Foreign owners 'want end to Premier League relegation'

[Albumen]

Why would the top teams vote for it? They get new blood each year to beat. It's only the ones likely to be relegated and have no soul. If there was a vote it should be the 92 clubs - let's see who wins then.

 

[Easy 10]

Just playing Devils's Advocate though, what about this scenario.

This comes in in two years. By accident of timing, we are in the Premier League when the drawbridge is pulled up. We can either stay in the Premier League forever, or resign on principle and stay in the Football League (costing us and Bloom hundreds of millions over 10-20 years).

What do our board do?

Whether we resigned or not, the game would be dead for us. We'd either be locked into a division we'd never have a chance of winning but could never be relegated from, making ALL our games quite literally pointless to us. Or we resign and drop back down to a level from which we can never be promoted from.

Think I'd just give up on football tbh.

 

[Questions]

When you shake hands with the devil....

That was a reference to Sky though wasn`t it ?
This doesn`t really have anything to do with Sky.
This is about something totally different. This is about foriegn owners wanting a monopoly and knowing that they are always going to be in with the big boys.
I think Sky relish new teams coming into the top flight. It freshens things up no end.

 

[User removed 4]

I'd happily see the top 4 or 5 f*** off and form some European superleague without promotion but they can f*** off if Jonny Foreigner thinks he's going to pull the drawbridge up on OUR top tier just to protect his investment.

Provocative, inflammatory name calling from simster, whod've thought it eh?

 

[Tooting Gull]

That was a reference to Sky though wasn`t it ?
This doesn`t really have anything to do with Sky.
This is about something totally different. This is about foriegn owners wanting a monopoly and knowing that they are always going to be in with the big boys.
I think Sky relish new teams coming into the top flight. It freshens things up no end.

It has everything to do with Sky (or whoever has the rights in the future).

It is the way of guaranteeing that television income in perpetuity. Foreign owners like the idea of that, and they see it done in other countries, notably the USA.

British owners would feel a lot more guilty about selling the game down the river. Although maybe not guilty enough not to do it.

 

[Gus is god]

never going to happen

 

[Deleted member 18477]

Whether we resigned or not, the game would be dead for us. We'd either be locked into a division we'd never have a chance of winning but could never be relegated from, making ALL our games quite literally pointless to us. Or we resign and drop back down to a level from which we can never be promoted from.

Think I'd just give up on football tbh.

very much this!

football in england would be dead!

i'd have to take up Golf!

 

[Deleted member 18477]

It has everything to do with Sky (or whoever has the rights in the future).

It is the way of guaranteeing that television income in perpetuity. Foreign owners like the idea of that, and they see it done in other countries, notably the USA.

British owners would feel a lot more guilty about selling the game down the river. Although maybe not guilty enough not to do it.

they have nowhere near the same amount of teams we have though! we'd need a 'sussex albion' and a 'london united' to compare our league to the USA!

 

[Tooting Gull]

Whether we resigned or not, the game would be dead for us. We'd either be locked into a division we'd never have a chance of winning but could never be relegated from, making ALL our games quite literally pointless to us. Or we resign and drop back down to a level from which we can never be promoted from.

Think I'd just give up on football tbh.

...is the right answer. Every chairman needs a copy of that! And they need to realise it BEFORE they are put in that position, ie in time to kill the whole idea stone dead.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Why would the top teams vote for it? They get new blood each year to beat. It's only the ones likely to be relegated and have no soul. If there was a vote it should be the 92 clubs - let's see who wins then.

Those aren't the rules though, it's only a prem chairman vote, if there was one.

 

[Tooting Gull]

they have nowhere near the same amount of teams we have though! we'd need a 'sussex albion' and a 'london united' to compare our league to the USA!

They are not comparing the NFL to the 92 clubs. They are comparing it to the Premier League.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

I don't quite see what foreign owners have to do with anything.

If the rules allow it, why can't one of the current clubs simply make a proposal that nobody gets relegated? If only Premiership clubs can vote on this, presumably they'd all vote in favour? Or at least the vast majority. Maybe half a dozen clubs are unlikely ever to be relegated but I doubt all the others cold be 100% certain it would never happen to them.

There must be something in place to stop this from happening - I hope!

 

[Deleted member 18477]

They are not comparing the NFL to the 92 clubs. They are comparing it to the Premier League.

but the premier league has the rest of the football league attached to it (effectively) where as the NFL has nothing and has never had anything attached to it.

next they'll be comparing the football league to college football! i mean these people are idiots!

