The 39th Game: Maybe They Can Play It In Space
By Tom Dunmore • Feb 11th, 2008 • Category: Politics and Economics • 12 responsesThe Premier League’s Chief Executive, Richard Scudamore, was on the BBC’s Sportsweek radio programme yesterday defending his plan for a 39th round of Premier League games played abroad, and gave a bravura performance in which he cleverly substituted the word “strategy” for “greed” without missing a beat.
Another word he liked to use was “globalising”. It seems that if the Premier League doesn’t do this, it will end up in the “slow lane” as everyone else is going to do it anyway. All, of course, to protect the domestic game.
The problem is, football is already a global game and the national federations and regional confederations who run the sport outside England don’t seem very keen on the idea of hosting matches.
An article this morning in the Daily Mail explained that:
Global opposition to the Premier League’s ‘international round’ is growing so fast that North America now looks to be the only region that will embrace the beleaguered project.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, by demanding immediate discussion at the world governing body’s next executive committee meeting, and UEFA chief Michael Platini, with his withering criticism, have already demonstrated fierce resistance.
Now Mohammed Bin Hammam, the Asian confederation president and the third most powerful administrator in world football, has told advisers he is also massively opposed to the playing of a 39th Premier League match in five different countries over a weekend.
Hammam’s AFC football empire stretches to 46 member countries, including many of the destinations being pencilled in by the Premier League such as Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
And, together with his powerful ally, Japan’s Junji Ogura, the AFC high command could be a formidable bridge too far for the Premier League’s plans.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore can also discount Africa where there is not the money available to make matches worthwhile.
The South American CONMEBOL have strong domestic leagues, while Oceania does not have the necessary infrastructure.
America, then: one of the first to embrace the idea was the L.A. Galaxy’s boss Alexi Lalas. But more importantly, U.S. Soccer head Sunil Gulati today suggested they would not be in favour of it if FIFA remain opposed, whatever Alexi Lalas’ demented dreams might be. He told BBC Sport that,
“We’ve been reluctant to have official games played in the US.
“We’ll be guided by Fifa on this matter. But if it’s not in line with its rules then we won’t sanction it.
“We had a similar proposal 10 years ago when a team playing in Los Angeles wanted to play in the Mexican league. We didn’t let that happen and Concacaf (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) said no.
“We understand it’s a global sport but it’s about nurturing the home game.
“If Fifa said ‘OK, it’s up to the relevant FA’s, then we would look at it (the Premier League proposal).
“We have got a great relationship with the English FA and there’s a lot of good reasons to look at it. But there are also some issues that we have got which would cause us to be very hesitant.”
Scudamore has suggested the Premier League might ignore the objections of FIFA and UEFA, saying there is no straight line of authority, but it looks like this won’t fly with the likes of U.S. Soccer. And why would it, when countries like the U.S. and Australia are gearing up for a battle with England for the 2018 World Cup?
But if FIFA does approve it — and I wouldn’t rule anything out if Jerome Valcke is the pivot man on this, as he apparently is — would Gulati be right to oppose it considering the interests of American soccer? We’ve heard a lot about the opposition of English fans concerned about the consequences for the game locally. But how do soccer fans in other countries feel? Would the publicity be good for the development of MLS by spreading the word about soccer, or would it set it back as Eurosnobs save their dollars for the annual Man Utd jaunt and ignore their local league? What’s your view?
Tom Dunmore is the editor of Pitch Invasion.
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I have a feeling that the “39th Game” idea won’t happen. All the national federations won’t allow the Premier League to put this plan into fruition.
I have a feeling that the “39th Game” idea won’t happen.
Ok Tom i have booked my seat on Virgin Galactic, can you let me know where in space they are playing. I hope Virgin can drop me off in a walking distance to the venue.
Gulati is saying all the right things for now, let’s hope he will continue to do so. And as for spreading the word about soccer, if you don’t know about soccer by now it is time to crawl from under that rock.
