Champions League restructuring

[sickbeggar]

My bet is that this is about tv rights in Asia. The clubs want those outright, uefa/fifa/pl won’t give them up.

Well being outside of UEFA, Fifa, PL and they can also set their own rules on squad sizes, foreign players, and any other rule they want to implement to allow them to field all the "top" players in these "top" teams. Whole swathes of subs (remember the big teams wanting that this season), quarters instead of halves or at least added Advert refreshment  breaks on 22 and 67 minutes. Other things that will enable more advertisers to pay.

yeah I thought the same. They've tried to Americanise it over there but they couldn't do it without UEFA/FIFA on board. Now they can do what they like because they can have the big clubs doing it with no interference.

[ChicagoLion]

Add the skintness of Madrid, the “£1 billion” spent by Levy on stadium spuds, the extreme player wages paid by man citeh, the other manchester club, Liverpool and the arse and you can see their desperation. Don’t forget arse laid off their mascot (as well as a lot of other staff) last year “due to the pandemic and we are looking at a lot of problems coming home to roost.

The 30% they were getting out of the change in European football won’t cover the costs.

My bet is that this is about tv rights in Asia. The clubs want those outright, uefa/fifa/pl won’t give them up.

Just the same as the problems on the High street the Pandemic, has accelerated the failure of marginal business models.
These Zombie clubs are highly leveraged in financial trouble and desperate.
Its not just Asia TV rights they need want the US as well as Advertising revenue.
It will be interesting to see if those clubs that do not have the same Financial desperation continue to stick with this.

[Vegas]

There is a lot of liquidity out there looking for yield and JP Morgan is the conduit not the principal.

True, but when the clubs have taken JPM's money and paid off only some their massive debts, and the ESL goes tits up because the player's they really really need to make it work won't touch it because of the restrictions on international status, what will they have left? A dozen or so pariah clubs some of which will still be massively in debt and players they can afford but no one wants to pay to watch. That's my hope anyway.

That’s my hope too, but I think it’s unlikely. I think most likely this will go ahead, and the teams involved will field B teams in their domestic league and not really care how they do because it doesn’t matter. That in turn will reduce the attractiveness and tv rights of the premier league, reducing incomes and making it much less attractive for our owners or other others to invest.

The closed shop / guaranteed entry model kills everything beneath it.

I think the only hope is doing something dramatic, soon, while anger and emotions are running high, and while there is some support from fans of ESL clubs. Something like kicking them out of the premier league next year. Yes this is unlikely and yes this would result in massive financial issues, but those issues are coming anyway and better to try to resist than accept a lingering death.

[Ad@m]

There's precedent for kicking your best club out of the league - the SPL did it not long ago and I'm not sure they're any worse for it.

[cdbearsfan]

Exactly. Even toothless Serie A punted Juventus for a year. The long term damage to the game of allowing a two tier league would far outweigh the short term damage of a potential loss of income from the removal of the Scab Six.

[Mister E]

My bet is that this is about tv rights in Asia. The clubs want those outright, uefa/fifa/pl won’t give them up.

Well being outside of UEFA, Fifa, PL and they can also set their own rules on squad sizes, foreign players, and any other rule they want to implement to allow them to field all the "top" players in these "top" teams. Whole swathes of subs (remember the big teams wanting that this season), quarters instead of halves or at least added Advert refreshment  breaks on 22 and 67 minutes. Other things that will enable more advertisers to pay.

Yup.
"Follow the money" is a useful way to unravel what's going on.

[Small Rodent]

This is where we see the true mettle of players.

Will many hand in transfer requests or just become even more mercenary?

Of course, there must be many who see it is as “just a job”, which is fair enough. But there must be many who also love the game and traditions.

[Monty]

That interview with Florentino Perez was characteristically illuminating. 'Football is about the big clubs playing each other', 'how dare Ceferin insult the president of a great club like Juventus', all this shit. Just a reminder of the absolute, illimitable, Francoist entitlement behind all this.

[Mister E]

From the fans' perspective, it's the lack of breadth in their club-list that will kill ESL, amongst other things (choking off the money will play the biggest part, from the owners perspective).
3 countries involved; no German clubs; the absence of Dutch, French and Portuguese; a clear snub to big names of yesteryear; no former-eastern bloc clubs. This is the Brexit of Football!
It's hardly inclusive and lacks no glamour! There's no gravitas, grandeur ... style! Where's the romanticism, the stories, the magic?!!

As others have said, it's been designed by some marketing hack in Madison Gardens, on the back of their knowledge of American Sport.

[Mister E]

That interview with Florentino Perez was characteristically illuminating. 'Football is about the big clubs playing each other', 'how dare Ceferin insult the president of a great club like Juventus', all this shit. Just a reminder of the absolute, illimitable, Francoist entitlement behind all this.

Bear in mind Perez also said "The young people want this?"
What people?
How young?
Where are they?

Bollocks.

[cdbearsfan]

He's also said that they should consider shorter matches as "that's what young fans want". He's an absolute bellend.

I remember when we looked like we were in financial shit and one of the self-appointed elite offered us £2 million plus Josh Onomah for a player now ranked at £100 million+.

When they can't manage their finances the whole of football has to bend to their will.

What an absolute load of bollocks. Here's an idea Real and Barcelona. If you're skint... sell some of your players. Don't spell the whole of a pandemic flirting with Haaland then plead poverty. Sell some players, run your club on a sustainable basis and, maybe, accept a few years of qualifying for Europe and mid-table mediocrity at home.

See how many fans in Singapore and San Francisco want to watch you when you're not winning five-nil every game you massive parisitic boils on the arse of humanity.

[Monty]

It's always hilarious when these people try and act like football has a popularity problem. It's insane.

[sickbeggar]

This is where we see the true mettle of players.

Will many hand in transfer requests or just become even more mercenary?

Of course, there must be many who see it is as “just a job”, which is fair enough. But there must be many who also love the game and traditions.

Well they'd be mad to do it now. Who says they'd even be allowed to leave by their clubs or be allowed to re-join a UEFA affiliated club. They'll see what happens over the next few months but i'd imagine losing your international career or being thrown out of the CL a match away from a final won't go down too well

[sid1964]

I would be amazed if any footballer at one of the ESL clubs decided they did not want to play for that team anymore - not one will give up £100k + a week (not a chance, and I don't blame them)

Darren Bent was asked the same question this morning, he said he would stay at the club.

[Monty]

He's also said that they should consider shorter matches as "that's what young fans want". He's an absolute bellend.

I remember when we looked like we were in financial shit and one of the self-appointed elite offered us £2 million plus Josh Onomah for a player now ranked at £100 million+.

When they can't manage their finances the whole of football has to bend to their will.

What an absolute load of bollocks. Here's an idea Real and Barcelona. If you're skint... sell some of your players. Don't spell the whole of a pandemic flirting with Haaland then plead poverty. Sell some players, run your club on a sustainable basis and, maybe, accept a few years of qualifying for Europe and mid-table mediocrity at home.

See how many fans in Singapore and San Francisco want to watch you when you're not winning five-nil every game you massive parisitic boils on the arse of humanity.

Also, Atleti joining shows the insane hypocrisy of this. Are Atleti in if this is launched before Simeone showed up? The owner's father relegated them two decades ago! But Atletico will always have a Gil to die on, so in they go, with Sevilla and Valencia and the Basque clubs left behind because of an accident of timing. Despicable.