What? Go away with your communist ideas! Are you antifa? ;-)
I mean I was only suggesting that MAYBE teams should be rewarded on merit and not have a monopoly on top level sports and that teams like Bournemouth should be allowed the chance to experience multiple promotion and share some of that top level cash and build up from there. Alas, I realise this is a ridiculous notion. Bring on the superleague
brilliant!I would hope that’s a small percentage of plastic fans. I really hope we’re not going down the NFL route, football would become soulless. English football is all about rivalry, the CEOs of the big 6 should remember that
I agree with the general direction of your post but the bolded part because I think those teenagers and the Instagram generation will form a huge part of tomorrow's population and, from a personal experience, interests in things like sport and entertainment are usually formed between the ages of 16 and 21 imo.
Of course I might be wrong but my feelings about it is that the attraction of the product is very linked to the entire package the PL offers. Foreign fans might not be interested to watch teams outside the top 6 but the branding of the PL is very much reliant on things like hostile atmospheres at the grounds of the underdog, the perceived notion that anyone can beat anyone. Sky invested so much in the idea that a trip to the north in the winter period for the big clubs or that the battle of relegation is an essential part of the mystique and exoticism of the PL. Foreign fans might not care about these clubs individually but they are buying a product that brands itself very much around them. It's like the role of the antagonists in a TV series or movie, it might not attract the viewers on its own but without it, the antagonist's role is diluted.
But my point is financially, I can't see how this would be success long term. Short term, yes but in time, I think the product will be significantly diluted when you eliminate so much of what attract fans. Foreign viewers might not care about West Ham or West Brom individually but they care about the package the PL sells and takes pride in; the Goliath vs David narrative, the unpredictability of the league, the thousand little side stories that come with every PL season. Sky would not stop advertising its product in terms of how Stoke or Burnley are the plucky villains or the epicness of a Merseyside derby. They have attracted millions of paying viewers around that premise which did not even conflict with the other attraction that is the big clubs coming up against each other. It took years to build that story, killing it will require building a new one which may take years or it may never happen.
That's exactly my point. Owners and stakeholders have always mainly cared about what's in it for them financially. That has always been the case and always will be. Anyone thinking that there ever was a golden age of ownership is really kidding themselves. The problem here for me is that even financially, as you say, beyond the very short term, this can really be bad for them. A product that used stories and narratives built and dramatized for almost 30 years now to create a soap opera like spectacle is going to be very hard to replicate to generate the same amount of fellowship in the long run.
Its the Americanisation of it that is sinister. There is one winner, the owners
I want some dramatic Gladiator shit if they're replacing it.
I agree with that. I wouldn't say it's soulless in North America, cause it's just how things developed here. (Although I still can't get used to clubs being called 'franchises' - as much as that's actually accurate over here. They are even considering splitting the Tampa Bay Rays' home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal to make the most of two limited audience. WTF!!) But I agree that it would be a great loss to European football culture.
Yep, that's all true - but the big clubs might think people will adapt to the new reality soon enough. We'll see, I guess - but it anyway looks pretty certain to me that the big clubs will come up with something. There is too much money at stake for them to appreciate the current instability (i.e., uncertainty about CL qualification), and they are so powerful together that they can push through stuff, as UEFA can't afford losing them.
It is. Also, one word, money.
It's a fecking dire state of affairs.
The existing massive clubs would indeed still be massive, they made sure of that as it was kind of the point. You are correct in terms of what their stated intention was, but very naïve if you think that was their real intention. FFP was a direct response to the rise of Chelsea, City and PSG, the big boys introduced it in order to prevent any more of the same, by hoping to make it impossible for an oligarch or state to take a smaller club and spend their way to the top, giving them more unwanted competition.
Very good. The only thing missing is the mention of the halftime show and the obligartory “I’m going to Disney World “answer from Mason.
