European Super League announced; collapses

[OctoberRaven]

They're actually going through with the Euro-MLS? What a joke.

 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

2 hours ago, Baddar said:

It's weird because I thought this new expanded Champions League, with a minimum of 10 games, would be a nice middle ground for competing (note, actually fucking competing to get in, albeit for 2 of the spots that Uefa are guilty of handing out too) in terms of a financial bonus for playing in it.

It makes absolutely no sense for any of the countries' federations to want this, for the sake of football at all levels and for the fans.

I was going to say the timing is extremely suspect for a lot of reasons but this the biggest among them. These big clubs really just want to guarantee they won't lose the annual UEFA completions, specifically Champions League, revenue.

Needless to say this process has really accelerated with the increase of foreign investment. The dream for sports owners is a US model where no matter what they all make money year over year. It's been rumored for decades but now that a club is just a part of wider investment portfolio these people just want to do whatever they can to make sure they will continually see their investments grow in value.

For a comparison, the NFL recently added an unnecessary 17th game onto the regular season and an extra playoff team just to get a little bit more out of the TV networks when it came time to renegotiate their TV packages this past offseason. All the while spending their time boasting about player safety initiatives. These billionaires only care about making another billion.

[Colly]

3 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

Sky need to fuck off trying to pretend their the saviours of football with their coverage.

I don't disagree with you, but I'm happy they're doing it. It's exactly the same as the flimsy reasons for rejecting the Newcastle takeover, load of shit but if it stops the horrible bollocks I'll take it.

I just don't see how it can be sustainable. The same 12 teams playing each other year on year isn't entertaining (hell it isn't even a good number of teams), Liverpool never playing Everton again is absurd, and players with any ambition won't fall for it.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Yeah, I'd love to know the thoughts of the players about all of this.

[DavidMarrio]

14 minutes ago, Colly said:

I don't disagree with you, but I'm happy they're doing it. It's exactly the same as the flimsy reasons for rejecting the Newcastle takeover, load of shit but if it stops the horrible bollocks I'll take it.

I just don't see how it can be sustainable. The same 12 teams playing each other year on year isn't entertaining (hell it isn't even a good number of teams), Liverpool never playing Everton again is absurd, and players with any ambition won't fall for it.

I'm all for it helping to stop this from happening. It's just very hypocritical of Sky who helped do their own breakaway and monopolised football on television. 

Its the closest this idea has gotten so far. It's no coincidence it's happened when UEFA were meant to be making an announcement tomorrow. It's just billionaires in a pissing contest, story gets put out and everyone starts attacking the other side then an agreements mad. The depressing thing is it's gotten to this stage and the leagues/government reaction is it must surely be close. 

It's a really depressing story to happen when I think the whole pandemic has shown that football without fans is nowhere near as enjoyable. And again this is another slap in the face of football fans. 

I don't wanna be in something we're guarenteed a place in. Where's the merit in that? I was delighted when we got back in the Champions League and if we don't make it back in I'd be gutted but I wouldn't want a "pity place". I don't wanna play the same 10 European teams over and over, it loses its luster.

It's also quite funny how Juve got beat, Madrid drew, Arsenal, Spurs and Us don't look like/aren't qualifying for the Champions League and Man Utd aren't even in it this year yet they're all "Super Clubs". 

[gunnar hendershow]

Another thing with this is what happens in the future when a oil and gas billionaire or a tech billionaire wants to spend some of that money on a club? And then they buy one outside the Super League because that's what's available. Do they just bribe their way in? How does that work? Would it be like a franchise system, with an ever-expanding league footprint as soon as someone pays enough to join?

[METALMAN]

Oh well. That's horrible, but at least we still have cricket.

Oh. Yeah...

[Chris2K]

I had a similar idea to this when I was 12 playing Champ Manager 97/98, before realising it was a logistical nightmare trying to get it to work through the editor, then realised it wouldn't work in real life either. Evidently I could never be the owner of a football club with such little perseverence.

I'm disappointed but not surprised that Spurs have signed up, it's the sort of thing that makes us feel like we're a top club despite not actually winning anything. Let's just hope this all dies down soon enough, the whole concept of the best teams in Europe being in a league but not having Bayern, PSG or Dortmund is insane in itself.

15 minutes ago, metalman said:

Oh well. That's horrible, but at least we still have cricket.

Oh. Yeah...

I really tried to get on board with The Hundred, I've been crying out for a franchise Twenty20 league in England, but changing the rules of the game is too much for me. Last week they decided to replace the term "wickets" with "outs" because the terminology is often used for the stumps as well and it might confuse newcomers to the sport. Whoever decided that, or even pitched it, can fuck off.

[FestiveJack]

This is fucking trash and every club involved should be fucking ashamed.

[Lineker]

Fuck this.

[Baddar]

Twats the lot of them.

[LL!]

You mean you all don't want to see Manchester City vs Barcelona 7 times within a few months?

[Baddar]

All participating players will be banned from Uefa and FIFA competitions. And presumably the Premier League as well if they stick by what they said earlier.

[Gorka]

You can genuinely say the game's gone.

1 minute ago, Baddar said:

All participating players will be banned from Uefa and FIFA competitions. And presumably the Premier League as well if they stick by what they said earlier.

Well that's the Euros made incredibly spicy if that happens.

[Baddar]

The official club announcements are going just as well as you'd expect on social media. I'm glad there's such a one sided backlash tbh. There would be more chance of this actually going ahead if it seemed like it had any kind of support from fans.

[FestiveJack]

3 minutes ago, Baddar said:

The official club announcements are going just as well as you'd expect on social media. I'm glad there's such a one sided backlash tbh. There would be more chance of this actually going ahead if it seemed like it had any kind of support from fans.

We're too cowardly to actually post ours on twitter. It's on the website though.

[Baddar]

[Matt]

Kick them out, don't fucking bend over backwards to give them some sort of deal to keep them in the league. They join this, they leave effective immediately and they don't come back.

[Baddar]

I did not see a PSG face turn coming but here we are.

[Matt]

6 minutes ago, Baddar said:

I did not see a PSG face turn coming but here we are.

They just won themselves a Champions League if UEFA have any balls