European Super League

[BennyCake]

What a load of balls.

It's a bit like the GAA's Super 8's, but on steroids, with added gamma rays, eating spinach.

[thebigfella]

Let's call a spade a spade here, it's about American millionaires taking complete control for more financial gain and no governing body of influence. This whole thing happened in F1 a few years back but Bernie ecclestone and the FIA put a stop to the the car manufacturers take over. Mercedes have 1800 people employed at Brackley compared to 600 at Williams. The FIA have now stepped in and put spending caps on teams to even up the field and early signs are it seems to be working. Maybe the positive out of all this is FIFA and their EUEFA will start getting its house in order.

Bernie never done anything that didn't benefit himself.

[seafoid]

https://www.ft.com/content/f00bb232-a150-4f7d-b26a-e1b62cd175c3

The 12 football clubs that have signed a binding agreement to form a new European "Super League" have been guaranteed a "welcome bonus" worth €200m-€300m each, according to people
with direct knowledge of the terms of a deal that will reshape the world's favourite sport. The announcement on Sunday of the breakaway league has kicked off an intense power battle within the game, with politicians including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French president Emmanuel Macron as well as fans' groups all expressing fierce opposition. The move also sparked threats of legal action between the sport's power brokers. The teams that have declared they plan to join the competition are: Spain's Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid; England's Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur; and Italy's Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan.


People briefed on the deal said that the next clubs to be sought as "permanent members" would be Germany's Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and France's Paris Saint-Germain, though they have so far rebuffed any approaches. A further five clubs will be invited to play in the 20-club league each season, though they would need to qualify for the competition. The money to launch the league will be provided by JPMorgan Chase, which has committed to underwriting a €3.25bn "infrastructure grant" that will be shared among the clubs as a "welcome bonus" on joining the competition.  The US investment bank has provided a debt financing deal amortised over 23 years and secured against future broadcasting rights for the competition, said people with knowledge of the terms. The rebel clubs have agreed to pay €264m a year to pay down the debt, a figure that includes the 2-3 per cent interest rate that the borrowing will carry. JPMorgan declined to comment.  The league's 15 permanent members will jointly own a newly incorporated company in Spain which will share all future media and sponsorship rights derived from the competition, according to people familiar with the matter.  Anas Laghrari, a banker at Spanish advisory firm Key Capital, has been named general secretary of the Super League. He has close ties to Real Madrid's billionaire president Florentino Pérez, who was named chair of the competition and is the driving force behind the plans. Key Capital declined to comment. Weekly newsletter Scoreboard is the Financial Times' new must-read weekly briefing on the business of sport, where you'll find the best analysis of financial issues affecting clubs, franchises, owners, investors and media groups across the global industry. Sign up here. The Super League's organisers have held early discussions with broadcasters about the competition, according to people familiar with the talks, seeking to secure deals with likes of Amazon, Facebook, Disney and Comcast-owned Sky that would raise annual revenues worth €4bn a year. This is roughly double the amount earned by Champions League, the continent's top annual club competition.  The belief that such projections are realistic is because the 200 new European games a year will be played midweek and only feature the world's top sides which have global fanbases. The Super League clubs will seek to continue to play in their respective national league contests, but would need the approval of groups like England's Premier League and Spain's La Liga to do so. The Super League was not immediately available for comment. But Super League clubs have vowed to provide about €400m in "solidarity grants" to teams and governing bodies in other competitions, a large increase on the funds provided through existing European competitions and money they hope will convince football authorities to avoid a protracted fight over the project. On Sunday night, the Super League clubs threatened legal action against football governing bodies that have vowed to block the breakaway competition. Recommended Football Premier L


eague boss attacks breakaway 'Super League' plan The announcement of the Super League comes as clubs across Europe have suffered steep revenue shortfalls owing to the pandemic, raising concerns over the sustainability of their business models and complicating any plans for new signings. The timing also coincides with a period which has seen the valuations for top-tier franchises grow rapidly, prompting questions over where these clubs would find new sources of revenue.  Negotiations have been going on for months, with detailed term sheets shared with the founder clubs since November, according to documents seen by the Financial Times.  But the clubs signed binding contracts to join the project over the weekend, ahead of a Uefa meeting on Monday at which European football's governing body was set to agree a radical transformation of the Champions League.

[Baile Brigín 2]

No relegation so the whole thing is de-risked for the billionaires.  This isn't going away.  A billionaire could role into Dublin and launch a team for the ESL - strangers things could happen in the future.

I think Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Istanbul, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Rio, Buenos Aries would be higher on the list. Even Glasgow.

[johnnycool]

Have to laugh at the fake hysteria. The same people making excuses for the premier league being the exact same thing as it was pre 1992 but only being rebranded, are the same people that claim Liverpool have only won the league once.
You couldn't make it up. Hypocrites. According to them, the "Premier League" is fine, but a big no no to the European super league.
The games gone

It's not really the same thing. Until 1991, all 92 clubs had equal voting rights and in effect a group of the weakest clubs could dictate terms to the largest clubs.

What the PL did was maintain almost identical structures to before, but while ensuring that the biggest clubs could pursue financial arrangements that would allow them to match Italian clubs.

The change was oddly enough an implementation of equality: basically "we all started with an equal chance of getting ahead, but that doesn't mean we have to be equal in all things forever"

As Leicester and Man City have shown, progress through the ranks has always been possible

——

What we are facing now isn't the same thing. It's an attempted corporate takeover of football.

This is no different to the formation of the premier league, it is the same thing.
You confirm that the formation of the premier league put power into the bigger clubs hands, this is exactly the same with the ESL. So it was anything but equality.
City progressed through oil money, Leicester did it more in the proper way, by buying and selling smartly.
My point is that the people who are outraged are the same people who only recognise football post 1992. The hypocrisy is astounding.

