European Breakaway Superleague

[TheAuthority]

Surprised there's not a topic for this yet. What are you thoughts on the rumored US style (i.e. non relegation) European Super-league? With FIFA in a weakened state and large investments that need to be protected is now feasibly the time? Also those large investments are made by people with no real ties to the communities where the clubs reside.

So is it time for the moneybags of football to just f*#k off and left the rest of us to it? Would that make fairer and more competitive domestic leagues? Or would it ruin the game forever?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35707372

Quote

It would be a new, invite-only competition that would see the biggest English clubs partner with their continental counterparts.

Such a move would mean the end of the Champions League and pose a huge threat to both the Premier League and Uefa, which governs European football.

 

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

it is as inevitable as a privatised health service.

[coda]

If they left now we could finish 15th.

[The_Rev]

It will probably happen at some point, some of the 'lesser' clubs who vote for it will probably regret it by year five when it turns out they are destined to mid table also rans forever because they can't compete with Barcelona, Real Madrid & Bayern.  

[tonyh29]

Chelsea don't make top 4 and suddenly guaranteed entry is on the table 

 

well I never 

[villa4europe]

I think it's more Milan and inter haven't qualified for 3 years now and they are asking the question, I think Utd and Chelsea will happily jump on that bandwagon

I still don't think it will happen because I can't see the stars aligning and all the sponsorship deals ending allowing it to happen, and at the same time I think ironically the mega money these clubs have dragged in mean they can't afford to break their existing contracts

I think instead what UEFA will do is something similar to what they've done with the euros after England didn't qualify, change the rules introducing more teams and make the competition bigger in the name of benefitting the smaller clubs around Europe, 64 team group stage or something equally daft

[turnbull]

The sooner they all eff off, the better

 

[ThunderPower_14]

30 minutes ago, The_Rev said:

It will probably happen at some point, some of the 'lesser' clubs who vote for it will probably regret it by year five when it turns out they are destined to mid table also rans forever because they can't compete with Barcelona, Real Madrid & Bayern.  

 

This is it for me. This is why it's such a bad move for basically everyone bar Barcelona and Madrid.

 

It could genuinely reignite football domestically, with the league suddenly opening up to just about anybody and a bit of romance returning to league football (Leicester this season notwithstanding). How are Arsenal supporters going to feel when they're 14th having not won in 6 matches, while their West Ham supporting mates are loving life, locked in a closely fought title race with Everton and Palace.

 

I don't think it would last forever, but it could very well be the shake up football needs

[Zatman]

not that I care but I think it will be a terrible idea, after about year 3 the luxury will wear off of playing these teams every week and teams will go bankrupt as they will stop investing if cant catch the top 3 or 4 in the league. teams like Inter, Dortmund will be like the Villa or West Brom of that division

[a m ole]

my first though is that it might be quite good if there was relegation to the top tier domestic leagues, there would always be a chance clubs like Spurs, Leicester this year, could get in and replace a Chelsea for a season or so.

If it was a closed shop then that's fine too, **** off and don't come back.

Edited March 3, 2016 by a m ole

[Jimzk5]

We can't be having riff raff like Leicester in champions league, who wants to watch them v Dortmund or Real Madrid? No one

everyone wants to watch Liverpool in the CL. 

Edited March 3, 2016 by Jimzk5

[mikeyp102]

I've thought it inevitable for years. Not sure how it would work though..

[Rugeley Villa]

football is dying anyway, but if this happens its a huge step closer. im getting very sick to death of football if im honest, the game is getting disrespected that much its criminal. such a shame because it used to be a great sport. id rather the dark days of the 80s compared to what we have now.

[Rugeley Villa]

45 minutes ago, Jimzk5 said:

We can't be having riff raff like Leicester in champions league, who wants to watch them v Dortmund or Real Madrid? No one

everyone wants to watch Liverpool in the CL. 

i have no interest watching, real or barcelona. never have and never will. foreign football does not interest me one bit. id rather watch blues v hull(which i am) over real v barca or the milan derby anyday.

