Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's less about specific Americans (e.g. owners of several of the English teams involved) and more about the American style of running league competitions — e.g. without promotion/relegation.
In the "American system", in most major sports, individual players (and coaches, effectively) are relegated and promoted between the big league and smaller developmental leagues all the time. I don't love the American system but a failure to ensure that our top talent plays in the top leagues is not one of its deficiencies. In terms of meritocracy, I'd say it works at least as well as the European system. As an Ameri…
US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
211–220 of 234 posts
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not an illusion. It has happened. Leicester played in the third division in 2008-2009 and won the Premier League 7 years later. Leipzig used to only play in a regional division 10 years ago and are now in the top of the Bundes Liga and reached the semi-finals of the champions league. Although rare and improbable it does keep a dream alive for many fans. And dreams are part of the entertainment. It can also go th…
I love those stories and agree they are fun, but aren't they also very money-oriented most of the time? I know for example Cardiff City's renaissance and brief promotion to the Premier League corresponded with an influx of foreign cash. That's undeniably massive fun for supporters of Cardiff, but decidedly un-fun for teams that did not receive such an infusion of money, and in the end it doesn't make me too jealous o…
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dunno about primier league but F1 not only put caps but also made some inverse feedback rules. For example now the rules are that your usage of wind tunnels is bigger the closest you are to the last place, while the first place in the ranking doesn't matter how much money they are willing to spend with wind tunnels, they are heavily capped.
We won't see the broader impact of these rules until the 2022 season of course when teams need to fully redesign their cars.
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that's why the golden era of Man Utd (last 15ish years with Fergie at the helm) wasn't that good for American fans. Yea, it brought in some (me)... but after a while, I found myself not caring about seeing a game if it wasn't against Chelsea or Liverpool. Even then... After 2 years of that... whoopie... Man Utd got another win against, oh look an ant is struggling to carry a cookie crumb. That and diving. Ser…
> Rugby and hockey have that shit figured out, why cant they? Something else they could learn from rugby, respect for the officials. The number of times you see football players chasing after or arguing with the referee is just embarrassing. Rugby officials don't stand for it, neither should football officials.
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not that I'm a defender of either system but US teams don't promote or relegate as a whole. Rather, the players move up or down between minor and major league teams.
> Rather, the players move up or down between minor and major league teams. Uhm, so what? Players move between clubs all the time in football. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever to an avid, European, football fan like me at least
I'm sure they do, but do players often move between teams in different tiers as well? That's the key difference here: it is not a lateral move.
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Rugby and hockey have that shit figured out, why cant they? Something else they could learn from rugby, respect for the officials. The number of times you see football players chasing after or arguing with the referee is just embarrassing. Rugby officials don't stand for it, neither should football officials.
As someone who grew up watching rugby and only got into football as an adult, I couldn't believe the amount of disrespect players show to officials. I think I spent the first two years constantly saying "in rugby this guy would have been sent off by now" on repeat...
My only thought as somebody who never played soccer is that the decisions a soccer referee makes are much more consequential, and oftentimes very subjective. A single call in soccer can change a game in a way that doesn't happen in any other sport.
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#217This article presents a simplistic "UK football good, American football bad" viewpoint, but there some aspects to how the NFL is run that are desirable. Primarily here I'm talking about negative feedback. In the Premier League (as well as Formula 1, for example) there is positive feedback that keeps the top teams at the top. Being successful means that you make more money (whether directly through prize money, or ind…
> If you support one of those top five or six clubs - good for you. If you don't, then you don't have a realistic chance of seeing a league win in your lifetime. And yet right now two of the top 6 teams are not the "6 big clubs" - Leicester and West Ham. Liverpool, who walked the season last year, are doing about as well as Everton. Man City, who are currently top, lost just 2 weeks ago against Leeds - at home. I'm s…
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Leicester.
Yes, a team bought by a foreign billionaire willing to spend money suddenly got good, so good they ended up winning it all. Great for fans of Leicester, but what about all the fans of, say, Bolton? That's a team where the ownership has fallen apart and the team is insolvent and is now down in the 4th tier. Sucks to be them. What if I told you there was a magical way to make sure that all teams competing were on an eq…
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not an illusion. It has happened. Leicester played in the third division in 2008-2009 and won the Premier League 7 years later. Leipzig used to only play in a regional division 10 years ago and are now in the top of the Bundes Liga and reached the semi-finals of the champions league. Although rare and improbable it does keep a dream alive for many fans. And dreams are part of the entertainment. It can also go th…
I love those stories and agree they are fun, but aren't they also very money-oriented most of the time? I know for example Cardiff City's renaissance and brief promotion to the Premier League corresponded with an influx of foreign cash. That's undeniably massive fun for supporters of Cardiff, but decidedly un-fun for teams that did not receive such an infusion of money, and in the end it doesn't make me too jealous o…
Re: US owners find greed doesn't play well in European soccer
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the NFL distributes all TV money equally to all teams as well even though no one in Malaysia wants to watch Tampa Bay. Further most of that money goes to the players not the club owners. How do you square that with your thesis?
Speaking as someone from Malaysia, I would love to there be an easy way to watch NFL games here.