I thought premiership money filtered down through to championship clubs so it's not the thing at all.

In terms of competition it's different, in terms of rebranding a competition to make more money out of football as we saw in 1992, it's the same.

So if it's  the same will the new Euro league put 400 mil into the EFL I don't think so, for what it's worth the smaller clubs I think should get more bit to suggest it's the same is wrong.

It's not about money to smaller clubs
They're rebranding a new competition to make more money out of football, which is exactly what we saw in 1992.

They're not though.

They're creating a closed shop competition where these "founding" clubs can't get relegated out of it.

There'll never be a Leicester moment with this competition unless they buy their way into it.

These three "open" spots are bullshít.

[yellowcard]

Ed Woodward not coming out of this smelling of roses according to UEFA but that's not in the least bit surprising. He is the embodiment of commercialism.

[north_antrim_hound]

Ed Woodward not coming out of this smelling of roses according to UEFA but that's not in the least bit surprising. He is the embodiment of commercialism.

Him glacier and Fenway, they base their status in this world on how many zeros are on the end of their bank accounts. Time to get rid of them all even if it means LFC playing in the EFL I couldn't care less.

[Captain Obvious]

UEFA have announced their plans for revised Champions League - although it doesn't come in until 2024/25
I think you'd have to see it in action to decide whether it's a better or worse than the current version, but can't understand deferring it for 3 and half years!

Number of teams increases from 32 to 36 in the UEFA Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league stage including all participating teams. Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of 10 league stage games against 10 different opponents (five home games, five away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home and away basis.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.

Similar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (8 matches in the league stage) and UEFA Europa Conference League (6 matches in the league stage). Subject to further discussions and agreements, these two competitions may also be expanded to a total of 36 teams each in the league stage.

Qualification for the UEFA Champions League will continue to be open and earned through a team's performance in domestic competitions.

One of the additional places will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the UEFA national association ranking. Another will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the so-called "Champions Path".

The final two places will go to the clubs with the highest club coefficient over the last five years that have not qualified for the Champions League group stage but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase, the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.

All games before the final will still be played midweek, recognising the importance of the domestic calendar of games across Europe.

That and this so called super league are awful formats.

[Taylor]

UEFA have announced their plans for revised Champions League - although it doesn't come in until 2024/25
I think you'd have to see it in action to decide whether it's a better or worse than the current version, but can't understand deferring it for 3 and half years!

Number of teams increases from 32 to 36 in the UEFA Champions League, the biggest change will see a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league stage including all participating teams. Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of 10 league stage games against 10 different opponents (five home games, five away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home and away basis.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.

Similar format changes will also be applied to the UEFA Europa League (8 matches in the league stage) and UEFA Europa Conference League (6 matches in the league stage). Subject to further discussions and agreements, these two competitions may also be expanded to a total of 36 teams each in the league stage.

Qualification for the UEFA Champions League will continue to be open and earned through a team's performance in domestic competitions.

One of the additional places will go to the club ranked third in the championship of the association in fifth position in the UEFA national association ranking. Another will be awarded to a domestic champion by extending from four to five the number of clubs qualifying via the so-called "Champions Path".

The final two places will go to the clubs with the highest club coefficient over the last five years that have not qualified for the Champions League group stage but have qualified either for the Champions League qualification phase, the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.

All games before the final will still be played midweek, recognising the importance of the domestic calendar of games across Europe.

That and this so called super league are awful formats.

100%.
Both protecting the elite clubs.

Means the likes of City/Liverpool/Utd will get into it every year regardless of where they finish

[Hound]

I'd love to see the new 36 team league format in action. Playing 10 different teams would be better than just 3. There'd be a bit of the luck of the draw in terms of which 10 out of the other 35 you play, but there's luck of the draw in any event.

Would need to see it in action to judge properly of course, might be an interesting format for the All Ireland 

[lenny]

No relegation so the whole thing is de-risked for the billionaires.  This isn't going away.  A billionaire could role into Dublin and launch a team for the ESL - strangers things could happen in the future.

I think Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Istanbul, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Rio, Buenos Aries would be higher on the list. Even Glasgow.

I think that's where it's headed. LA Galaxy, NY red bulls,  some of the big Chinese sides, Saudi Arabia, Dubai. Clubs with no history but lots of cash will be "invited" to join to create a global tv audience which is where  the big momey comes in. Obscene idea with no sporting integrity but business people couldn't care less as long as they have mugs spending all their money for merchandise and the opportunity to watch on tv. I'll not be spending a penny on this so called glamour "product". The time england moved to the premier league was the first time I heard soccer being referred to as a product and that was the start of the slippery slope. Soccer fans are being taken for mugs.

[Cunny Funt]

I think we can all agree that the owners of Juve, Inter, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona,Atletico Madrid, Man United, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City are right cnuts.

Hopefully this competition never gets up and running and if it does UEFA and the Premier league, La Liga, Serie A should not hold back on punishment.

[seafoid]

I think it's clear that this is not a negotiating tactic

[smort]

Yeah it seems a lot more than a negotiating tactic at this stage. I don't think the dirty dozen can come back from this, they've certainly done a lot of damage if they do somehow back down from this position

[Sportacus]

No relegation so the whole thing is de-risked for the billionaires.  This isn't going away.  A billionaire could role into Dublin and launch a team for the ESL - strangers things could happen in the future.

I think Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Istanbul, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Rio, Buenos Aries would be higher on the list. Even Glasgow.

70 min Irish diaspora is a pretty decent tv market.  Strangers things have happened.