Namaste:
Whats you're thoughts on it?
Personally I think it will ruin football.
LondonFA:
As this has been on the news all day I have to ask what is the big deal.
Its an odd thing to see so much of. I've tried to follow (I'm not a fan of the game and know very little about it despite knowing a few people in the industry).
I saw comments about the new league being a "closed?" league and hence not compatible with the current leagues. As far as I can tell it seems to be the highest viewed teams in european football have made a cooperative league in which they play each other as though europe was a single nation state and they are the most popular teams so should be able to bypass the usual country->international->euros hierarchy?
Why is it being debated in parliament?
Punkviper:
Part of the concern is the potential damage it could cause on the pyramid of English football, due to the movement of money out of the domestic game. Surprisingly large amounts of money in the domestic game move down from the Premier league to the lower leagues and keep them afloat. By doing this, the big 6 teams potentially will greatly reduce the amount that then moves down, one because of the moment in sponsorship and television rights, and two because it is likely that the big six will be thrown out of the Premier league.
Even if they aren't thrown out, they will receive £3bn just from joining this league, which will inflate their transfer budgets far beyond what the rest of the Premier league can manage, so if they could just pick and choose whichever players they want without a care. This could prevent the wonderful giant killing we see in the Premier league, something that makes it special.
Part of what hurts as a football fan is the idea that this group of teams believe that they deserve to be in this superleague where they can't be relegated, due to how much money they have. That goes against everything that football in England and Europe stands for, just because the owners can't understand the concept of relegation.
Those are just a few reasons why there is a lot of concern even creeping into. Governmental level. I'd recommend watching some of Gary Neville's comments on sky sports, he gives a decent account of the issue.
LondonFA:
I see where many people are coming from if theres no firewall on capital deployment from the ESL ie the additional income will create significant inequality in the EPL.
I'm currently in Barcelona and it seems less of an issue with more of a calm division in opinion I guess that's because Barna is owned by the season ticket holders and not by a corporate body and the fact there are basically 2 big teams in the whole of Spain both of which are joining the ESL.
Surely the potential brand valuation gap and the fact the ESL is functioning like a cartel almost as it is a closed set with no oversight does make this a potential govt issue as there may be a competition question in the future.
Punkviper:
I agree it is like a cartel! I think part of the sporting outage also comes from what makes them the big 6. They aren't the best 6 teams in the country at the moment, and there are far more teams that have far more history in Europe. I'm a West Ham fan living in Leicester, those two teams should both qualify for the champions league this season, so for the likes of Arsenal and Spurs who are near the middle of the table to say they deserve the right to always be in this superleague, it takes the micky big time.
The thing I'm trying to figure out here, is whether the FA, UEFA or even FIFA can exclude them and if so what effect will this have on those teams going forward. Fro example, there has been some sabre rattling about ESL membership disqualifying teams from UEFA club competitions. If so will the decrease in exposure and revenue offset the potential gain from joining the league. Further to this, will the players suffer as they could end up in a situation where their clubs aren't recognized for national squad selection.
Finally, does anyone reckon that the chairmen/owners of the teams involved in ESL have a greater strategy given the risks of alienation and hence becoming reliant solely on the ESL and essentially becoming a sort of separate sport.
