La Liga sign 15-year deal to have games played in the US

[forevrared]

Dreadful news, even as an American. This is not good for the sport.

Also not a fan of the NFL games being played in London - but there are an entire list of problems specific to our more shite version of football that makes that a bad idea.

 

[wub1234]

Also not a fan of the NFL games being played in London - but there are an entire list of problems specific to our more shite version of football that makes that a bad idea.

How does it go down in the States when you believe that American Football is shite, and soccer / football is entertaining? Is American Football as culturally dominant as we're led to believe?

 

[haram]

Dont like this at all.

 

[MadMike]

There was an argument to be had at some point, that more money going into football would improve the spectacle and experience for the fans. Better, bigger and safer stadia. More TV coverage. Top class training facilities for players, better academies and scouting systems. Et cetera. We're way past that point. If the last 10-15 years are any example the investment in these things has kind of levelled. More money going into football now mostly means bigger player salaries and agent fees, more expensive transfers and more corporate greed to milk the product.

More fans globally, but also more disenfranchised local fans about how things are going. More expensive tickets, yet less local fan emphasis since the tickets are now a tiny slice of the financial pie. Revolving door managers, prima donna footballers with little club pride or respect, owners of dubious origins and intentions, tosser agents making fortunes behaving like cnuts etc.

I don't think it's more money that's needed, but if there is to be more money I think it needs better spreading. What would make sense is to perhaps increase the squad size to 30 players and play more games. Enforce player rest quotas, to avoid overworking of star players. Which would also introduce a strategic aspect to the game, choosing when to rest which players. Create and market new competitions and move those competitions abroad to satiate the appetite. Use the enlarged squad size to spread the extra load.

More games for all fans, more round the year football, more money, more players to spread the money to. But don't reduce the offering to the local fans who have been supporting the clubs financially and physically for most of their lives. Don't take away the competitions they've been attending for years. That's not on.

 

[JMack1234]

You'd assume they'll be playing El Clasico and maybe the Madrid derby over there. Can't see Americans flocking to the big arenas to watch Alaves vs Celta de Vigo.

I hope it's a disaster. I very much like the structure of European football at the moment and anything that pushes a European or even a world league forward is bad news as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Peyroteo]

Football isn’t comparable to the NBA or NFL at all when it comes to these matters. An NBA franchise isn’t the same to a city as what a football club is.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of what football is about. I understand using games like the Supercup to increase international exposure but anything more is way out of line.

 

[Vato]

I hope Trump does the kick off of the next classico with a bald eagle on his shoulder with this tune blasting from the speakers.

 

[beergod]

I hope this stupid idea crashes and burns so badly that it poisons the well for a long, long time. Americans won't give a feck about the small matches and prostituting big matches robs the actual fans of the home club.

 

[Reddy Rederson]

Increasing the prices is not equivalent of deciding to hold every single big game outside of the country, forever.

No, but it is a sign that money is more important than fans. Couple that with the years of corruption and you can see why I find it hard to believe that it wont be abused. After all the whole reason for doing this is money. I even heard one of the guys that works for the company setting it all up on the radio today, and his number one name for football was 'product'. He said that as soon as it was made public that the company got calls from all over the country begging to have the game in their city. Thats barca or madrid against a lower league team, and theres already a bidding war.

Maybe Im wrong and it wont happen, but the potential for abuse is there.

 

[Zlaatan]

It's a terrible idea full stop. It's also pretty weird that they signed such a long deal, I mean 15 years? I think a 3-year deal would have been a big enough commitment since it's got every ingredient to spectacularly backfire and truly piss off every fan they have in Spain.

 

[forevrared]

How does it go down in the States when you believe that American Football is shite, and soccer / football is entertaining? Is American Football as culturally dominant as we're led to believe?

I don't think it sucks in general -- I've been an NFL fan all my life and probably watch it second to football -- was just pointing out that it's decidedly second place for me.

It is easily the number one sport in America right now, though NBA has been making a hard charge the past few years. I do think it's possible NBA will overtake it as more time passes, the more apparent some of the inherent problems with the NFL become (CTE and the like, namely). More and more often now, we're seeing players retiring in their early 20's due to repeated concussions and head injuries. This has been slowly filtering down through the levels to youth football. I think it will only have a negative impact on the game as we know it as time goes on.

It's also been turned into a divisive circus the past couple of years with the anthem protests and Trump's insanely jealous (he was repeatedly denied the ability to buy an NFL team decades ago) attempts to control the narrative. I know quite a few people who've walked away from the league over it.

 

[WR10]

Surprise surprise. The US sniffs oil somewhere and wants their flag on it. Football finally looks very lucrative financially.

 

[wub1234]

It is easily the number one sport in America right now, though NBA has been making a hard charge the past few years. I do think it's possible NBA will overtake it as more time passes, the more apparent some of the inherent problems with the NFL become (CTE and the like, namely). More and more often now, we're seeing players retiring in their early 20's due to repeated concussions and head injuries. This has been slowly filtering down through the levels to youth football. I think it will only have a negative impact on the game as we know it as time goes on.

