PL looking abroad again

[spring hall convert]

Couldn't they get by on foreign TV deals anyway, even if English people cancelled their subscriptions?

Possibly but it would sink Sky as an entity in one foul swoop. I suspect that would at least grab their attention.

 

[spring hall convert]

While its a nice thought, the plastic armchair fans of the "big 4" who have never set foot in Old Trafford, Anfield or The Emirates will still flock to worship Jeff Stelling and "Kammy" for the "epic bantz". I bloody hate that type of fan, yet they are the ones who, ironically, generate the cash for the self fulfilling prophecy that is the Premier League.

Leave 'em to it. I don't understand why people actively contribute towards this when you can get a decent stream of any premier league game you want.

Personally I couldn't care less about the PL, that might change should Albion ever make it. I'm not totally sure it would though.

 

[spring hall convert]

Its a shit idea.


But it makes me laugh how some of the same people love the idea of the NFL playing in London but are dead against this idea, which is basically the same.

I'm a big NFL fan. The Wembley games make me cringe, it's embarassing.

 

[Wozza]

Its a shit idea.


But it makes me laugh how some of the same people love the idea of the NFL playing in London but are dead against this idea, which is basically the same.

NFL has *always* been about money, TV, franchising etc. (And no 'away' support)

Cities can lose their teams overnight, so losing a single fixture is no biggie in the great scheme of things.

 

[Simster]

The good news is that the Scotch Monkey Tennis league would soon follow suit, like they do with every other utterly greedy SHITHOUSE English football idea.

And soon, the huge numbers of far eastern football fans will be drooling over Inverness v Falkirk. Imagine that. Top quality scotch soccerball played in Laos at 3am, Scotch winter time. What's not to like?

 

[spring hall convert]

They'd probably just play all their games abroad

Well that would serve to show it up for the utter farce that it is. I think we can safely say if that happened, people in this country would wake up and move on. It's sad to admit if you enjoy the Premier League but it has no interest in serving the interest of the comitted club fan. It views the fans that actually go to the games as an inconvenience. They'd probably rather have robots and pipe crowd noise in to make the broadcasts more authentic.

 

[The Large One]

The good news is that the Scotch Monkey Tennis league would soon follow suit, like they do with every other utterly greedy SHITHOUSE English football idea.

And soon, the huge numbers of far eastern football fans will be drooling over Inverness v Falkirk. Imagine that. Top quality scotch soccerball played in Laos at 3am, Scotch winter time. What's not to like?

They wouldn't go. The local teams would embarrass them in the warm-up matches.

 

[spring hall convert]

NFL has *always* been about money, TV, franchising etc. (And no 'away' support)

Cities can lose their teams overnight, so losing a single fixture is no biggie in the great scheme of things.

Also, the NFL fosters a competitive league by the way it is set up (salary cap, draft etc...). It's pretty communist in that respect. The way English football is set up is anti competitive and getting worse, like the sporting embodyment of the worst kind of f*** 'em all capitalism

 

[crodonilson]

Easily managed though. You don't have to fixture Liverpool v Chelsea and Burnley v Hull do you? they're not stupid.

Chelsea v Hull
Liverpool v Burnley
United v Palace
City v Stoke
Arsenal v QPR
Spurs v blah blah

All sell out, no problem.

Except none of the big clubs would lose a home game, so it would be Hull v Chelsea, Burnley v Liverpool, West Brom v Man Utd etc

 

[CPFC G]

I can unfortunately see this happening in a few years time, SKY and Scudamore are hell bent on widening the appeal of the premiership 'brand' abroad. Prehaps with all the money they have they can pay for every season ticket holder to fly out to the games.

 

[crodonilson]

I've heard the PL wants its clubs to back out of the League Cup in any case and instead create a PL Cup with all games to be played abroad. Top 12 from previous season would qualify automatically then bottom 8 would play in a Prelim Round for the other 4 spaces and hey presto 16 team cup tournament which they can take all over Asia and America. All of this can be incorportated into where the League Cup currently takes place and theround of league games after these dates would take place on the Sunday to allow more recovery time.

 

[father_and_son]

I've heard the PL wants its clubs to back out of the League Cup in any case and instead create a PL Cup with all games to be played abroad. Top 12 from previous season would qualify automatically then bottom 8 would play in a Prelim Round for the other 4 spaces and hey presto 16 team cup tournament which they can take all over Asia and America. All of this can be incorportated into where the League Cup currently takes place and theround of league games after these dates would take place on the Sunday to allow more recovery time.

The logistics of timezones and jet lag make this impossible - 15-16hr flights to the far east & 7-8 hr time differences means it wouldn't work when there is only 3 days between matches. If "PLCup" were played on tues/weds evening that makes it impossible to play weekend fixtures on both sides.

