European super football league outcry

[1971GreyCup]

Sad days for professional sports. Breaking news on Sunday was that the big 6 English Premiership League teams signed a Letter of Intent to breakaway from the EPL and form a league with out big European teams. We followed the BBC pundits and fans. 99.9% oppose the move. It seems the future is either the end of professional football in England or a return to the grass roots. England is where it all started.

The current EPL TV contracts (£5-6 billion) trickle down from the big 6. Relegation and promotion are key elements of the English leagues. EUFA Cup, Champions League, FA Cup games are part of the TV contracts.

The pandemic is being used as the reason why the new league is forming now.

For most of my life a NFL franchise in Toronto has been seen as inevitable. Perhaps Montreal and Vancouver too.

I can’t help but sympathize with English football fans today. I guess the opposite reaction would be expected here. Plenty of NFL wannabes have been vocal for years.

The CFL Board of Governors will be meeting this week to discuss the future of the league. Will it merge with XFL? What is MSLE’s endgame? Is the NFL their endgame?

[shayman]

Somebody at MLSE is probably wondering if they can get Toronto FC into this new Super League.

[1971GreyCup]

I thought exactly the same thing. Maybe the original impetus for MLS in New York, LA and Miami?

[argolio]

And less than two days later, that Euro Super League is essentially dead. For the record, the intent was to play mid-week games and replace the Champions League, not domestic leagues.

Maybe Dwayne Johnson will buy the assets of that league.

[carlos]

Kudos to those teams that admitted the logic was flawed and they were wrong. They just went from a boycott to a full house once again.

[carlos]

Pure speculation on my part but it sounds like the 3 community owned teams are leading the push to retain the status quo while Toronto, Montreal, and BC are open to further expansion discussion. Supports a previous theory of Sid Spiegel being an associate of David Braley and the reason the Als did not go to a superior proposal with Eric Lapointe.

My guess is Wade Miller is already planning out the new league. I hope there is room for his salary. Maybe Saskatoon, London, Quebec, or Thunder Bay will be included.

Key issue will be which way the talent goes. My hope is someone will give the players a fair deal with a proper share of revenue and a say in the business of the league. Something they will never get with the current CBA.

[carlos]

Might see more players heading over looking for a place to play in order to be ready for 2022.

That said what a time for European football to put a push on as an alternative league and take it to the next level. No reason to think it can't be as good as the CXFL. Especially if they throw some money at it.

[AngeloV]

Why is this in the CFL room? What exactly does this have to do with the Canadian Football League?

[Mightygoose]

Why is this in the CFL room? What exactly does this have to do with the Canadian Football League?

Agreed. It has nothing to do with the CFL despite people trying to compare it to the talks with Redbird

Talks with Redbird are to see if they can change the business model to make a money losing venture into something that helps their bottom line. The European Super League is select rich owners with rich clubs wanting to get richer.

[paulwoods13]

I responded to a prior post which did not get a response. With so little discussion and without wanting to start a new thread I posted two more comments.

The moderator can move the posts or I can delete them as I have done with other posts that go weeks with out a response.

Can also promise in the future not to post in the wrong forum. Unfortunately hard to delete the account which I also tried to do previously.

I don't have a problem with these posts, but I sure don't agree that unreplied-to posts should be deleted. The fact there are no replies does not make a post less valid than those that generate replies, IMO.

[1971GreyCup]

“ Seeing all analogies between CFL-XFL talks and the European Super League soccer stuff. As I am someone who knows NOTHING about soccer ... could someone inform me ... how many of those teams that planned to joined the proposed Super League were losing money?” @TSNDaveNaylor

[Shatto]

The reasons that folks are comparing the European Super Football League debacle to the potential CFL/XFL debacle is because there are three glaring similarities:

.Both are driven by the mistaken belief that they will create more revenue for those involved

.Both ignore a 100 year history of the two games

.Redbird Capital appears to be a driving force in bother scenarios. They were willing, as part owners of Liverpool, to ignore the long history of English soccer for the chance of a quick return on their investment and to hell with the rest of the teams. If they can do that to English soccer, they would be more than willing to do that to the Canadian history ingrained in the CFL

When you sup with the devil make sure you use a long spoon!! The uprising of British soccer fans to prevent the ill-advised move, should be emulated by CFL fans

[OV Argo]

Bravo !!!

[paulwoods13]

The reasons that folks are comparing the European Super Football League debacle to the potential CFL/XFL debacle is because there are three glaring similarities:

.Both are driven by the mistaken belief that they will create more revenue for those involved

.Both ignore a 100 year history of the two games

.Redbird Capital appears to be a driving force in bother scenarios. They were willing, as part owners of Liverpool, to ignore the long history of English soccer for the chance of a quick return on their investment and to hell with the rest of the teams. If they can do that to English soccer, they would be more than willing to do that to the Canadian history ingrained in the CFL

When you sup with the devil make sure you use a long spoon!! The uprising of British soccer fans to prevent the ill-advised move, should be emulated by CFL fans

There are also some glaring differences, in particular the fact that European football brings in massive revenues for all involved at its highest level. That cannot be said for the CFL (or the XFL, obviously). The fan revolt that helped bring down the ESL so quickly worked in large part because the status quo is already very successful and lucrative for the renegade squads. A fan revolt to "save Canadian football" would not have the same effect because there is nothing lucrative about the CFL, at least in the large markets.

[Shatto]

I don't want to enter into a prolonged debate about the failed launch of the ESL and how it could be a lesson for the CFL re collaboration with the XFL, so this will be my last comment on the issue.

RedBird Capital bought a stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool FC. Liverpool along with 11 other soccer teams ( 6 overall from the UK) attempted to form a European Super League, in order to create greater revenue for these 12 teams. On the whole, these 12 teams are the wealthiest and most powerful teams in Europe but they wanted an even bigger piece of the pie. Teams in the lesser leagues, some of whom struggle financially, would receive a smaller piece of the pie.

For RedBird, it would result in a greater return on their Liverpool investment. RedBird had no interest in improving the quality of soccer in the UK or Europe but only in making as much money as possible. CFL be warned because this is the entity you might be getting into bed with.

The outcry and outrage of soccer fans, especially in the UK, resulted in the overturn of the proposal in 48 hours. It was criticized for being too far divorced from the history and tradition of the sport. The major criticism in the UK media was the Americanization of their game and its history and traditions.(sound familiar?) Take heed CFL or our history and traditions will also result in a possible Americanization of our game.

Is the CFL truly making huge loses or is it only a few teams and might that be better addressed by gate equalization and other creative ideas? Ambrosie has been beating the drum about the league losing huge sums of money but was this really true pre-pandemic? It might well be true but until all teams open their books for an objective audit, I have some reservations. Ambrosie and some of the owners will continue to claim poverty but remember they have a vested interest in this claim so they can orchestrate drastic changes which we fans, would not otherwise accept.