It's interesting that soccer is now going to have to deal with this as well. It's funny, but when I was younger and played the game, I hated heading the ball, and used to do everything to avoid it. I wouldn't claim any great insight, but I just didn't like the feeling of it, and I think I did have an inkling that it can't be good for you.

I watched a documentary about the 85 Chicago Bears, and they were talking about Jim McMahon having major mental, emotional and psychological problems now due to stress injuries, and he was the quarterback, so he was spared a lot of the concussive activity. When you look at some of the stuff that goes on in that game, it's pretty crazy.

It's also been turned into a divisive circus the past couple of years with the anthem protests and Trump's insanely jealous (he was repeatedly denied the ability to buy an NFL team decades ago) attempts to control the narrative. I know quite a few people who've walked away from the league over it.

I haven't watched it yet, but I've recorded an ESPN documentary on the USFL, which includes Trump's involvement in supposedly killing it. I don't know how true that is. I also watched one about the XFL, set up by the guy who owns the WWE. That was extremely interesting.

It's sad that it's been such a divisive time in the States, hopefully this won't continue.

 

[forevrared]

It's interesting that soccer is now going to have to deal with this as well. It's funny, but when I was younger and played the game, I hated heading the ball, and used to do everything to avoid it. I wouldn't claim any great insight, but I just didn't like the feeling of it, and I think I did have an inkling that it can't be good for you.

I watched a documentary about the 85 Chicago Bears, and they were talking about Jim McMahon having major mental, emotional and psychological problems now due to stress injuries, and he was the quarterback, so he was spared a lot of the concussive activity. When you look at some of the stuff that goes on in that game, it's pretty crazy.

I haven't watched it yet, but I've recorded an ESPN documentary on the USFL, which includes Trump's involvement in supposedly killing it. I don't know how true that is. I also watched one about the XFL, set up by the guy who owns the WWE. That was extremely interesting.

It's sad that it's been such a divisive time in the States, hopefully this won't continue.

Yeah, heading the ball comes with its own issues, for sure. There have been times when some US youth leagues required kids to wear a Petr Cech-esque helmet or risk having a foul called if they headed the ball. I haven't really been involved with youth soccer for a while now, so I'm not sure if it's happening anymore.

Head injuries and their long-term effects have seemingly been the elephant in the room for a very long time. It's only now that players are dying and we're seeing more and more the consequences in later life that anyone is brave enough to raise the issue. I hope it's a talk that continues. It wasn't uncommon to talk to classmates in high school and college that already had 2-3 concussions just playing as amateurs. Most of them were never anywhere close to being good enough to play professionally and will probably deal with these injuries the rest of their lives in some capacity, which is insane to me.

Interesting tidbit on XFL (which returns in 2020, apparently) & Trump -- Vince McMahon's wife Linda was appointed by Trump as administrator of the Small Business Administration, which is a cabinet level position. The families are allegedly pretty close. Given the history, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to use the XFL as a stick to beat the NFL with as long as it continues to be a thorn in his side.

 

[Ooh2B]

Wow, we’re giving Spurs a hard time about using multiple stadiums, this shower are using multiple countries FFS!

Now I know for sure the soul of football is long gone.

A traveling football show is what this is, I don’t know how people will still support their team if they’re playing in a different country!?

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Yeah, heading the ball comes with its own issues, for sure. There have been times when some US youth leagues required kids to wear a Petr Cech-esque helmet or risk having a foul called if they headed the ball. I haven't really been involved with youth soccer for a while now, so I'm not sure if it's happening anymore.

They banned headers at the youth levels in the US.

 

[the_irish123]

The most problematic part is actually the pitches. US uses multi purposes arenas and they use a terrible form of grass for football.

 

[Sayros]

The only way I think this would work well is if it's taking away from one of the big team's home games. Teams like Real Sociedad, or Girona depend on that home game against the Madrid teams or Barcelona to make their nut for the season. If you take that away from them and their fans, then I think this idea is a disaster but of course the money always talks and this is one of La Liga's way of trying to catch up to the Premier League financially.

 

[minoo-utd]

Difference in time might affects the players as well too. Shit idea and not also fair. But sadly it's all about money.

 

[simonhch]

Desperate fecking stuff from La Liga. Thing is, doing this sort of cheap stunt on an annual basis actually weakens your brand rather than strengthens it.

 

[RoyH1]

Desperate fecking stuff from La Liga. Thing is, doing this sort of cheap stunt on an annual basis actually weakens your brand rather than strengthens it.

The quality of the management talent at La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation is inversely proportional to the talent of its young football players.

Been reading that Real is pissed at the idea and was not even consulted. It’ll be interesting to see what would happen if they refuse to play in the US.

 

[cafecillos]

He also said "if NBA and NFL do it, we can do it too"

Which is basically at a samilar level of logic to me saying that if LeBron can dunk the ball, I can do it too.

 

[rotherham_red]

Last I heard FIFA won't let this happen without FA consent, and the Spanish FA weren't consulted, so it most likely won't go through.

