Why not set up 10 exhibition games to happen the week before the start of the season just like the community shield. Just let them play overseas… make lots of money, spread the fanbase, just don’t count the result.

Classic case of “grass is always greener,” I suppose. Quite interesting logic with regards to rugby, but I’d point out that baseball is quite a different sport in that it’s the only team sport where the side on defense has the ball.

To win in baseball you’ve got to throw it over the plate and give the other man his chance. Not every sport can say that. Yes, the threat of relegation would make some NFL games uglier than they already are to watch, but I’d think the threat of losing enormous TV money would make greedy owners want to win. JMO.

looking ten years ahead, who knows what the circus will look like.

on a tangent - i hope the fabled asian riches evaporate because the asians are too busy supporting their own teams in their own cities … for myself i know my antipodean interest in arsenal has all but evaporated since a new, hopefully more stable australian competition was started.

In a closed system, the worst teams can play nice, entertaining Rugby without fear. The fans win.

I dunno what a fan of KC Royals or Miami Dolphins would have to say to that, though.

It’s not that I’m against playoffs in the Premier League, I’m just 100% against eliminating promotion/relegation.

A trip to a lower league would do some baseball owners a world of good. In that regard, the idea of closing the EPL couldn’t be more misguided. American minor league teams have no hope of reaching a top flight, many have players with little or no connection to the communities or clubs they play for, and the pyramid scheme that results is bad for sports in general.

Also, the act of having playoffs and such wouldn’t preclude them from participating in Champion’s League. If it did, there would never be another Dutch team in there again or even Scotish team with the whole ’spliitng the league’ thing not being ’standard’

I’m not saying I advocate the change or not, it’s up to the English people to decided honestly. they can run their league however the hell they want IMO (as can any other nation) However, it is kinda funny to see the teeth gnashing over the prospect of it all. It reminds me of talking to my grandpa a long time ago when he’d reminisce about how sports in the US used to be. They were run a far cry from how they are now. there were tons of baseball leagues that would play each other and they would have teams drop in and out of leagues and switch leagues all the time when it was still semi-pro/amateur. Once big money could be made, they realized the way to make the most was going the way of the modern system for better or worse.

Football in Europe hasn’t been ‘full pro’ for as long as sports here have and it’s only a matter of time until some started thinking of going the ‘big bucks’ route, the formation of the Premier League was one of the first volley’s in the battle for that push. I mean there were people in the 1970’s and early ’80’s in many leagues that were still working side jobs in Europe. Thus the reason the NASL was able to pull in so many world class stars.

It would definitely be odd to see leagues change in that manner in Europe but I can’t say it would shock me to see it all that much. i honestly always thought it would be the Bundesliga that made the leap first given the heavy American influence in Germany and our (German) love of structure and ordered elements.

Keep in mind that European leagues don’t have collective bargaining contracts with the players’ unions; the system is very different than what North Americans are used to.