UEFA .. Big clubs first, Money first, fans last as usual

[NAE NOOKIE]

Just reading that the new charlatan in charge of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin has indicated that the Champions league final could be held outside of Europe, New York or China are quoted as possibilities Mr Ceferin said "travel to the US would be no problem for fans" ........ Yeh, the sort of corporate fans UEFA likes to give over half the CL final tickets to.

Checking on this storey I also discovered that UEFA are going to start dividing up the Champions league and I presume Europa league prize money not on the basis of a member countries coefficient or even just on each clubs progress in that seasons competition, but on each clubs historic results in European competition ... Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and the other usual suspects will be crying all the way to the bank. Apparently quite a few Bundesliga clubs are angry at what they see as Bayern Munich being handed yet another financial advantage, I imagine quite a few La Liga and Serie A clubs feel the same.

The good news is that the European Professional Football Leagues ( EPFL ) who represent all of Europe's football leagues including ours ( not just the big 5 ) are so angry about this latest carve up that they are on the point of ripping up the agreement they have with UEFA that they will not schedule league programmes for the same night as Champions league games. I would imagine that same agreement stopped our game against Hearts being televised last season, how much did that cost us I wonder?

For how much longer are the vast majority of Europe's professional football leagues and clubs going to bend over and let the giant clubs and their UEFA puppets run the game and carve up the money for the benefit of themselves? Its a good sign that some decent sized German clubs are beginning to finally take notice of what is rapidly becoming a cartel in European football.
It is surely getting to the stage where a body like the EPFL simply has to mount a challenge to UEFA's stranglehold of the game. UEFA no longer represents the interests of 90% of its member FAs and by definition 90% of its member clubs.

[Pete]

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Just reading that the new charlatan in charge of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin has indicated that the Champions league final could be held outside of Europe, New York or China are quoted as possibilities Mr Ceferin said "travel to the US would be no problem for fans" ........ Yeh, the sort of corporate fans UEFA likes to give over half the CL final tickets to.

Checking on this storey I also discovered that UEFA are going to start dividing up the Champions league and I presume Europa league prize money not on the basis of a member countries coefficient or even just on each clubs progress in that seasons competition, but on each clubs historic results in European competition ... Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and the other usual suspects will be crying all the way to the bank. Apparently quite a few Bundesliga clubs are angry at what they see as Bayern Munich being handed yet another financial advantage, I imagine quite a few La Liga and Serie A clubs feel the same.

The good news is that the European Professional Football Leagues ( EPFL ) who represent all of Europe's football leagues including ours ( not just the big 5 ) are so angry about this latest carve up that they are on the point of ripping up the agreement they have with UEFA that they will not schedule league programmes for the same night as Champions league games. I would imagine that same agreement stopped our game against Hearts being televised last season, how much did that cost us I wonder?

For how much longer are the vast majority of Europe's professional football leagues and clubs going to bend over and let the giant clubs and their UEFA puppets run the game and carve up the money for the benefit of themselves? Its a good sign that some decent sized German clubs are beginning to finally take notice of what is rapidly becoming a cartel in European football.
It is surely getting to the stage where a body like the EPFL simply has to mount a challenge to UEFA's stranglehold of the game. UEFA no longer represents the interests of 90% of its member FAs and by definition 90% of its member clubs.

I have no problem with the final being played outside Europe but at the same time it probably gives us a clue as to the market that is driving these decisions by UEFA.

The foreign TV audience wants to see these underperforming behemoths like Liverpool, Manchester United and the Milan clubs recreate the past glories that attracted them to these clubs in the first place.

I say we should cut them adrift if they want to go. You can't just manufacture an MLB or an NFL, which is the model they are obviously looking at.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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I have no problem with the final being played outside Europe but at the same time it probably gives us a clue as to the market that is driving these decisions by UEFA.

The foreign TV audience wants to see these underperforming behemoths like Liverpool, Manchester United and the Milan clubs recreate the past glories that attracted them to these clubs in the first place.

I say we should cut them adrift if they want to go. You can't just manufacture an MLB or an NFL, which is the model they are obviously looking at.

That's the thing though isn't it ......... UEFA are happy to play their showpiece game outside of Europe because it clearly panders to the markets they are trying to cultivate, especially the far east, hence China being on the agenda ..... that shows little regard for the fans of the two clubs who might be involved, especially if at least one of them is a club who have never reached the final before, for example Spurs or PSG. It might help to make these super rich clubs even richer, but it does little to reward these fans who actually turn up at the stadiums week in week out to support them.

It wouldn't be hard to see why the match going fans who fill the stadiums would start asking questions like ..... why is it that making money from TV punters in China matters more than me being able to see my team play? ..... What has this corporate monster got to do with me? .... sod it I'm away to support Rayo Vallecano.

