Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
Not sure.
One thing I am confident of is that all the threats are completely meaningless - kick them out of the premier league? The Sky/BT money would crash, the other clubs won't enforce this. Stop players appearing in the World Cup? As if - imagine telling Argentina that Messi can't play for them and expect them to turn up happily to the competition, or Coke or Mastercard or whoever to keep paying the gazillions in sponsorship.
So if the clubs want to do it they will do it. Whether they really want it - I'm not sure. Man Utd, Liverpool, the Spanish two - I'm certain they do. But do Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs really want that? An eternity of finishing 15th or 16th in an ESL, never competing, flying all over Europe every other week with a bored fanbase and nothing riding on the games? They'll very quickly be playing their second choice in that league and focusing more on the premier league, giving the teams at the top an easy ride, there doesn't seem to be much jeopardy in this league. It will all be a fairly meaningless collection of dollars on the way to the big playoffs at the end.
Secondly, the financial growth market for this is really in Asia, where midweek games are difficult for viewership. Weekend games much better. But in Europe - are neutrals going to watch this in the way they watch the champions league? If there are only three or four countries involved, will fans from other countries care?
I think on balance, it has to happen, hopefully just to prove that it doesn't work. But it probably will work. But I'm not sure its any worse for football than the proposed new CL format anyway.
One thing I am confident of is that all the threats are completely meaningless - kick them out of the premier league? The Sky/BT money would crash, the other clubs won't enforce this. Stop players appearing in the World Cup? As if - imagine telling Argentina that Messi can't play for them and expect them to turn up happily to the competition, or Coke or Mastercard or whoever to keep paying the gazillions in sponsorship.
So if the clubs want to do it they will do it. Whether they really want it - I'm not sure. Man Utd, Liverpool, the Spanish two - I'm certain they do. But do Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs really want that? An eternity of finishing 15th or 16th in an ESL, never competing, flying all over Europe every other week with a bored fanbase and nothing riding on the games? They'll very quickly be playing their second choice in that league and focusing more on the premier league, giving the teams at the top an easy ride, there doesn't seem to be much jeopardy in this league. It will all be a fairly meaningless collection of dollars on the way to the big playoffs at the end.
Secondly, the financial growth market for this is really in Asia, where midweek games are difficult for viewership. Weekend games much better. But in Europe - are neutrals going to watch this in the way they watch the champions league? If there are only three or four countries involved, will fans from other countries care?
I think on balance, it has to happen, hopefully just to prove that it doesn't work. But it probably will work. But I'm not sure its any worse for football than the proposed new CL format anyway.