European Super League

[Fau Teixeira]

On Sunday night, 12 football teams from Europe announced they were forming a new mid-week competition called the European Super League.

6 teams from England - Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur
3 teams from Spain - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid
3 teams from Italy - Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus

These 12 teams were backed by up to 6 billion dollars provided by JP Morgan and were planning to recruit 3 more teams as permanent members.

Their plan was to allow 5 other teams to join the permanent 15 every season so they'd have a mid-week competition that rivaled the Champions League.

These 15 teams could never be relegated or be kicked out of this super league and were estimating around $300 million in revenue per year for each of the 20 teams based on broadcasting rights.

Out of the 6 english teams, 4 were owned by Americans, 1 russian, 1 from abu dhabi. They were attempting to take european football from an open system where teams could be relegated from the top leagues and could be promoted from the lower leagues into a closed system like we have in the US where it doesn't matter if you're the jaguars, and you lose ever year, you can't be demoted to NFL 2.

Immediately this led to massive protests by the fans of these teams. Just today Chelsea supporters gathered in front of the stadium to try to block the team busses from entering. UEFA and FIFA have threatened to ban players who play in this super league from playing in the world cup. The UK prime minister, french, italian and spanish governments have already promised that they will legislate to prevent this league from forming. These owners, especially the Glazer family (tampa bay bucs) and the FSG (fenway sports group - john henry) have been raked over the coals by fans, pundits, their own players and coaches.

Today, less than 48 hours after announcing this league. Chelsea, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have withdrawn from the super league. The vice chairman from Manchester United,  Ed Woodward has resigned. And teams from the premier league, serie a and la liga are discussing internally the prospect of points penalties against these teams, financial penalties and banning them from next year's european competitions.

Yougov ran a poll yesterday where 60% of fans of one of the 6 english teams were in favor of their team being kicked out of all competitions and relegated to a lower league as punishment.

Moral of the story. don't fuck with european football.

[Phishfan]

I liked the idea myself. It would have provided more games than the Champions League. I guess that is why old school fans were against it though,  extra games mean tired legs.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Soccer's problem right now is that it is so top heavy, very rarely do middle or bottom tier teams move up due to the financial strength of the older teams. This would've only made it worse with players refusing to sign for any team that wasn't in this league.

As an Arsenal supporter, I am glad this didn't go through. I don't need another competition for us to bottle.

[Spider-Dan]

I guess that is why old school fans were against it though,  extra games mean tired legs.

I think traditional fans were against it because it would have obliterated EPL, La Liga, and Serie A, as well as the very concept of relegation futbol at its core.

Seems like the closest analogy would be - in a hypothetical world where baseball is MUCH more popular in the US than the NFL - if the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Cardinals, Phillies, and Astros had decided to form their own league with no salary cap or luxury tax, and this league had already signed a lucrative broadcast deal with ABC/ESPN.  Oh, but all 8 teams would continue to field a "developmental" roster in MLB.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I think traditional fans were against it because it would have obliterated EPL, La Liga, and Serie A, as well as the very concept of relegation futbol at its core.

Seems like the closest analogy would be - in a hypothetical world where baseball is MUCH more popular in the US than the NFL - if the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Cardinals, Phillies, and Astros had decided to form their own league with no salary cap or luxury tax, and this league had already signed a lucrative broadcast deal with ABC/ESPN.  Oh, but all 8 teams would continue to field a "developmental" roster in MLB.

Yes, and the top free agents would refuse to sign anywhere else but with one of these 8 teams and players on other teams would try to force trades to them as well. Champions League has drastically hurt Domestic League play. It's exciting and of course profitable but it definitely has its drawbacks.

[Spider-Dan]

In reading a bit more on it, there's another significant aspect that is absent from American sports.

In soccer, the relegation aspect - teams that perform poorly are demoted to lower leagues, while teams that play well will be promoted to a higher level - carries a notable social significance: no matter where you come from, or how much money you have, if you play well, you get promoted, and if you play poorly, you get relegated.  It's a true meritocracy.

But in the Super League, 15 of the 20 teams would have been permanent fixtures, immune from the dangers of relegation.  For soccer, this kind of setup is seem as unconscionably elitist: the teams with the most money get to stay at the top level, no matter how poorly they play.

