US to host Premier League ’soccer’?
How does Manchester United v Chelsea at the Yankee Stadium grab you as a Premier League fixture?
If some of the great and the good of American sport and English football are to be believed, Premier League matches could be switching to the USA in years to come.
“I can see that happening sooner rather than later – it would be good for the game,” said West Ham non-executive chairman Eggert Magnusson.
This week, Wembley Stadium is hosting a competitive NFL clash between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants, and London has already staged NFL and NBA matches earlier this year.
The games have all been very well-received, with the Dolphins and Giants apparently able to fill Wembley’s 90,000 capacity two or three times over.
So the ball is already rolling in terms of taking sports outside of their traditional areas in order to break into new markets.
Welcome to globalisation on a sporting level.
A Premier League spokesman said that he can’t see English football doing away with hundreds of years of history by switching the traditional home and away format of its showpiece competition.
But the age-old tradition of 3pm kick-offs on a Saturday was not exactly sacrosanct once TV companies started calling the financial tune.
The system of organising fixtures in the States operates differently, making it somewhat easier to pick a game up and plonk it down somewhere else.
But, as every fan of any sport in the modern era knows all too well, money talks. Very loudly. And the Premier League tends to be a good listener.
Just imagine if the Premier League could gain a foothold in the lucrative USA market. The money flooding in from merchandising and TV deals could make the next generation of elite footballers look back with pity at the paltry £100,000-a-week wages paid to the top stars at the moment.
With Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa all owned by US billionaires, there are plenty of dollars already swishing around the Premier League, and Robert Kraft, another US-based billionaire, has reiterated his desire to join the party.
Can you see this happening any time soon? Or is it too far-fetched to ever get off the ground?
And if it did happen, would it be to the Premier League’s ultimate benefit? Would more money raise standards even higher? What about the season-ticket holder left watching their team’s home match on TV back in England?
Do Americans even want Premier League ’soccer’ in the land of NBA, NHL and NFL? I don’t think so. Watch this space.
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