European Super League (Indefinitely Suspended)

[wco81]

What is happening?

The rats are leaving the sinking ship. Now they need to pay the price of the consequences. They've only puled out because their coup d'etat failed.

I'd have more respect for these owners if they stuck to their guns at least a couple more weeks. Slowly capitulate when it's a slow news cycle.

Well maybe they listened to their fans?

[HIF]

It would be great if this debacle led to actual change rather than just a return to the status quo.

This stupidity will allow UEFA to grab more and sadly the evil 12 will also get more. I just hope there is real punishment and that small clubs suffering from the pandemic - not from paying far too much money to buy and pay players - get some benefit.

I doubt that though.

The only positive will be the show of power than European fans showed the fools who think their pennies bought our souls, rather than rented our hearts.

[Mamba81p]

By the way, I am not trying to make this an anti-US/you don't get it rant. I'm sure many Americans would be just as irked if something like this happened there. One of the reasons I love American sports is that they are designed to avoid this sort of thing through salary caps, trading players not buying them and the way the drafts work. Imagine if the Lakers, Celtics, Nets and Clippers (despite their complete lack of historic success) and Miami Heat decided they would create a new basketball league, expect to stay in the NBA but perhaps play less games and in their new league (which no other clubs can join) be free of salary caps. Would that go down well?

The difference is NBA is maximizing their revenues/profits. UEFA is not doing that for the clubs.
There is no need for Lakers to go on a separate root, when staying with the NBA is the best possible way for their business. There is a reason why the NBA/NFL are stable financially, and the european clubs are on the brinks of bankruptcy: salary cap.

You cannot do a salary cap in UEFA. You need a CBA and a professional league to do that. You can do it in the Premier League, but every league would need to do it, to have an effect. Financial fair-play stopped the madness for a short time, but I don't think it's enough
Now there is a race to the top in terms of players salaries/prices, and I don't see that stopping. With the way the pandemic goes in Europe, probably they will not have full stadiums for another year, and the financial disaster will be there for everyone to see.

European football is run like the Wild West. It's totally lawless, with a corrupt organization overseeing everything. Sports organizations need structure. The Americans perfected the formula, it's too bad the Europeans didn't take notes. I can't stress how ironic it is that American sports leagues feature strict regulations, unions, revenue sharing, and competitive balance rules, while their European counterparts are run completely laissez-faire.

I'd love if this whole situation served as a wake-up call and led to actual, meaningful change. But I doubt it will.

I think it will be far worse. Until now there 2 big powers in soccer: UEFA/FIFA and the big clubs. I think from now on, there will be only 1.

[HIF]

The difference is NBA is maximizing their revenues/profits. UEFA is not doing that for the clubs.
There is no need for Lakers to go on a separate root, when staying with the NBA is the best possible way for their business. There is a reason why the NBA/NFL are stable financially, and the european clubs are on the brinks of bankruptcy: salary cap.

You cannot do a salary cap in UEFA. You need a CBA and a professional league to do that. You can do it in the Premier League, but every league would need to do it, to have an effect. Financial fair-play stopped the madness for a short time, but I don't think it's enough
Now there is a race to the top in terms of players salaries/prices, and I don't see that stopping. With the way the pandemic goes in Europe, probably they will not have full stadiums for another year, and the financial disaster will be there for everyone to see.

European football is run like the Wild West. It's totally lawless, with a corrupt organization overseeing everything. Sports organizations need structure. The Americans perfected the formula, it's too bad the Europeans didn't take notes. I can't stress how ironic it is that American sports leagues feature strict regulations, unions, revenue sharing, and competitive balance rules, while their European counterparts are run completely laissez-faire.

I'd love if this whole situation served as a wake-up call and led to actual, meaningful change. But I doubt it will.

I think it will be far worse. Until now there 2 big powers in soccer: UEFA/FIFA and the big clubs. I think from now on, there will be only 1.

You still don't understand.

[Mamba81p]

European football is run like the Wild West. It's totally lawless, with a corrupt organization overseeing everything. Sports organizations need structure. The Americans perfected the formula, it's too bad the Europeans didn't take notes. I can't stress how ironic it is that American sports leagues feature strict regulations, unions, revenue sharing, and competitive balance rules, while their European counterparts are run completely laissez-faire.

I'd love if this whole situation served as a wake-up call and led to actual, meaningful change. But I doubt it will.

I think it will be far worse. Until now there 2 big powers in soccer: UEFA/FIFA and the big clubs. I think from now on, there will be only 1.

You still don't understand.

Do you know other words that "don't understand"?. What part of what I said is wrong? Will UEFA not be more powerful after this? Will the big clubs have less leverage after this?

I am pretty sure I understand the European soccer. I just happen to be open to other opinions and preferences of others, and to other cultures in general, and I also have certain views regarding society that makes me hate UEFA more than anything. You know... cultural difference.

It is obvious you don't like to debate, so it's probably to just ignore your "you don't understand" replies.

[Speadge]

"I think this project has died today ... and it is on the way to becoming a complete botch," former Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon told CNN's Richard Quest.
"I think it deserves it because it was a project destined to kill football. I think mainly at this time that we are living where many clubs are struggling to survive due to the economic problems from the pandemic, what football needs is unity, solidarity," added Calderon.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/20/football/european-super-league-chelsea-manchester-city-spt-intl/index.html

[LondonCeltics]

I think it will be far worse. Until now there 2 big powers in soccer: UEFA/FIFA and the big clubs. I think from now on, there will be only 1.

You still don't understand.

Do you know other words that "don't understand"?. What part of what I said is wrong? Will UEFA not be more powerful after this? Will the big clubs have less leverage after this?