 

[wub1234]

Interesting tidbit on XFL (which returns in 2020, apparently) & Trump -- Vince McMahon's wife Linda was appointed by Trump as administrator of the Small Business Administration, which is a cabinet level position. The families are allegedly pretty close. Given the history, I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to use the XFL as a stick to beat the NFL with as long as it continues to be a thorn in his side.

The resurrection of the XFL was mentioned at the end of the ESPN documentary actually. It's interesting what you stated about the Trump and McMahon link, I was not aware of that. You can see the similarities in their characters and public persona. The problem with the XFL for me is that people want to see the best players. That's what sport is. You can put out any gimmicks that you like, but no-one wants to see second rate players.

This is a big problem for players just short of world-class level in some single-player sports. When I was a kid, I was a strong tennis player, and I had hopes of being a professional for a while. But I realised I wasn't going to be good enough to get to the top level, and I didn't fancy trekking around Kazakhstan for peanuts. But understandably only the very top players attract the money because that's who people want to watch. They don't want to watch the world number 347, unless he's playing Federer.

I surmise that this will be an insurmountable problem for the XFL. Who wants to see bad football played by bad players?

 

[AlwaysRed66]

Wow, we’re giving Spurs a hard time about using multiple stadiums, this shower are using multiple countries FFS!

Now I know for sure the soul of football is long gone.

A traveling football show is what this is, I don’t know how people will still support their team if they’re playing in a different country!?

The new Harlem Globetrotters, but less interesting.

 

[Noc-Z]

Desperate fecking stuff from La Liga. Thing is, doing this sort of cheap stunt on an annual basis actually weakens your brand rather than strengthens it.

Completely agree with this. It totally detracts from everything that makes football special. Makes you wonder if the people making such big decisions actually realise what makes the game special! They maybe do but are simply too obsessed with making more money. That's fair enough, I can understand the importance of bringing in as much cash as possible. But are times really so desperate they have to do this? They can't think of another revenue stream or way of organising finances that doesn't completely fly in the face of the traditions of the game, the players and the fans?

I hope this never happens to the Premier League. I fondly remember simpler times, days when football was about the football and the support and the characters. This month has been about Woodward/the board v Jose, Jose v Pogba, Raiola v United legends, all laid bare on social media and now La Liga games in USA. Rubbish times for the game we all love I'm afraid.

 

[AlwaysRed66]

I see all 20 La Liga captains are now meeting to discuss this nonsense. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45269974

 

[Cal?]

If they want to implement this foreign game idea properly, they should just reduce the league to 16 teams and go a full 3 rounds of games, 15 at home, 15 away and 15 at "neutral venues" abroad.

 

[AndyJ1985]

If they want to implement this foreign game idea properly, they should just reduce the league to 16 teams and go a full 3 rounds of games, 15 at home, 15 away and 15 at "neutral venues" abroad.

Then four clubs are kicked out of the league just so la liga can make some extra money

 

[Sylar]

I see all 20 La Liga captains are now meeting to discuss this nonsense. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45269974

Probably trying to find out a way to make them and their colleagues more money.
""Footballers once again feel marginalized in decision-making," read an AFE statement."
Almost certain these captains will be happy with the deal if it includes bonuses for playing abroad.

Cynical as that may be.

 

[Cal?]

Then four clubs are kicked out of the league just so la liga can make some extra money

Not kicked out, relegated, instead of having 3 down 3 up, they can have a couple of seasons of 4 down 2 up and voila, 16 left in the league.

 

[Casanova85]

Load of BS! Eibar vs Valladolid in Boston.

I'll be damned

 

[AlwaysRed66]

Not kicked out, relegated, instead of having 3 down 3 up, they can have a couple of seasons of 4 down 2 up and voila, 16 left in the league.

I have a better idea. Why don't they kick Atletico, Real, & Barcelona out, & let them go and move over to the US.

 

[fishfingers15]

Load of BS! Eibar vs Valladolid in Boston.

I'll be damned

It always starts with the lesser games to lessen the impact and will surely have the top 2 featuring soon

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

No chance the PL would follow suit any time soon thankfully. It just smacks of desperation to gain more viewers. I wont go into what i exactly think of La Liga.

 

[Cal?]

I have a better idea. Why don't they kick Atletico, Real, & Barcelona out, & let them go and move over to the US.

If they kick those 3 out, the European Super League will be established before the day is over.

Also the remaining clubs will be lucky to get a fraction of their current TV money.

 

[Born2Lose]

An inevitable move unfortunately, I'd be surprised if the majority of La Liga games created any buzz, it'll have to be Barcelona or Real versus one of the numerous canon fodder teams.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

If they kick those 3 out, the European Super League will be established before the day is over.

Also the remaining clubs will be lucky to get a fraction of their current TV money.

Do people still think this idea will ever work?

 

[Cal?]

Do people still think this idea will ever work?

It will work and it'll happen when the biggest clubs decide they've had enough of smaller clubs blocking their every move.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

It will work and it'll happen when the biggest clubs decide they've had enough of smaller clubs blocking their every move.

Cant agree, why would big clubs want to lose more often, it makes absolutely no footballing sense. Financially maybe but even then its a risk, it would absolutely ruin the game.