[supernova26]

Any kind of ring fencing would be bad. The Barca president was on about giving a Champions League wildcard the other week because it wasn't fair a team gets 'punished' for having one bad season!

Unbelievable. 

Thankfully I don't see it happening any time soon. I love the Champions League it's a great getaway, especially when the English teams get smashed. 

[NoelVilla]

Think it could be good for football in the long run. Football is broken but it has to break even more before anything changes. A Superleague I dont think will work cause people will lose interest and it will eventually make the clubs loose money cause the networks lose ratings. I rather watch Swansea or Mainz winning as underdogs than I want to watch Barca-Bayern playing each other every other week.

Start it up and let it fail miserably.

[Dr_Pangloss]

The actual death of football, bring it on.

[HanoiVillan]

I'm absolutely fine with the idea. I **** hate playing all of them, if we never had to turn up to Old Trafford again it would be too soon. 

They'll get all the money, all the best players, all the media, whatever else. I'll get to watch some genuinely competitive football between us and some teams that I don't actually despise. 

[HanoiVillan]

Guarantee you're going to be hearing about this:

Champions League does not need likes of Leicester, says US sports executive

Closing off European football competitions to include only elite clubs could make them far richer, according to the American sports executive who has held talks with the leading English Premier League teams about a shake-up to long-established league structures.

The Relevant Sports chairman, Charlie Stillitano, held talks with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United on Tuesday in London about this year’s International Champions Cup (ICC), an annual pre-season friendly tournament organised by his company. Stillitano confirmed they also discussed “restructuring the Champions League” – an issue high on the European Club Association agenda amid a power vacuum at Uefa.

Stillitano revealed that the European governing body has been keen on working with the ICC, which already attracts some of the world’s wealthiest teams to compete in games across the globe for a lucrative but meaningless prize. “We have even talked to Uefa in the past because they had an interest in our summer tournament,” Stillitano told the US satellite radio station SiriusXM. “That is something they would like to integrate into their portfolio.”

Joining forces with Relevent’s ICC would currently be incompatible with Uefa’s existing sponsorships. There are no plans with Uefa presently on the table but discussions have not been closed off.

Arsenal are the only team from the talks to go on the record in denying they advocate a breakaway Super League for Europe’s leading clubs.

Discussions within the ECA about the merits of advocating guaranteed Champions League places for prestigious teams come at a time when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all in danger of missing out on qualifying for Europe’s top competition next season.

“What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?” said Stillitano, who met United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, on Tuesday. “Let’s call it the money pot created by soccer and the fandom around the world. Who has had more of an integral role, Manchester United or Leicester? It’s a wonderful, wonderful story – but you could see it from Manchester United’s point of view, too.”

If the Premier League season ended now, Leicester and Tottenham would qualify for the Champions League alongside Arsenal and Manchester City.

“Maybe that is absolutely spectacular unless you are a Manchester United fan,Liverpool fan … or a Chelsea fan,” Stillitano said. “I guess they don’t have a birthright to be in it every year but it’s the age-old argument: US sports franchises versus what they have in Europe. There are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful elements to relegation and promotion and there are good arguments for a closed system.”

Stillitano believes Europe’s biggest clubs deserve to make more cash from the Champions League, given their contribution to making it such a financial success. He said fans are more likely to watch the Juventus v Bayern Munich and Arsenal v Barcelona games in the current round of 16 rather than matches involving PSV Eindhoven and Ghent.

“This is going to sound arrogant and it’s the furthest thing from it … but suddenly when you see the teams we have this summer in the ICC you are going to shake your head and say, ‘Isn’t that the Champions League?’” Stillitano said. “No, the Champions League is PSV and Ghent.”

Voicing the complaints he hears from clubs, Stillitano said: “I could make a lot more money, I can be a lot more visible, I can help my sponsors out but right now I am locked into doing certain things that are really historic.”

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/04/champions-league-leicester-relevent-sports-charlie-stillitano

A fascinating interview, in so many ways. 

[maqroll]

Scumbag