Shrink the PL to 16 clubs so there is a shorter/less crowded domestic season and this might work though.


As for the fans... most PL clubs draw their income from non-match day activities anyway (TV and Commerical incomes dwarf the match day revenues). What do all the armchair fans care if the match is at Old Trafford, which they have never been to, or in Malaysia, which they have never been to? Same same!

 

[Rookie]

Horrible idea but everyone knows the big boys will get their way in end. So much money to be made in the Far East that they won't let la liga get there first.

 

[bhafc4eva]

Not a great fan of the idea. But i would rather play Burnley away tied in with a short break to San Diego. Would love to see the Albion play in the States.

 

[Gwylan]

There is literally no chance that they'd lose money on the game. The PL would sell the right to host each match, using the model that the F1 use to sell each Grand Prix. The enormous bids from China and Qatar, etc for these rights will handsomely repay the clubs for any lost matchday revenue.

But that's a one-off - you don't have 10 Chinese grands prix.

Yes, the big clubs would attract some bids but as you can really see a country offering millions of pounds to host Hull v Palace? As I keep saying, there aren't enough glam teams in the PL to attract that level of interest

 

[Pavilionaire]

More money for the Premier League > Higher wages for Premier League players > Higher wages for Championship players > Higher wages generally > More non-Premier League teams going bust.

The more money the Premier League makes the worse it gets for England and Football League clubs.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

But that's a one-off - you don't have 10 Chinese grands prix.

Yes, the big clubs would attract some bids but as you can really see a country offering millions of pounds to host Hull v Palace? As I keep saying, there aren't enough glam teams in the PL to attract that level of interest

You're being obtuse. As we've covered, it wouldn't be Hull v Palace. No chance.

Man City, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs - that's six 'glamour' matches straight away, regardless of the crappy opponents. In fact some armchair Chinese plastic would probably prefer to see United beat Palace 4-0 than watch them slug out a hard fought draw with Chelsea anyway.

Beyond those six, there are other pretty big clubs in the likes of Everton and Newcastle, plus potentially ones with existing sponsor ties, like Leicester and Cardiff (if they were back up). And there's nothing to say that the bids for each fixture have to be at the same level - Qatar might bid gazillions for United v Palace, and Azerbaijan might only be happy to spunk a couple of million in oil money, so settle for Leicester v Swansea.

they'd have no problem at all selling them.

 

[Gwylan]

You're being obtuse. As we've covered, it wouldn't be Hull v Palace. No chance.

Man City, United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs - that's six 'glamour' matches straight away, regardless of the crappy opponents. In fact some armchair Chinese plastic would probably prefer to see United beat Palace 4-0 than watch them slug out a hard fought draw with Chelsea anyway.

Beyond those six, there are other pretty big clubs in the likes of Everton and Newcastle, plus potentially ones with existing sponsor ties, like Leicester and Cardiff (if they were back up). And there's nothing to say that the bids for each fixture have to be at the same level - Qatar might bid gazillions for United v Palace, and Azerbaijan might only be happy to spunk a couple of million in oil money, so settle for Leicester v Swansea.

they'd have no problem at all selling them.

I'm not being obtuse at all - however you cut it there are at least four games that aren't "glamour" games (I'm not convinced Spurs is that big a team overseas - what trophies have they won in the last 20 years?) And I really don't see why Hull v Palace is not saleable but Leicester v Swansea is.

You say that Everton is a pretty big team ... but it's one that's forced to sell players on a regular basis and operates on tight margins. Its owner has been looking for a buyer for years. If there's so much interest in Everton, then why hasn't a billionaire come to buy it? You could say the same for Newcastle, also up for sale.

I could be wrong and there a millions of Bangladeshis and Malaysians itching to wear Stoke shirts but I'm not wholly convinced

 

[Pavilionaire]

It seems that English football is intent on copying the NFL. Last week it was the Rooney rule, this week in the aftermath of the Dolphins vs. Raiders Wembley match it's overseas matches. If they're going to carry on being inspired by NFL can I suggest allowing goal celebrations without getting cautioned?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

And I really don't see why Hull v Palace is not saleable but Leicester v Swansea is.

Because Hull's shirts and stadium are not sponsored by a massive government-backed Thai conglomerate.

BTW - just to be very clear - I'm not arguing with you that its a horrible, horrible idea. Just that I can very easily see how they could make it work.

Final point - if there really are any totally unsaleable games, they'd just sell them of in 2/ 3/ 4-game packages, so if you wanted to host United v Chelsea, then you have to take Stoke v Sunderland and Swansea v West Ham too.