13
votes
European Super League confirmed as Premier League ‘Big Six’ clubs join breakaway competition as founders
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- Authors
- Malik Ouzia
- Published
- Apr 18 2021
- Word count
- 449 words
Some newer NYT articles on the spectacular collapse of the plan:
How the Super League Fell Apart - The inside story of how a billion-dollar European soccer superleague was born, and then collapsed, in less than a week
The Super League Is Gone. What Now?
The Short, Unhappy Life of Europe’s Super League
As I understand it:
Competitive football has always been played in leagues, when a team is in the top of a league it progresses to the next league. This makes it possible for lower-league teams to progress and become better, and it stops higher-league teams from stalling. This European Super League would keep the "top" teams in the league forever, even if they play horribly and end up last in the league they will still play in the same league next season.
Why do they want this? Some teams, like Tottenham and Arsenal, probably do it to stay in the top league forever (those teams aren't really on par with the rest, but they are internationally renowned and have a lot of money), while other teams to it to gain more money. American and Asian football fans mostly root for one of these teams, since they are the biggest and most famous, and they are the biggest teams in their home countries too. This makes it very lucrative to sell tv-rights all over the world.
Why don't fans of the teams like it? Because it goes against the competitiveness and ideology of sports in general, and football in particular. These big teams want their own league to not have to share tv-money with the small teams, they want to never be able to be relegated to a lower league. Fans of football obviously hate this idea, even if they are supporters of the teams in question.
It's not a sport if there is no competition, if there is no relation between effort and success. The Super League would not be a competition, it would be an exhibition.