EPL Overseas Plan - For the Good of the Game?
Posted by Lucas on February 22nd, 2008
“The Premier League has proposed an international round of league games to be played in five cities across the globe from 2011 to cater for the worldwide demand for English football.”
When Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore announced his ambitious plan to exploit English football’s popularity and expand outside England, there were mixed reactions to this plan. While a few managers such as Arsene Wenger and Roy Keane gave their backing to the plan, most fans were unanimous in their opposition to the proposed 39th league game abroad.
There are certainly pros and cons to this highly controversial plan, and there are some questions that still need to be addressed before a final decision is taken.
Pros
The precedent was set by NFL, which was taken from the United States to London and it was appreciated by the fans. Premier League is a major attraction throughout the world and is a cash-cow waiting to be milked.
Fans around the world will have the chance to watch wonderfully talented players from the world’s strongest league playing competitive football.
With more revenues, the sport can witness a tremendous improvement in the not just the quality of players but also in that of the stadiums and other related facilities.
As is the case with any other sport, football needs to keep evolving and innovating if the sport needs to expand globally and dominate other sports in terms of viewership.
Cons
The idea is seen as solely motivated by money and with utter disregard for the fans.
It is a worrying trend that local fans are often marginalized by clubs as the clubs seek to establish a global fan base. Fans often feel that the game is beginning to forget its roots and the tradition of local club support. This might force fans to be up in arms against their clubs, and ultimately turn their back on the Premier League.
There is already talk of too much football and no winter-break. There is talk of accommodating the 39th game in January, a time when clubs play for the league, the league Cup, and the FA Cup.
Other national associations will want to protect their own leagues and clubs and furthermore, they will not be happy about the Premier League coming to their domain and taking sponsors, and advertising revenue.
Questions
What will happen to season-ticket holders who support their club every game in the home stadium but cannot afford to travel overseas?
Will the money made from these matches be put back into youth and grassroots football? Will clubs lower ticket prices?
If this becomes a huge success, what is the guarantee that the Premier League will not eventually play more games abroad?
Will fans abroad be as interested in a Derby-Boro match as they would be in a ManUtd-Newcastle game?
Will kick-off times be arranged to suit both the spectators in the stadiums abroad and the local supporters watching their clubs on television in England?
As much a fan I am of the Premier League who would love to watch EPL clubs playing competitive games in India, I am averse to the idea of the proposed 39th game abroad. Football clubs, throughout the world, have been established on a strong supporter base, built and passed over generations. I have personally witnessed the passion of local club supporters who have struck with their respective clubs through decades of triumphs and losses, and I believe that if the Premier League, whose enormous success was possible only due to the support of the local fan base, antagonizes the local fans by sticking to its plan of holding overseas games, the game will eventually lose its soul.
Do you think EPL games should be played abroad in cities around the world?
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February 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 am
I’m in for game 39. It will not work for all clubs though. Only the English clubs in the top 20 richest clubs would have a market.Significant match, but should not make local fans feel betrayed. Tough combination. Rather, can have some kind of community shield kind of tournament involving top 4 or 5 clubs outside Europe. To accommodate these, pre-season friendlies should be scrapped and number of international friendlies should be halved. Then it would do fine. January is not an option at all.
Facilities is a problem. But in soccer starved countries like India where it would help popularize sport while not having a telling impact on the dying local game. The impact in Malaysia, Korea and China would be huge as the game is reasonably developed there and would be threatened by this move.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 am
The main problem with this proposal is the 39th game. It unbalances the home and away concept of the league.
Why would some team in the lower half of the table want to play a 3rd match against an Arsenal or a Man U while others have played only twice?
A better solution would be to play the quarters, semis and finals of the league cup somewhere abroad. Anyways other than Spurs this season and Boro a couple of years back, not too many people care about the League Cup.
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 am
Awesome theme.. finally the switch has been made. I luv the new look. I hope this attracts more visitors and fame to Sportsnob! Kudos to the team….
February 25th, 2008 at 2:21 am
@Sreeram
Why would the Premier League conduct tournaments involving just the top teams? The idea here is to involve all teams from the league and not just a few ones. Any tournament involving just a few clubs will not come under the purview of the Premier League.
@Kesavan
Did you see the support given to Tottenham and Chelsea in the Carling Cup finals? Do you feel fans will accept if the semis or finals is held abroad? I don’t think so. Also, the players would prefer to win a trophy with the local fans watching. We could all see the passion of the Tottenham supporters in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea and the players were equally thrilled to win the trophy for their fans.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
That is the whole paradox. Promoting the game/offering chances to abroad viewers to see their heroes live Vs. filling in their treasury. Though the idea sounds noble, it would start hitting roadblocks soon.Though there are many sporting reasons mentioned behind this move, the bottomline for premoer league is more cash. The Premier League wants to fill its coffers at a faster rate by capitalizing on huge football watching population base in say East and South east Asian countries. By trying to popularize Derby vs Sunderland kind of matches, they may only be able to fill their wallets at a rate at par or slower than they do in England (highest gate entrance fees in England, four Arsenal match tickets equals a season ticket I guess for Real Madrid). Economically, it becomes non-viable in the longer run.
Also, the viewers in countries like Japan, Korea and Malaysia with their own leagues will want to see the likes of Steven Gerrard, Rooney, Ronaldo, Torres, Cech in action more than Steve Bywaters, Michael Chopra, Kenwyn Jones, et al. The marriage of wider audience interest with the premier league’s implicit desire of more money from abroad could culminate in a tournament like the one I had mentioned.
Also, some teams like Newcastle and Tottenham which has a good fan base in Asia may be given some wild card entries to increase the number of teams in the tournament from 4.The initial move should be aimed towards winning the trust of abroad viewers by showing that premier league can bring full strength top teams here to participate in meaningful tournaments(press role and marketing the tournament becomes crucial here). Then, the viewers would themselves get hooked on and would start supporting matches such as Derby vs Sunderland.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[…] round of league games to be played in five cities around the world. Lucas at Critics Corner lays down the pros, cons, and few questions of this international […]