The other leagues didn't like Super League because it was messing with their money.  But I think the fans and players didn't like it because it was fundamentally unfair and at odds with the basic structure of relegation soccer.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I wish we could do Relegation stuff in American sports but we don't have secondary leagues, only Baseball and Hockey have minor leagues. NBA and NFL are just college, but how fun would it be for one year if the Jets got relegated and Alabama got called up?

[ArtieChokePhin]

I wish we could do Relegation stuff in American sports but we don't have secondary leagues, only Baseball and Hockey have minor leagues. NBA and NFL are just college, but how fun would it be for one year if the Jets got relegated and Alabama got called up?

If only the AAF and XFL still existed.  You could have the Apollos and the Roughnecks become NFL teams and the Jets and the Jaguars each be demoted.

[EDGECRUSHER]

If only the AAF and XFL still existed.  You could have the Apollos and the Roughnecks become NFL teams and the Jets and the Jaguars each be demoted.

That would be a blast for talk radio but the reality is that in soccer when you get relegated, you are screwed and your "high priced" players have to be sold because you don't have money for their wages. So basically, if the Packers shock the world and are garbage, then they have to sell Aaron Rodgers to an NFL team. This is why the top teams in Europan football are always on top and the wealthiest while the bottom teams very rarely can move up.

[Phishfan]

I think traditional fans were against it because it would have obliterated EPL, La Liga, and Serie A, as well as the very concept of relegation futbol at its core.

This would have  been a midweek league rivaling the Champions League. All those teams would still play in EPL, etc.

[Fau Teixeira]

This would have  been a midweek league rivaling the Champions League. All those teams would still play in EPL, etc.

No, they wouldn't. EPL would have tossed them out of the league.  And even in the scenario that they stayed in the EPL, they wouldn't care about winning .. they'd be guaranteed ESL money.

The thing you don't realize is that in 1999 Manchester City was a 3rd division team in the english system. they got promoted to the championship (2nd division) and eventually to the premier league. They're only big NOW because they've had success over the past 20 years. Totenham hotsppur haven't won anything in years and most of these teams aren't winning now. This is purely a way for the billionaire owners to eliminate risk and to guarantee financial success without regard to performance.

[Spider-Dan]

EPL would have essentially been a development league for the ESL teams.

[Phishfan]

No, they wouldn't. EPL would have tossed them out of the league.  And even in the scenario that they stayed in the EPL, they wouldn't care about winning .. they'd be guaranteed ESL money.

The thing you don't realize is that in 1999 Manchester City was a 3rd division team in the english system. they got promoted to the championship (2nd division) and eventually to the premier league. They're only big NOW because they've had success over the past 20 years. Totenham hotsppur haven't won anything in years and most of these teams aren't winning now. This is purely a way for the billionaire owners to eliminate risk and to guarantee financial success without regard to performance.

They were only getting kicked out of EPL by EPL's own doing because of pressure from UEFA. The teams  plans were not to break away from domestic leagues. This league wasn't designed to harm domestic leagues. Man City had a very brief period of relegation and since when is 20 years of success a short time in sports? Tottenham has had a winning record for 11 years.

[Spider-Dan]

You think EPL needed outside pressure from UEFA to kick out teams that were trying to undermine its position in the sport and turn it into a minor league?  To say it is to refute it.

I agree that the ESL teams would have been happy to continue fielding a squad in their respective domestic leagues and continuing to cash the checks coming from there, too.  But their priority clearly would have been ESL.

[Fau Teixeira]

They were only getting kicked out of EPL by EPL's own doing because of pressure from UEFA. The teams  plans were not to break away from domestic leagues. This league wasn't designed to harm domestic leagues. Man City had a very brief period of relegation and since when is 20 years of success a short time in sports? Tottenham has had a winning record for 11 years.

20 years is a tiny amount of success in european soccer. The fact that people saw the patriots recent run of success and claimed it's as a historic dynasty just goes to prove how the american system of sports has desensitized  people to accept mediocrity. When a team has a run of mild success, it's a dynasty.

During the early 2000s fc porto won multiple domestic titles, cups, europa league and champions league. They followed this run with a period where they won the domestic league 5 years in a row. That's success. Not getting relegated in 20 years is ok. Porto hasn't been relegated since the founding in 1893.