I am pretty sure I understand the European soccer. I just happen to be open to other opinions and preferences of others, and to other cultures in general, and I also have certain views regarding society that makes me hate UEFA more than anything. You know... cultural difference.

It is obvious you don't like to debate, so it's probably to just ignore your "you don't understand" replies.

Does sound like you don't understand the power of fans/history in European football. Just look what's happened in 48 hours, if that.

[Mamba81p]

You still don't understand.

Do you know other words that "don't understand"?. What part of what I said is wrong? Will UEFA not be more powerful after this? Will the big clubs have less leverage after this?

I am pretty sure I understand the European soccer. I just happen to be open to other opinions and preferences of others, and to other cultures in general, and I also have certain views regarding society that makes me hate UEFA more than anything. You know... cultural difference.

It is obvious you don't like to debate, so it's probably to just ignore your "you don't understand" replies.

Does sound like you don't understand the power of fans/history in European football. Just look what's happened in 48 hours, if that.

First of all, I am an European and a soccer fan for 25 years, so I get the history of European soccer/football.
That doesn't have anything to do with my post regarding the power shift after this, and how UEFA will grab more power after all this.

[LondonCeltics]

Do you know other words that "don't understand"?. What part of what I said is wrong? Will UEFA not be more powerful after this? Will the big clubs have less leverage after this?

I am pretty sure I understand the European soccer. I just happen to be open to other opinions and preferences of others, and to other cultures in general, and I also have certain views regarding society that makes me hate UEFA more than anything. You know... cultural difference.

It is obvious you don't like to debate, so it's probably to just ignore your "you don't understand" replies.

Does sound like you don't understand the power of fans/history in European football. Just look what's happened in 48 hours, if that.

First of all, I am an European and a soccer fan for 25 years, so I get the history of European soccer/football.
That doesn't have anything to do with my post regarding the power shift after this, and how UEFA will grab more power after all this.

Oh nice one. Which 'soccer' team do you support out of interest?

[wco81]

So triumph of socialism over capitalism?

Revenue sharing over inequality with the richer getting richer?

Tradition over profit maximization?

[LondonCeltics]

Christ, it's just dawned on me. The Red Sox chaps tried to raise ticket prices at Anfield to 77 quid. Imagine how much they'd have tried on for a 'super' league for 'legacy' fans from Merseyside. I am so so glad this fell through. Football is for the working class.

[Mamba81p]

Does sound like you don't understand the power of fans/history in European football. Just look what's happened in 48 hours, if that.

First of all, I am an European and a soccer fan for 25 years, so I get the history of European soccer/football.
That doesn't have anything to do with my post regarding the power shift after this, and how UEFA will grab more power after all this.

Oh nice one. Which 'soccer' team do you support out of interest?

A 2nd league team in my native country, and my local team here in US

[Rasho Brezec]

Lol, in the end this will all turn out to be a ploy by the Americans to make bank by selling their clubs.

[Jack Dempsey]

So triumph of socialism over capitalism?

Revenue sharing over inequality with the richer getting richer?

Tradition over profit maximization?

I'm afraid it's not. I'm happy for fans of Man Utd, Liverpool, etc but in general, the Virus that the european Football got infected with 20-25 years ago still exists. UEFA closed (not sure it's official though) a € 4.5 bill deal with a company today. The major pieces of that cake will be taken by the couple of big Teams which will make them more powerful again. The goal has to be to close the gap. Among people I know the qualifications for the Champions League is more interesting than the actual Competition. We need more parity. We need Teams like Ferencvaros, Rapid or Legia to step up and make some noise in Knockout stages. 20 years ago me and all of my friends rooted for a Shevchenko-led Dynamo Kiev to win it all. Hey, an Team from Eastern Europe getting all the sympathies in Central Europe!!! We need more stories like that. Nobody wants to see the same 3 spanish Teams in the Semifinals all over again.

I'm not against 4 Teams from the best Leagues. I know it is business and they need to make money and everything but give everybody an equal chance. Make just the Champions qualify directly for the Group stage and let the others play the qualification in a non-Champion route. Give more spots to the actual CHAMPIONS of their Leagues. Sure, the gap won't close in year one but after a couple of seasons things would develop the right way.

[wco81]

I guess they have to get those Eastern European teams or Greek teams in the CL to rope in fans there to pay for pay TV packages.

Yeah they will never beat the top clubs from Western Europe, because those teams will always buy the best players from around the world, including from Eastern Europe.

But as long as people are tuning into those Group matches early in the season, who can blame them for this current set up or expanding it to more weaker clubs?

They have to pay these record transfer fees but presumably, more money will filter down to the academies and to poorer clubs?

Having some form of revenues sharing is better than nothing.

[The_Brecht]

Lol, in the end this will all turn out to be a ploy by the Americans to make bank by selling their clubs.

If this results in Kroenke selling Arsenal, I will be a very very happy man.

[LondonCeltics]

Make the Champions League what it says on the tin, a competition between the winners of leagues and cups and scrap a situation that allows 3 English teams that didn't win anything get to participate. Would make the cups in each country meaningful again and with the odd upset here and there hopefully some money would trickle down better.

[The_Brecht]

Florentino Perez: "This is going to save football."

Yes it will, but not in the way you guys hoped.

[Cactus Jack]

Lol, in the end this will all turn out to be a ploy by the Americans to make bank by selling their clubs.

If this results in Kroenke selling Arsenal, I will be a very very happy man.

He won't sell.

[Young Stapler]

All premier league clubs are set to withdraw according to Sky Sports.

Edit- for clarity, the clubs still left are set to withdraw (Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham