The European Super League is coming whether we like it or not

[Cunny]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/col...icle5998408.ece

From The Times

 

March 30, 2009

 

The Super League is coming whether we like it or not

 

Gabriele Marcotti

Eleven years ago, a company called Media Partners threatened to turn the footballing world on its head. The firm, now known as MP & Silva, specialises in buying media rights from football clubs and selling them on to broadcasters. In the summer of 1998, it figured that the time was ripe for a breakaway European Super League.

 

The numbers looked good, the interest was there. Some clubs embraced the idea enthusiastically, others were lukewarm, but nevertheless signed on for fear of losing out. There were several versions of the project — one would have had clubs withdrawing from their domestic competitions, another would have kept them involved in both, perhaps fielding reserve sides in one or the other — but the concept remained one and the same: scrap the Champions League and have a competition for the biggest clubs around so that we can all make as much money as possible.

 

Uefa at first threatened Media Partners and the prospective breakaway clubs before, inevitably, reaching a compromise: it increased the Champions League participants from 24 to 32, bumped up the prize money and added another group stage, which has since been scrapped.

 

We heard little about the Super League idea until ten days ago, when France Football, the magazine, reported that such a plan was being revived at the behest of the European Club Association (ECA), the body representing some 150 European clubs.

 

France Football went into incredible detail — outlining three divisions of 20 teams with promotion and relegation, a TV contract worth ten times as much as the present one — while quoting Michel Platini, the Uefa president, as saying that “if the request comes from the clubs, it would be my duty to consider it”. Uefa quickly distanced itself from the idea, as did ECA members, claiming it had “never been discussed”. And, in fact, it now appears that the idea was floated not by the clubs, but by a media rights company, looking to “test the water”.

 

That version of the Super League seems dead, and with good reason. The tiered “divisions” are a goofy notion. It’s one thing for, say, Rotherham United fans to accept that they’re in the third tier of football, quite another for supporters of clubs such as Feyenoord or Sporting.

 

Having said that, don’t think the idea is dead and buried. However alien the concept may seem, it’s a fair bet we’ll see it in our lifetime. And, in fact, there are already hints that we are moving towards that model.

 

Consider the ECA’s proposed licensing system that would bar clubs that spend more than a preset percentage of turnover on wages and transfers from the Champions League. Effectively, this would discourage wealthy patrons such as Sheikh Mansour, the Manchester City owner, from bankrolling smaller clubs, while allowing bigger clubs to outspend the minnows. Just as importantly, it would keep down costs and virtually guarantee profits, without relinquishing a club’s competitiveness on the pitch.

 

Uefa has yet to rule on the proposal and Platini has been noncommittal. But such regulation — in effect, a salary cap — is a close relative of those that exist in American sports, where the leagues are continent-wide, television-driven, highly profitable closed shops. Much like Media Partners’s original vision.

 

There are plenty of factions who would oppose a Super League, starting with the domestic leagues. The Premier League would fight tooth and nail, knowing that a competition without its top four or five clubs would be worth a fraction of what it is now. But, ultimately, the Premier League is a group of clubs freely associating to play football. It’s not a prison. If one or more want to leave, there isn’t much it can do. Especially if all of this were to transpire with the blessing of Uefa and Fifa, which may seem far-fetched now, but, remember Sepp Blatter, the president of world football’s governing body, won’t be around for ever and Platini’s not omnipotent, nor is his mind immutable.

 

Super League proponents will point to the fact that it’s a natural evolution of the game. We live in an integrated Europe, why not integrate football?

 

After all, less than 100 years ago, English clubs south of the Midlands — with the exception of Arsenal — competed in the Southern League, not the Football League.

 

The pros and cons of all this can be debated endlessly. Just as, perhaps, in 1908 Southern League clubs asked themselves whether it was fair that Tottenham Hotspur should get elected to the Football League, despite finishing seventh.

 

The point is that economic imperatives and the political and social evolution of Europe are pushing football towards a Super League. And, whether we like it or not, it’s on its way. Let’s hope it arrives later rather than sooner.

[Falconhoof]

Its surprising that it hasn't happened before now really.

[smithdown]

I don't see it.

 

The current format gives big clubs a chance to play up to 60 games a season, 30 of which are at home. No Super League structure gives scope for that many full houses per year - and there's no reason why anyone would pay ten times the current amounts for the rights to broadcast each game.

 

The present structure probably provides close to optimum revenues - domestic leagues are competitive enough to maintain interest and the CL is the luscious gravy on top.

[Billy Dane]

Don't want to see a European super league. Playing the likes of Madrid, Milan, Bayern Munich and Barca etc should be special occasions. Would hate it to turn into the annual CL clash with Chelsea routine.

[Hassony]

I don't see it.

 

The current format gives big clubs a chance to play up to 60 games a season, 30 of which are at home. No Super League structure gives scope for that many full houses per year - and there's no reason why anyone would pay ten times the current amounts for the rights to broadcast each game.

 

The present structure probably provides close to optimum revenues - domestic leagues are competitive enough to maintain interest and the CL is the luscious gravy on top.

