The Super League is Finished and Football Lives On
So the European Super League almost happened. I know there’s money in football but god damn. On Sunday evening, the gears officially started turning as 12 of the world’s biggest clubs announced they’d be joining the Super League. In my opinion, this was a huge reach from clubs that have been run like absolute shit for years as they scrambled to avoid actually having to fix the problems they created. If one thing is for sure, this all had to do with one thing, money. Despite this singular motive, the simple love of the game was mobilized into a resilient movement and these fans made themselves heard and shockingly, those responsible for such a breakup...listened.
What the Hell is the Super League?
First of all... If you think this post is overly aggressive at any point while reading I apologize but if this entire fiasco doesn’t make your blood boil, I don’t know what to tell you. That being said, I’ll try my best to quickly describe what the super league would’ve been.
The Super League was a power play by 12 of the world’s biggest clubs seen above. Paris St-Germain declined to join given club president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has investments in both the UEFA Champions League and the 2022 World Club in Qatar. Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich also declined to join and whether that was because of morals or the fact that both clubs are 51% fan-owned (as all German clubs are) remains to be seen.
Nonetheless, these 12 teams sought to create their own competition and hundreds of millions of dollars would be awarded to each club just for joining and that’s money a lot of these clubs desperately need. The 12 founding clubs would be immune from regulation and a handful of clubs from the outside looking in, would try to qualify.
The clubs in the Super League wouldn’t take part in their respective leagues as well as the UEFA Champions League, which in my opinion is easily one of the best competitions in all sports.
Matthew Childs/ Reuters
So Why Does it Suck?
Well for starters, it completely eradicates competition. For the founding clubs, there would be no threat of relegation and there would be no pressure in securing a Champions League spot.
The real reason this entire Super League idea blows is because it will destroy almost every club from the outside looking in. Take the Premier League for example. Teams like Burnley and Brighton survive on the lucrative tv contracts they get their hands on when they play huge clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United. If those clubs suddenly get up and leave the Premier League, the money moves with them practically bankrupting Burnely and Brighton in the process. And Real Madrid’s, Florentino Perez, the mastermind of the entire breakaway plan, isn’t hiding the fact that that is exactly what he’s trying to do. “It isn’t fair that in England six are losing money, and 14 are winning” - Florentino Perez (via Ryan Tolmich, Goal).
My understanding is that Perez and his cult following of billionaire owners are mad that all the money isn’t going to them because they are the ones generating all of the money in just about every major league. At the end of the day, he isn’t wrong but just taking off and leaving hundreds of football clubs to straight up die might not be the best solution to the problem.
And when analyzing the pros and cons of the Super League you must remember that many of these owners and executives at these big clubs are to blame for their club’s financial problems.
Gross Mismanagement
I wrote a piece on Barcelona a few weeks ago which was centered around the absurdities at the club regarding its financials. But don’t be fooled, Real Madrid isn’t far behind. Barca is approximately $1.2 billion in debt while Madrid is approximately a billion in debt. As Perez claims the new Super League will “save football”, it really seems like a move to save his club as well as other top clubs that are struggling financially.
In my opinion, Perez doesn’t want to up-end what he’s been doing at Madrid for years which is offering the world’s top players incredibly lucrative contracts to lure them to his historic club. I mean just look at TODAY for crying out loud.
According to Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra on Twitter), Madrid is set to finalize a deal between them and Bayern Munich’s, David Alaba. The deal itself will be a five-year contract in which Alaba will earn €12 million a year and the deal will include a €20-30m signing bonus. Now Alaba is an incredible player who will most definitely make Madrid a better team especially if club legend, Sergio Ramos, leaves the club this summer. Alaba can play center-back, left-back, and he can even play a central midfield role like he is now due to Bayern’s injury problem. All in all, Alaba is an excellent signing, it’s just the money that’s the problem.
Bavarian Football Works
As Perez is doing interview after interview talking about how unfair the system is, his club goes out and practically throws money at a player who is most definitely great but is obviously looking for a massive payday while his club drowns in debt. To me, it seems like he needs this Super League, and its guaranteed streams of revenue more than football itself.
Changing Times
Could the failure of the Super League mean a dramatic shit is set to take place in football? Will there be a dramatic change at the top of football going forward? I think so. Clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid although they aren’t finished, have a LOT of work to do in regards to eradicating their debts and getting back to their dominant ways.
Big clubs in Italy such as Inter, Juventus, and AC Milan need to go back to the drawing board and see if they can market the Seria A, as well as companies such as NBC Sports, do in regards to the Premier League.
La Liga and Seria A as well as UEFA need to mobilize and help grow the sport rather than sitting back and collecting their massive paychecks.
It seems to me that the corruption in football has stood in the way of years of growth and development and as soon as the world’s richest clubs realized they were in trouble, they attempted to blame the likes of Burnley, Genoa, and Osasuna.
Billionaires gonna Billionaire
I think the worst thing about the entire super league was just the sheer disrespect for the game. For the fans. Football is such a big part of people’s lives across the planet and to so nonchalantly tear that up is just crazy to me.
Is Any Good Going to Come From This?
A little. For starters, Ed Woodward, the former executive vice-chairman at Manchester United, stepped down on Tuesday. He along with the owners of the club, Avram and Joel Glazer, are thought to be by many football fans the individuals standing in the way of Manchester United becoming the incredible club it used to be.
We All Follow United
Also, Andre Agnelli, the Juventus chairman, stepped down from his role as Chairman of the European Club Association and there are rumors that he may step down as Juventus Chairman as well (a club he has effectively run into the ground).
These assholes having a lesser grip on football is MASSIVE. But it remains to be seen if massive changes will indeed occur. And if they do, it will be the fans making it happen, once again.
No Good Guys
It’s important to remember that there are no good guys in this scenario. UEFA and FIFA, the two world football organizations most opposed to the creation of the Super League are both incredibly corrupt. I mean FIFA let Qatar bribe their way into hosting the 2022 World Cup and they’re currently using slave labor to build the stadiums for the games and some of these people working on the stadiums have lost their lives.
To Better Days… Hopefully
All in all, the past few days were incredibly dark times for football but fans made their voices heard and saved the sport… for now. Perhaps we will see radical changes to make football better. And if so, it will have to start with the executives at all these big clubs. The fans saved it, now it’s up to club and league executives to not only preserve it but grow it… the right way.
