Liverpool played Leeds United on Monday afternoon and I
could not care any less.
But I didn’t watch a second. All because Liverpool was one
of the 12 founding members of the disastrous European Super League.
For 24 hours, I was angry and upset. Why were they doing
this? What was the point? Then I became sad and depressed. What I liked about
European football – or at least, what I thought I did – had been ripped away.
Though my opinions matter far less than a true Liverpool
supporter, they somehow mean even more in the scope of the European Super
League because I’m the target for it. The new owners of these clubs believe the
tried-and-true supporters will watch anything, so this is a money grab for my
attention. I won’t give it to them.
My wife and I both dove headfirst into the Premier League
when we moved to Washington, D.C. in 2011 because our apartment building was
right next to an Irish pub that showed all the Premier League games. The first
time we went in for a Sunday brunch, we found out it was the DC bar for
Tottenham fans. They were packed in like sardines, chanting and singing, drinking
and eating, and having the time of their lives. My wife immediately became a
fan. I already liked Liverpool, so I chose them as my team. And we were off.
The Premier League, and the Champions League, appealed to me
because it was so much different than American sports. The camaraderie and the
tradition of the supporters. The promotion and relegation. The lack of a
playoff. The fight for Champions League and Europa League spots. The European
nights at Anfield. The fact the Champion League was in actuality a two-year
tournament based on merit.
Sure, there were built-in advantages of money and support
for the top clubs, which only reminded me of my favorite sport college
football. I was ten toes in. And suddenly, this Sunday, they pulled me out.
In a weird way, I want the European Super League to happen
because I’m now positive it will fail. Money is the root of all evil and greed
will lead to its downfall. Let’s count the ways:
No Fans Want This
I knew that fans were against the notion of a closed Super
League by the comments on rumored proposals in the past, but even I had no idea
the vitriol that would be aimed toward the clubs once it was announced. Every
fan, of every team, came out vigorously against it. I’ve never seen unity
between different fanbases on a single issue in any sport in any country in my
entire life.
Just from the announcement itself, the clubs have
essentially told their fans that they don’t matter. Even worse, they are
specifically telling their most ardent supporters that their opinions mean the
least. This isn’t about strengthening fan support for Liverpool in Liverpool
and Real Madrid in Madrid. This is about getting Sean O’Leary in Washington,
D.C, to pay even more attention to European soccer. I appreciate the sentiment,
but I don’t want it to be about me. The charm was that European soccer,
specifically, wasn’t made with me in mind.
How do you create fan loyalty for a league that everyone
hates? You can’t. It reminds me of another sport that destroyed its future,
when IndyCar racing was decimated by the formation of the Indy Racing League in
the mid-1990’s. That spectacularly failure ruptured the sport, allowing NASCAR
to take over as the top auto sport in the United States, and open wheel racing
in this country is only now, a quarter-century later, starting any sort of a
comeback.
The Novelty Will Wear Off
On Pardon the Interruption, Tony and Mike couldn’t understand the outrage about it. The best teams playing the best teams every
week seemed like a great thing to them. I don’t fault either of them for that
opinion, since both admitted they don’t watch the sport before the discussion,
but I do fault them for not seeing what will happen.
Every fall, Tony and Mike complain that college football and
its playoffs are the same teams playing each other year after year. The first
year of the college football playoff, highlighted by Alabama and Ohio State on
New Year’s night, did the biggest ratings in the history of cable
television. The best teams playing the teams every seemed like a great thing to
all of us then.
Seven years later, Alabama played Ohio State in the title
game, and it drew the lowest title game audience in two decades, when the
messed up BCS system was giving us two title games and diluting the ratings. It
was the lowest rating for a true college football championship game ever. The
novelty has completely worn off, and the college football playoff is now at a
crossroads as endless games between the same 5-6 teams has ruined it.
The same thing will happen with the Super League. The reason
Barcelona vs Liverpool or Manchester United vs Real Madrid mean so much is that
they happen so rarely. When they play twice a year, if not more, every year,
that novelty will wear off and it will mean less.
The Domestic Leagues are Ruined
Why would I watch Liverpool play Leeds United on Monday
afternoon? Liverpool is way out of the title race. There’s no danger of being
relegated. What’s the point?
What made domestic soccer leagues so interesting to me is
that there was always something to play for, whether it was a title, spot in
Europe, or avoiding relegation. For the Big Six clubs in a Super League, they
only have a title to play for and the title is usually wrapped up weeks before
the final weekend. Even if it’s not, there’s only at most three times in the
chase. The same can be said for La Liga and Serie A, as those top teams have
nothing to play for once their title hopes are over.
Sure, the Champions League is great, but it’s domestic
leagues that drives the passion and the fanbase. Without it, will supporters
still care as much?
Mid-Week Games Are Not Ideal
Several years ago on Twitter, I argued that the Premier
League should move the FA Cup games exclusively to weeknights because I hated
when they took weekends off. My mentions were inundated with English soccer
fans telling me to take a long walk off a short bridge because it was the
weekend games they loved, and the FA Cup deserved them.
The Super League is currently proposed to play only during
weeknights. That’s a lot of mid-week games that I can’t watch in the United
States because I’ll be working – and similarly for fans in Asia and other time
zones.
The fans get into their teams because of the weekend games,
by gathering in pubs with your friends and family, and creating a bond over
your team. You can’t do that on a Wednesday every week. But you can do that on
a Saturday every week. I became a Liverpool fan because of their weekend games,
not their weekday games.
Fans Can’t Travel as Much
One of the best things about European soccer – and one I
wish could be replicated in American sports – is the visitor section of fans.
It’s so easy in small countries to travel around and follow your team. That’s
part of the atmosphere that separates the sport from other sports.
Will Liverpool fans constantly travel to Spain and Italy
every other week for road games? Is that type of atmosphere realistic in the
Super League?
And that’s before the logical evolution of the Super League
where “regular season” games are played in China or the United States. Is there
any doubt that Liverpool would play a game that meant something in Boston as
soon as humanly possible?
The Sport Has Been Exposed
The most insulting part of the Super League’s announcement
was how it used COVID-19 as a reason for why it needed to be created. Yes,
millions of people have died, and countless lives ruined, but the real tragedy
was that Real Madrid made slightly less money.
College sports, the most similar to European soccer in terms
of fan loyalty, is currently undergoing its own reckoning due to chasing money.
Fans are sick of neutral site games in college football and poor schedules, as
ratings and attendance drop like a rock. College basketball has found itself
essentially tied to one month of the calendar in March for the NCAA Tournament
as the country tunes out for its regular season.
The leaders of these European Super League clubs somehow
think they’re immune. It’s pure hubris. They believe their fans will watch
their teams play regardless of what they plan to do moving forward.
It’s a dangerous crapshoot and I think they’ll come up snake
eyes.
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