 

Marcotti in talking out of his a*** shocker

[John am Rhein]

The current format gives big clubs a chance to play up to 60 games a season, 30 of which are at home. No Super League structure gives scope for that many full houses per year - and there's no reason why anyone would pay ten times the current amounts for the rights to broadcast each game.

 

This is probably the flaw in an otherwise sound argument - history shows that broadcasters (and for that matter telecoms companies and others) WILL pay absurdly over-the-odds for things in some circumstances.

 

TBH, I'd be surprised if the current economic climate is one of those circumstances, but it could well happen sooner or later.

[Andy @ Allerton]

It'd be good in a way - I'd save loads of time and money because I'd never bother going to the joke that football would become.

 

I'd probably end up watching Prescot Cables with Wayne or going to watch someone like Marine, Southport or the like.

 

Because that's the only place you'd be able to see proper football after this joke of an idea goes ahead. And like others I'm certain it will.

 

If there is one word that defines football at this stage in the day - it's "Greed".

[nrkintheuk]

Can't take him seriously at all, I think its the accent. Oh, and because he offers opinion as fact.

 

s****, according to wiki he's the same age as me, that's one tough paper round he had! Chelsea season ticket holder too. t***.

Edited March 31, 2009 by nrkintheuk

[_00_deathscar]

Don't want to see a European super league. Playing the likes of Madrid, Milan, Bayern Munich and Barca etc should be special occasions. Would hate it to turn into the annual CL clash with Chelsea routine.

 

On the other hand, it has its benefits - we'll be playing Chelsea a LOT less each year.

[matty]

It's possible that eventually, they'll replace the CL with a genuine League system, and that the big clubs will try to guarantee permanent entry to that league for themselves, but I can't see the end of domestic football for those clubs.

 

Any positive change in football will probably only follow a cataclysmic disaster for the game, such as fans getting so fed up with the predictability of the sport that they stop paying to watch it on the box.

[Falconhoof]

It's possible that eventually, they'll replace the CL with a genuine League system, and that the big clubs will try to guarantee permanent entry to that league for themselves, but I can't see the end of domestic football for those clubs.

 

Thats what seems likely to me, sooner or later. They have tried their best with the mini leagues in the CL and you can see why they like that format. Increased numbers of games and guaranteed participation for a period of time for the bigger clubs.

If they could replace that with a European league and keep the domestic leagues then the clubs would extend their squads and leave the league cup and FA cup to their reserve squads, a process thats been under way for years.

 

Guaranteed fixtures, guaranteed box office splash with advertising revenue and better for sponsorship potential.

[Gilps]

Thats what seems likely to me, sooner or later. They have tried their best with the mini leagues in the CL and you can see why they like that format. Increased numbers of games and guaranteed participation for a period of time for the bigger clubs.

If they could replace that with a European league and keep the domestic leagues then the clubs would extend their squads and leave the league cup and FA cup to their reserve squads, a process thats been under way for years.

 

Guaranteed fixtures, guaranteed box office splash with advertising revenue and better for sponsorship potential.

 

But dissatisfaction with the format led to the scrapping of the second group phase in favour of a return to more knockout games.

[Falconhoof]

But dissatisfaction with the format led to the scrapping of the second group phase in favour of a return to more knockout games.

Yes, there were 2 lots of mini leagues and a vast number of teams playing dead rubber games. It was a stupid format.

The difference with a super league of say 16 teams would be that they would, arguably, be the elite teams and matches involving any two of them would feature big marketable household names. Thats what TV advertisers and sponsors want.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Ernest Blenkinsop

[Jarg Armani]

Ah yes, the European Super League. Or as it is also sometimes known: The Slow News Day.

[Gilps]

Yes, there were 2 lots of mini leagues and a vast number of teams playing dead rubber games. It was a stupid format.

The difference with a super league of say 16 teams would be that they would, arguably, be the elite teams and matches involving any two of them would feature big marketable household names. Thats what TV advertisers and sponsors want.

 

You'd still end up with too many of the games ending up being dead rubbers in the latter stages, in the way that midtable clashes in March are in any league. If there's no relegation, that just increases the number of teams with nothing to play for from half way through, thereby increasing still further the number of meaningless games.

 

I am not convinced that the European TV audience for even two of the largest clubs in Europe contesting 7th place in a league is as big as it would be for wither a knockout game featuring either of those sides, or a domestic game where either of them was contesting a title.

[Falconhoof]

I'm persuaded that its not going to happen for the foreseeable future now.

good these discussions aren't they

[floyd]

One good thing about the European League, is that drunken tramp won't be able to run it. Unlike here

[live]

One good thing about the European League, is that drunken tramp won't be able to run it. Unlike here

 

he could be der comissioner after he retires no?

[Hassony]

I'm persuaded that its not going to happen for the foreseeable future now.

good these discussions aren't they

 

this must be a first in the history of internet forums

[_00_deathscar]

Two legged knockouts are the best thing about European football. And they want to get rid ofi t?

[Stevie H]

Two legged knockouts are the best thing about European football. And they want to get rid ofi t?

quite. uefa could start by renaming the f***ing thing back to the european cup. in its present format it a) isn't a league and b) isn't just for champions. marketingtastic.

[Maldini]

Marcotti is a double whopper with cheese