Let me preface this with the confession that I was the one person who supported the Super League.
But hot take and this in not a likely prediction or anything, but very much a hot take.
If a major change in the football landscape is incoming it’s the fifa club world cup gaining relevance. I say this bc if Saudi Arabia can have 6 teams stacked with top players and a decent league around that you have another massive league, meanwhile Qatar and the MLS are attracting top players too.
If there can be 5 Non European leagues which have 2 teams that are UCL level an expansion would make sense.
But if that happens, quality players will be spread across even more leagues and the bottom half teams across the European clubs will get worse and worse, clubs like Werder Bremen, Rayo Vallecano, Empoli cannot compete at a decent level in such a world.
Best case scenario, the domestic season becomes an 18 game season with 10 teams in the top division with the fifa club world cup in whatever way its formatted being the primary revenue generator for top clubs.
This could make the UCL either another competition or it could make it the lower tier competition. Perhaps smth like the Euros even.
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The primary revenue generation comes from tv rights not ticket sales. The more global the sport grows the more valuable those tv deals become.
In no way does this end domestic rivalries. It just expands the teams that play. I mean what history or rivalry do Madrid have with Union Berlinor Braga in thr UCL. Ofc I’m not suggesting ending the domestic league! But Espanyol, Elche, Leganes, Levante etc are already playing in the second division. Many domestic rivals are already not playing against each other. I’m simply suggesting a smaller top division to reduce the lowest quality football.
Barca v Getafe or Cadiz wouldn’t sell many tickets, idk how valuable that game is in the calender.
18 game season
In no way does this end domestic rivalries.
Yeah, you might want to rethink that.
Domestic rivalries can exist in the second division too, just as they do now! And the top rivalries stay in the top flight. Betis and sevilla still play each other in the top flight, but The Asturian Derby with Real Oviedo vs Sporting Gijon is already in the second division and is one of Spains major rivalries.
I mean there’s no catalan derby anyways with espanyol being relegated. Las Palmas and tenerife are in different divisions too.
Its just a restructure of who plays whom and how often, not the end of football clubs.
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There will be no new leagues or tournaments that effect the status quo. Established leagues and federations will not be making any changes unless it involves a lot of money, without hindering any current revenue streams.
Football, at its core, is ingrained at a cultural level in many countries, and no amount of money from Saudi, or China, or the US will change that. True fans see the Saudi vanity project for what it is, and while they may attract the plastics, in time nothing will change.
I’m a Canadian. We play hockey. It’s what we do, and it’s why, despite our small population, we dominate on a global level. It’s a community thing, it’s a family thing, it’s a cultural thing. Money won’t change that. It takes generations to create that.
China failed, and so will Saudi. Minor things will happen every decade or so to suit a new generation but when I die in 40-50 years, things will basically be the same.
I disagree based purely on the distances involved. A global league has too much travel, so the games would be limited. That limits the revenue. An 18 game season is also worthless and wouldn’t be accepted by anyone but the top teams.
You are basically asking for the Super League but with non-European teams, since no league would agree to this, with the added laughably bad idea of an 18 game league season.
Yes the distance is an issue. You can play midweek games in the continent but globally it might be difficult.
Well you coud have 15 teams and a 28 game season, its still a 10 game reduction for every club. But also, the top teams are the one with the power, they are the one who influence the boards and FAs.
MLS will never be relevant globally. It’s a retirement home for players well past their prime, or those who are ready to jump to a lower-tier European league.
And as far as the Saudi Clubs go: pretty much the same. They have no long standing history or big enough fanbases. As soon as all the football mercanaries that go there now either return or retire it’ll be dead in the water. So technically they’d have to keep buying players but their league won’t be relevant just because they have.few big names.
MLS is no longer a retirememt league only tbh. Tho the high profile moves of the summer may seem to suggest otherwise, they’ve been developing their own talent and bringing in Mexican and South American prospects too. It has good potential to build an identity.
I’ve been hearing this argument for 15+ years. It’s very gradually improving in quality, but it can’t reach a critical mass because a) the North American market is already saturated with other sports, and b) the league is structured in a way that prohibits its natural growth (isolated league with no risk of relegation and where most teams are franchise that are artificially propped up and owned by the league). And that’s not going to change.
MLS is and will remain a farming league where the best American players are cherry-picked by clubs from outside the continent. That’s the goal of most of the younger players, and I don’t blame them for it.
This could make the UCL either another competition or it could make it the lower tier competition. Perhaps smth like the Euros even.
bruh.