Having said that .... UEFA are probably working on the premise that by the time they do get round to playing the final on a different continent the clubs who will be playing each other will have reached the final so many times in recent years that their fans will be bored of the whole bloody thing anyway and wont mind only being able to watch it on the telly.

Your last sentence was exactly what I'm getting at ............. The time to act is now if we are to prevent these greedy giants carving up the cake between themselves, they will struggle to construct an American style closed shop league. American sport is used to the distances involved and has formed rivalries between NFL and MLB clubs who are hundreds even thousands of miles apart. It would take years for a European league to construct a system that would work as successfully.

The other thing that the likes of Real Madrid and their bum chums forget is that the NFL works on a system specifically designed to prevent domination by a single club or handful of clubs ...... a concept which is utterly at odds with the self centred rabid drive for domination and hell mend the good health of any other clubs that fuels the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Man Utd or new kids on the block like PSG and Man City.
Can you imagine a European league where Real Madrid have gone 10 years without winning the title because their budget is restricted to the same as Ajax and Benfica, their fans would desert them in droves ..... hell they would probably burn down the Bernabeu and lynch the club president.

If there is no financial parity imposed on clubs in this mythical European super league then what will happen is that the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Man Utd and two or three others will dominate it just as they do the Champions league and supporters of clubs like Benfica, Ajax, Celtic, Galatasaray and Zenit who are used to success after success in their domestic leagues will lose interest and drift away.

No ..... there is a bluff to be called here and the sooner it is the better it will be for everybody.

[Peevemor]

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I have no problem with the final being played outside Europe but at the same time it probably gives us a clue as to the market that is driving these decisions by UEFA.

The foreign TV audience wants to see these underperforming behemoths like Liverpool, Manchester United and the Milan clubs recreate the past glories that attracted them to these clubs in the first place.

I say we should cut them adrift if they want to go. You can't just manufacture an MLB or an NFL, which is the model they are obviously looking at.

For me it represents all that's wrong with football and what's killing the game. The "fans" sitting watching on TV are worth more than those who attend matches, especially to the super clubs who are splitting up most of the cash between themselves.

Horrible stuff.

[ballengeich]

UEFA, like the SFA, is often talked of as if it were some external body imposed on football. It's actually a union of the European nations and if enough of the national authorities don't like the officials' decisions they can take action to have those decisions changed and the officials replaced. If enough countries object then these changes can be stopped.

[snooky]

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For me it represents all that's wrong with football and what's killing the game. The "fans" sitting watching on TV are worth more than those who attend matches, especially to the super clubs who are splitting up most of the cash between themselves.

Horrible stuff.

The Scottish scene has exactly the same business model. Certain clubs getting most of the dosh and pulling the strings.

It's not football as we know it, Jim.

[Pretty Boy]

I posted a few weeks ago that it wouldn't be too long before we saw a Champions League final played outside Europe for commercial purposes.

I'm a bit suprised it's being spoken about this quickly though.

[Thecat23]

I think the CL is dying and they know it.

[Smartie]

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I think the CL is dying and they know it.

Amongst it's tradition fan base I think it is but the "new" type of football fan is the Chinese fan who wants to watch games on their mobile. I suspect that market is booming and the people making these decisions don't give a stuff what we, or the people who traditionally were interested in these competitions think.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Amongst it's tradition fan base I think it is but the "new" type of football fan is the Chinese fan who wants to watch games on their mobile. I suspect that market is booming and the people making these decisions don't give a stuff what we, or the people who traditionally were interested in these competitions think.

Absolutely right .... in fact the Chinese are so keen on the game now that the Communist party is encouraging Chinese clubs to spend big on players, it wont be long before one of the big European giants is beaten to the punch for the signature of the next Messi or Ronaldo by one of their clubs, not at the arse end of their career, but in their prime.

If the Chinese bubble doesn't burst the day will come when the Chinese will become more embroiled in their own game and pay less attention to Europe, when that happens the Champions league elite will turn back to the domestic audience, only to find that half of them have gone.

[.Sean.]

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I think the CL is dying and they know it.

It is for the hundreds of thousands of proper supporters but the Chinese tourists etc continue to lap it up

[High-On-Hibs]

I'm absolutely furious about this. There's no way i'm travelling outside of Europe to watch Hibs play in the CL final.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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I'm absolutely furious about this. There's no way i'm travelling outside of Europe to watch Hibs play in the CL final.

I wouldn't open the curtains if the Champions league final was being played in my back garden ...... If Hibs were in it I'd sell my car to get to Beijing or New York

[Lago]

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Just reading that the new charlatan in charge of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin has indicated that the Champions league final could be held outside of Europe, New York or China are quoted as possibilities Mr Ceferin said "travel to the US would be no problem for fans" ........ Yeh, the sort of corporate fans UEFA likes to give over half the CL final tickets to.

