a money maker in Europe. Greedy, but I really get the idea and logic behind it.
I really think Euro hockey should do this. Get the top 4/5 teams from NL, DEL, SHL, and Liiga with a couple each from Czech Republic and Slovakia... Swipe away Dinamo Riga and Jokerit from the KHL and you have the makings a legit Euro league. You could have relegation along with some teams from Poland, Ukraine, Denmark, and maybe even Norway. I could see that over time building past the KHL quite easily. I doubt it would compete with the NHL in the end, but wouldn't shock me to see it get close.
Yeah I only read about those three, I'm just now reading about the others. Jesus...anyway they all pulled out and apparently the head guy at Man U got the axe, so this idea appears to be dead in the water.
- Jan 18, 2016
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The champions league is similar to the Euroleague where teams from different leagues compete against each other. Basically what this was is the 12 richest clubs coming together behind everyone’s back to create their own competition since other teams had started being able to compete with them even though they have significantly less funds. Basically they were threatened by lesser clubs and decided to make their own league that they couldn’t fall out of.
John Mandalorian
2022 Avs: The First Dance
- Nov 29, 2018
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This emergency meeting between the other 14 EPL teams: has anything been reported about what was discussed?
More specifically, I'm wondering why teams ate clamoring to go back? Was there discussion of relegating Man U, etc or all out banishment?
More specifically, I'm wondering why teams ate clamoring to go back? Was there discussion of relegating Man U, etc or all out banishment?
- Feb 24, 2012
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I get what the champions league is... what this seems like was creating a one Europe league to creat a best of the best league across a large area with lots of money up for grabs. Like the NFL here in the states a money printing machine in an undisputed best league in the world. I get a the backlash given how deep the traditions are in the sport... but the basis makes a lot of sense from a business perspective.
John Mandalorian
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It's not good business if the other 14 teams in the EPL turn against the 6 and relegate them or banish them altogether.
- Jan 18, 2016
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I mean from a business perspective it does make sense. But in the process you would be destroying the entire competitive integrity and history of the sport basically.
Not sure why Barcelona and Real Madrid remain the lone holdouts but it's only a matter of time at this point.
- Feb 24, 2012
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When absurd amounts of money are on the table... tradition, history, integrity, etc are all off the table. We've seen it countless times. Look no further than US college football, 50-60+ years of traditions started going out the window the second big TV deals started coming in. Now we have a Big Ten with 16 teams in it and extending outside the midwest in both directions. This sort of league is just a matter of time in Europe. It may not happen now or even within 5 years, but 20 from now we will see something similar to what was proposed here.
I 100% believe this Superleague will eventually happen down the road. It might not be in our lifetime, but there is too much money to be made and with inflation increasing on a yearly basis, it's just a matter of time before these two variables collide forcing a point of no return.