I wouldn’t say Lalas “embraced” the idea. He seemed to think only the Big Four clubs could pull it off. I got the sense that he thought the PL should cool its heels on this.
Personally, I’m still waiting for the PL to come back and say, “Okay, we’ll scuttle this and just put one game in the U.S. and one in China each year. Would that make the rest of you leave us alone?” And everyone will buy that, because it’s not nearly as ridiculous as the initial proposal, and besides, it works for the NFL.
I thought Lalas’ response was more along the lines of great idea, but obviously pushing for L.A. to get the big clubs to turn out there. Anyway, here’s what he said rather than splitting hairs on the interpretation:
Here’s his other quote (via the Offside), where he sounds much more skeptical of the proposal:
“English teams have been coming here for years, although not for competitive games, so yes, it’s great that the games could help to decide championships or who goes down. But I caution you folks, because there are a handful of ‘super clubs’ in the EPL, but when you get into the mid and lower tier, those brands — as strong as they may be domestically in the UK — have much less value here. Just because it is EPL does not mean it is going to sell.”
Not that I’d ever suggest that Alexi Lalas wasn’t completely consistent…
Is there some kind of clause in his Galaxy contract that means he has to force ’super club’ into every sentence he utters?
I live in Ireland, where saturation coverage of the Premiership has already played a role in eroding support for local football. In fact, there is a social grouping over here referred to as the ‘Easyjet Supporter’. This is an individual who avails himself of budget airline travel and will think nothing of jetting over to England for the day to watch his Premiership team. His local club, meanwhile, is overlooked or ignored.
Obviously if Premiership matches do get played in other countries it won’t be a week in, week out arrangement. However, it has to be said that many of the ‘neo fans’ are notoriously fickle, and quickly turn their backs on the local game because of the inferior quality that’s often served up. Many of them would trade the visceral experience of watching your local side for the sterile, artificial atmosphere of watching a band of visiting mercenaries fulfilling their contract and then carrying off their war chest.
By the way, why has nobody mentioned Antartica as a possible venue? Just the place for many of the modern generation of footballers!
On Thursday, the 20 Premier League clubs agreed to look into the possibility of playing an extra round of matches every season - abroad. I’m totally against this decision, and am trying to show that there’s a critical mass of fans who don’t want their teams going to play an English Premiere League game somewhere outside of England. So I made this poll - and I want to invite people to go and vote and maybe if we get enough votes we can send it to the people in charge. Here’s the link:
http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/6334/do-you-support-the-english-premier-league-s-intent-to-go-global-and-stage-one-round-of-league-matches-per-year-overseas
I think Dave is probably on the right track, especially with the well-known mutual admiration between the EPL and the NFL. I think you’re going to see a couple of newly promoted clubs with old and/or small stadiums pressured into giving up a big home game “for the good of the sport” (or somesuch nonsense). I wouldn’t worry though, as I’m sure said clubs will make a very reasonable number of tickets available for their season ticket holders who will just happen to be in LA or Riyadh that weekend, you know, what with the ease and convenience of international travel and all.
This destroys the integrity of the league. You play every other team home and away now. Under this proposal somebody plays ManU three times and someone else plays Derby three times. Fair? No way. With so much at stake financially on your league standing, Champions League Spots, UEFA Cup Spots, Relegation spots, three points can easily change your league standing.
If you ask two teams to fly to Sydney (24 hours) and two teams to fly to New York (6 hours), that is not the same.
Local teams may not want the competition unless it helps them. MLS shouldn’t want English teams to come over. It will only show the local fans how much of a crap league MLS still is.
Play Up Pompey!
I would kiss Malcolm Glazer’s feet if he can pull off a Man U vs Blackburn match in Tampa FL. Thanks to matches abroad, I watched players like Zidane,Bebeto, Roberto Carlos, and Mattaus when they came to Giants Stadium in NY. Don’t be greedy Englishmen.