Checking on this storey I also discovered that UEFA are going to start dividing up the Champions league and I presume Europa league prize money not on the basis of a member countries coefficient or even just on each clubs progress in that seasons competition, but on each clubs historic results in European competition ... Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and the other usual suspects will be crying all the way to the bank. Apparently quite a few Bundesliga clubs are angry at what they see as Bayern Munich being handed yet another financial advantage, I imagine quite a few La Liga and Serie A clubs feel the same.

The good news is that the European Professional Football Leagues ( EPFL ) who represent all of Europe's football leagues including ours ( not just the big 5 ) are so angry about this latest carve up that they are on the point of ripping up the agreement they have with UEFA that they will not schedule league programmes for the same night as Champions league games. I would imagine that same agreement stopped our game against Hearts being televised last season, how much did that cost us I wonder?

For how much longer are the vast majority of Europe's professional football leagues and clubs going to bend over and let the giant clubs and their UEFA puppets run the game and carve up the money for the benefit of themselves? Its a good sign that some decent sized German clubs are beginning to finally take notice of what is rapidly becoming a cartel in European football.
It is surely getting to the stage where a body like the EPFL simply has to mount a challenge to UEFA's stranglehold of the game. UEFA no longer represents the interests of 90% of its member FAs and by definition 90% of its member clubs.

Guarantee it will be turned into a NFL franchise type organisation before long.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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Guarantee it will be turned into a NFL franchise type organisation before long.

Yeh .... I live for the day one of the members packs everything into trucks and moves 500 miles away to a bigger city overnight. For the reasons I gave in my post I would bet my bottom dollar that that style of league will just not work in Europe, not unless they give in to a cap on their player budget to make a level playing field, they would never agree to that now so I cant see them agreeing to it for a new league.

The big successful clubs wouldn't entertain it because they would be terrified that starved of success their fans would revolt or even stop going .... NFL fans accept that its unlikely their club will dominate for anything more than a couple of seasons before somebody else takes over because its always been that way. Fans of clubs like Bayern Munich and Barcelona win stuff year after year after year .... a level playing field to them is like Holy water to a vampire.

NFL fans fill the grounds year after year because in their system next year actually realistically could be their year .... without relegation to keep things interesting for the also rans its the only reason fans keep going, Yanks aren't exactly renowned for sticking with losers, though there are notable exceptions.

Its a catch 22 situation if I ever saw one ....... go for the level playing field option and the giant clubs fans spoiled by decades of European and domestic success will spit the dummy and drift away when the reality of having actual competition hits them ..... go without the level playing field option and the makeweight clubs like Benfica and Ajax who are consistently successful domestically will drift away as year upon year they win nothing.

Whatever happens somebody loses out and as the old firm have proved only too well here, when a club whose fanbase is used to winning year after year hits a barren spell their glory hunting fans drift away ...... within living memory both OF clubs have had barren spells covering no more than a few seasons where their home crowds dropped dramatically.

[ballengeich]

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I wouldn't open the curtains if the Champions league final was being played in my back garden ......

I would - to tell them to get out of my garden or I'd call the police.

[oneone73]

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Yeh .... I live for the day one of the members packs everything into trucks and moves 500 miles away to a bigger city overnight. For the reasons I gave in my post I would bet my bottom dollar that that style of league will just not work in Europe, not unless they give in to a cap on their player budget to make a level playing field, they would never agree to that now so I cant see them agreeing to it for a new league.

The big successful clubs wouldn't entertain it because they would be terrified that starved of success their fans would revolt or even stop going .... NFL fans accept that its unlikely their club will dominate for anything more than a couple of seasons before somebody else takes over because its always been that way. Fans of clubs like Bayern Munich and Barcelona win stuff year after year after year .... a level playing field to them is like Holy water to a vampire.

NFL fans fill the grounds year after year because in their system next year actually realistically could be their year .... without relegation to keep things interesting for the also rans its the only reason fans keep going, Yanks aren't exactly renowned for sticking with losers, though there are notable exceptions.

Its a catch 22 situation if I ever saw one ....... go for the level playing field option and the giant clubs fans spoiled by decades of European and domestic success will spit the dummy and drift away when the reality of having actual competition hits them ..... go without the level playing field option and the makeweight clubs like Benfica and Ajax who are consistently successful domestically will drift away as year upon year they win nothing.

Whatever happens somebody loses out and as the old firm have proved only too well here, when a club whose fanbase is used to winning year after year hits a barren spell their glory hunting fans drift away ...... within living memory both OF clubs have had barren spells covering no more than a few seasons where their home crowds dropped dramatically.

NFL clubs 0nly have about 8 home games a season, do they not?

[Haymaker]

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NFL clubs 0nly have about 8 home games a season, do they not?

Yes plus play offs if they make it/have advantage