The Americanization of European Football (Some quick thoughts)

This will be just a short post for the moment. I want to see what UEFA and FIFA do before I dig into this more, but the current information we’ve seen about the new European Super League seems a little ridiculous on the financial front, and it is the first salvo into turning the major football leagues into the American model. Make no mistake, the European Super League is nothing more than the Americanization of Football. Look at who’s leading the way of the teams that have joined up. Henry, Glazer, Kroenke. Take out the risk, reap the rewards. It’s the American blueprint in sports ownership.

I completely understand the fans and former players gripes. I understand the governing bodies issues (though they helped lead us here with their own greed and corruption). To be honest, as clubs lose money as they are, I can’t say I blame the ones jumping aboard for doing so. What I don’t get is some of the “punishments” being thrown around. Banning players for fulfilling their contractual duties from playing in the World Cup and other comps is the most asinine and ridiculous thing I’ve heard. If you want to punish someone it can only be the teams and the owners who have perpetuated this. Transfer bans, a hard salary cap perhaps. Limit the number of foreign players, implement a rule saying any player that plays in the super league for a team can not play in the league. Limits to prevent these teams from using their wealth.

I am curious to see if cooler heads prevail or if we’re just going to see this devolve into a battle where we have two world cups, multiple super leagues, and what many fear the end of football as we know it.