 

[Easy 10]

It has everything to do with Sky (or whoever has the rights in the future).

It is the way of guaranteeing that television income in perpetuity. Foreign owners like the idea of that, and they see it done in other countries, notably the USA.

British owners would feel a lot more guilty about selling the game down the river. Although maybe not guilty enough not to do it.

Disagree.

Skys money ultimately comes from us, the fans. We pay a premium for it because its a good product, an exciting product (I know not all will agree, but the sheer amount of cash flooding in from subscriptions is proof enough).

If you remove relegation from the equation, then at a stroke you have killed it as a competiton. And if its not a competition then I'm not interested, and my subscription would be duley cancelled. The battle against relegation, if anything, is MORE exciting than whats going on at the other end, but if one of the teams has nothing to play for all season long, then it immediately ceases to be a spectacle.

Do you think Sky would believe the removal of relegation would result in more or fewer subscribers ? I can only speak for myself, but if that is ever introduced, then thats the end of my subscription. And I suspect I probably wouldn't be alone.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Disagree.

Skys money ultimately comes from us, the fans. We pay a premium for it because its a good product, an exciting product (I know not all will agree, but the sheer amount of cash flooding in from subscriptions is proof enough).

If you remove relegation from the equation, then at a stroke you have killed it as a competiton. And if its not a competition then I'm not interested, and my subscription would be duley cancelled. The battle against relegation, if anything, is MORE exciting than whats going on at the other end, but if one of the teams has nothing to play for all season long, then it immediately ceases to be a spectacle.

Do you think Sky would believe the removal of relegation would result in more or fewer subscribers ? I can only speak for myself, but if that is ever introduced, then thats the end of my subscription. And I suspect I probably wouldn't be alone.

You wouldn't be alone. There might be some drop-off.

But if you have Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle, Villa and some others, you are in virtually complete control in TV audience terms.

If you ask your average NFL punter (a working-class sport, originally) whether he is watching the big game worried about no relegation, he isn't. That is a culture thing, but it is the culture of some American owners. There would be play-offs, I imagine, as part of this model.

 

[Simster]

Wouldn't it play out something like this if the Prem clubs go it alone? :-

Sky negotiate a new contract similar to the current one for Premiership rights
After 5 years, the only change is that attendances for all Premiership teams not consistently competing for a Europe league place or higher actually falls
After 7 or 8 years we are seeing Wigan v Blackburn played in front of 7,000. Consequently, Sky are not interested in these clubs any more and actually lower their bid, and insist on showing more of the big 6 or 7 clubs.
The big clubs insist on a bigger cut of Sky money (much as Liverpool's owners are asking for) meaning that the bottom of the Prem make less than they are now.
Ten years on and Wigan, West Brom, Wolves, Stoke, Fulham, Bolton, QPR, Blackburn etc have all had enough and want to play in the proper league again, with the Venkys and Reynolds and the likes all threatening to bankrupt those clubs because they are losing money - gates are low, Sky aren't interested in them, and even some players are too disillusioned to play for them.
The football league tell them they can f*** off if they think they're starting at the top of the league - and offer them a chance to join the bottom division again, now called Division FOUR.

 

[Questions]

It has everything to do with Sky (or whoever has the rights in the future).

It is the way of guaranteeing that television income in perpetuity. Foreign owners like the idea of that, and they see it done in other countries, notably the USA.

British owners would feel a lot more guilty about selling the game down the river. Although maybe not guilty enough not to do it.

Well I grant you that foreign owners do not necessarily see the game in the same traditional ways that we do but I cannot see why locking the Premier League would guarantee the TV deals n the future any more than they are guaranteed now.
I`m not saying it could never happen just that I can`t see the TV people instigating it.
No relegation from the Prem ? They`d lose my subscription straight away. The money would talk.

 

[Was not Was]

The US sport comparison doesn't work though, does it?

The 'closed shop' in the NFL works because they have a draft system which gives last year's least successful teams first pick of the new players coming through. So the league remains competitive.

A closed shop without this dash of socialism would surely be doomed to declining interest as it becomes ever less competitive, as several posters on here have said.

 

[Seasider78]

If this was ever put through then aside from the top couple of sides the rest of the division would have nothing to play for as avoiding relegation would no longer be a threat. This would result in a boring uncompetitive league that will see fans, sponsors and TV companies pulling out of in their droves.

And for that reason I cannot see it happening

 

[perseus]

What do the TV Moguls think?

European League I expect.